As with the earthquakes in the UK and China, the first I heard about the earthquake today in America was on Twitter. Whereas most news sources will be busy subbing their efforts, people are updating Twitter whilst events are going on around them.
Great for anyone who wants to find out about the news as it happens – worrying for the people who could end up in danger because they’re glued to their PC/mobile instead of finding a doorway!
updates
More activity leads to more attention on Twitter
What I think is useful to know
I am a psychologist and I am mostly interested in why we use Twitter: what do we hope to achieve? But hope is a function of our ability to see a goal and road or pathway to the goal. So, I am also interested in how people use Twitter. A good set of numbers or metrics is always a good starting point for seeing what is possible and what is not.
Good reference site
I’ve discovered a blog that presents lots of numbers. A year old post on “types of Twitter users” is interesting.
The article begins with a 2×2 model beloved of management theorists. People with lots of followers and lots of updates are stars. People with lots of followers and few updates are influentials. People with lots of updates and few followers are bots. And finally, people who have few followers and few updates are lurkers. We all started there.
When I look at the scattergrams, I think this 2×2 is forced. It looks to me that there is a very strong correlation between activity and followers.
The more you talk, the more followers you have!
What does this mean for planning your usage?
Do you intend to get bigger and bigger? Do you have an intuitive sense of a good size for you?
This week I shall be….
Mostly on the move.
So for updates, I’ll be mainly relying on the speed of Twitter, although I will try and make sure there are regular updates throughout my time abroad/away from a computer.
If you want to keep up with my Twitters, you will mostly find me here:
http://twitter.com/BadgerGravling