Newsworthiness aside, I feel as though I have heard more about Twitter as an engine for social media change than I have about the House’s cap-and-trade bill (though, admittedly, Twitter is much more fun to talk (or tweet) about.) From June of 2008 to June of 2009, Twitter’s audience grew by over 1,900% according to Nielsen (and, no, that is not a typo.) In comparison, Facebook only grew by 198% and Myspace lagged at a mere 6% growth rate.
The variety of opinions on what Twitter will become and what phase of growth it is in stuns the best two-handed economist. However, thanks to Harris Interactive, and their recently released poll, we know what advertisers and consumers think about the force that is Twitter. The poll makes one thing abundantly clear, most people don’t know enough about Twitter to answer questions about it – 69% of adults and 55% of adults age18-34 say they do not know enough about Twitter to have an opinion. Even the social networking generation, less than half can answer a question about that ‘big new craze’ Twitter. While I have not seen comparable stats for Facebook, to put this in perspective, Nielsen says that, as of June 2009, Facebook had 138,635,000 users, whereas Twitter had only 20,950,000. That means Facebook has over 6 times more users than Twitter – for anyone to say that Twitter can’t expand or isn’t in its infancy seems silly.
The more important question remains: will consumers find Twitter an effective way for marketers to reach them with information. The answer, unsurprisingly, is mixed. 50% of consumers believe that Twitter will either be very or somewhat effective in promoting products or ideas, while the other 50% believe just the opposite (with 19% stating that it will be ‘not at all effective.’) Meanwhile, advertisers have more faith with 58% believing that Twitter will be effective in communicating and promoting their ideas, products, and promotions.
Twitter does have one benefit, the ability to start a conversation that can become viral, global, and constant – all in 160 characters. In a Web 2.0 age, campaigns that stir up conversation will become successful, at least according to a recent piece in Ad Age (link here.) Campaigns like Dove’s ‘Campaign for Real Beauty’ might translate well to a Twitter age or Nike’s ‘athletic nirvana’ campaign. If, while following friends, consumers are also following, participating in, and shaping an ongoing conversation about a product and the idea behind it, there is no telling how effective Twitter may become. At least for now, we’ll just have to wait and tweet.
