Twitter reaches way beyond 140 characters

19-Jan-2010 Posted by Chris on 19-Jan-2010 | View Comments

Twitter reaches way beyond 140 characters

I found this article by Fred Wilson very interesting, and it confirms something I have thought for some time. Twitter is more than just 140 character echo chamber of “who’s having what for lunch”. It has become a distribution system for information, mostly based on shortened hyperlinks, and it has a highly leverage eco-system that extends well beyond Twitter itself.

According to Wilson, and the statistics from my blog reinforce this, each link that originates in Twitter, is clicked 3-5 times more from other areas of the internet. Facebook, email clients, twitter applications, and twitter widgets on other website pages. So interestingly, even if you dismiss Twitter.com, you can’t dismiss that the millions of “Tweets” which are handled by the company, are rapidly becoming part of the internet’s basic infrastructure.

All of this confirms that if you have a following on Twitter, who care about what you have to say, you have SOCIAL LEVERAGE. If I forward a link to my followers, and that gets retweeted within Twitter, plus of course heads out into the world on facebook statuses, blog posts and twitter widgets, you can see how a message that resonates with people can be seen by thousands and thousands, within minutes. That’s a game-changer.

Of course, another myth of Twitter, is that posts are limited to 140 characters. Technically that is true, but nearly every Tweet that I see “ReTweeted” (a message that has been resent from one persons network to another’s), are the ones which have hyperlinks to blog posts, videos, newspaper articles, etc. Again, reinforcing what I would suggest is becoming a distribution network that can’t be ignored.

Here are some examples of how Twitter extends beyond it’s regular platform, and into the mainstream. One is from the Edmonton Journal’s website, with a widget that tracks discussion on the Alberta Legislature, the other is from the website of the 2010 ASAE Tech Conference (a trade show I will be attending in a month). These are just examples, and there are thousands of these around the internet, and demonstrate the “twitter eco-system”.

Of course these are both examples of how Twitter can be a very powerful NICHE tool, and how the use of #Hashtags to sort information and tweets is a very powerful way to feel real-time pulse of an issue. The fact that Twitter can measure the thought pulse of the WHOLE WORLD or YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD at the same time is frankly mind-boggling.

http://twitter.com/brittanykustra Brittany Kustra

Hey Chris,
Great article – although I would argue that when Twitter originated, it really wasn’t much more than "who is having what for lunch." I think it has really evolved only in the last year or so to become the complex eco-system it is today. Cheers!
http://twitter.com/ZoomJer Jerry Aulenbach

I hope that by the end of this year, I am able tosay I use twitter and have fewer than 50% of people laugh at the sound of the word.

-Jerry
http://theunknownstudio.ca adam

I’m with Jerry and Brit: when I started on twitter, it was a lark. I never imagined it would be so useful in helping my various ventures achieve success.

Keep preaching to the mass about Twitter, CL, and we’ll have almost every Edmontonian on Twitter soon enough.
Glenn T

Out here in rural Alberta Twitter is helping me to connect to a whole new infrastructure of thought, perspective and insight that isn’t limited by a choice to live in a smaller rural community. Big game changer for me! I can ask for – and receive – advice, links, references and guidance from a whole new demographic. How can I not love that new information?
Chris LaBossiere

Adam:

If everyone was on Twitter, I am not sure I wouldn’t want to move onto the next thing

Glenn:

I can just imagine the stark difference that Twitter would make to rural users. What a way to connect with other constituencies. I am starting to use it myself as I am about to travel somewhere, and want to get plugged into the local community.
Joe Albertan

I’m surprised that we haven’t heard anything from Chris about ultra-right-winger Jonathan Denis getting into cabinet.
Ted

Firstly, there are those economically challenged idealists (I respect these folks), who think that everyone should get whatever they might need from the health care system, exactly when they want it, and of course with no costs attached. Even if that was physically and logistically possible, how could we pay for it? Health care costs today are SKYROCKETING due to changing demographics, increased drug costs, and ironically from new advancements in medicine that actually allow us to treat what was largely untreatable. If we don’t find a balance here, the tax structure stretches to a point where it is impossible to maintain a competitive economy.

The first sentence that everyone should get whatever they want is an overstatement. Not so, there is such a thing as medically necessary items that are covered. For free, no, we pay through our taxes. Skyrocketing – Fraser Institute would like you to think that so they repeat that mantra over and over. The fact that Fraser I can’t get their so called research in peer reviewed magazines speaks for itself. SO what did they do to publish their work – get their own magazine called the Fraser Forum. You can get more on them in Not a Conspiracy theory by Don Gutstein. Drugs are the major cost driver, interestingly it is the for profit that is the driver. In Alberta hospital costs as a total of the health budget has gone down from 45.7 % to about 27% since 1990. Why- there are half the beds, Calgary lost 4 hospitals (including the Belcher) So what are the cost drivers? Drugs, and that could be controlled and brought down by over 50% as was the example in New Zealand. In New Zealand they have kept costs down and the annual increase in costs for drugs is around 4 %. In BC, the annual increase in costs for drugs is between 12 and 16%. If NZ can do it with 4 million people, can’t we do the same with 35 million? Plus, some people here tend to be more over medicated. A high percentage of seniors who do go to emerge with dizziness issues do so because of over medication. Secondly , according to a study by Dr D Wilson at U of A, blame can’t be placed on Seniors going to emergency, her study shows that the majority of people going to emergency are people under 65 of which the majority have mental health issues. If we were to adopt preventive measures as Ontario has to reflect Douglas vision of keeping people healthier for a longer time, that would control costs. Because of advanced medicine, seniors are living longer than ever before so chances increase that Alzheimer’s will occur with greater frequency whereas in the past, seniors would have passed away before they developed these symptoms. Just some thoughts.

blog comments powered by Disqus