Who Gives a Tweet?!
April 10th, 2009
Submitted by: Logan Travis
It seems like eons have passed since school began. Each of us has crammed our brains nearly full of business wisdom and is probably suffering from massive headaches. With so much knowledge, how many remember Lonnie Hodge? Here’s a link to Lonnie’s bio at Culture Fish Media with a hopefully memory jumpstarting picture. Mr. Hodge spoke to us about the significant marketing differences between the U.S. and China. He also mentioned a little website called Twitter and its role instantly spreading the news of China’s devastating earthquakes in May 2008.
I was thrilled at the power of this micro-blog (from Wikipedia: “Micro-blogging is a form of multimedia blogging that allows users to send brief text updates or micromedia such as photos or audio clips and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user.”) to bust through the heavily filtered Chinese media in mere moments. Lonnie so convinced me of its potential that I went home that night and signed up. However, the following morning reality set in – as it often does – as I discovered almost no one I knew had a Twitter account. How could this be? Most everyone I talked to hadn’t even heard of the site that singlehandedly announced a monstrous natural disaster to the world. Feeling unfulfilled, I resided Twitter to a decidedly non-SLO (and potentially non-American) phenomenon and let it slip into cobwebbed disarray.
Until The Wall Street Journal started talking about it.
Search “Twitter” on WSJ.com and you have to comb through thirteen pages of results to get see a 2008 date. Along the way you’ll find a How to Twitter, an article detailing (Not Quite) Earning a Living on Twitter, even a Brazilian telecommunication company advertising its new fiber optic services via a Twitter celebrity: Marcelo Tas? Not wanting to feel the utter dissatisfaction of advertising my daily activities to the void yet again, I did a little research. My search yielded information in support of two competing arguments: 1) Twitter is a populist juggernaut disseminating massive amounts if unbiased information to the world and 2) Twitter’s usage statistics don’t match its hype nor do the vast majority of users utilize its world-changing potential.
Facts Advancing Twitter as the Next Voice of the Public:
Lonnie brought Twitter to my attention with his story of the China earthquakes. He enthralled me with users spreading detailed information before most major news channels had even said word one the event. This was not a standalone event. An article in Hong Kong’s Media magazine wrote on Twitter’s role in the March 2008 Tibetan riots:
The aftermath of March’s protests in Tibet highlighted the growing importance of user-generated content in China. Netizens turned to online media to voice their opinions both of the riots, and of the Western media’s coverage of them … Similarly, microblogging services such as Twitter and Fanfou provided an outlet for the feelings of users in Tibet and elsewhere in China. Several blogs monitored these ‘Tweets’ to discover first what was happening in Tibet, then how others in China were reacting to events. (Davis, Anita. “Tibet Riots Spark Social Media Surge.” Media Apr. 2008: 10. Found via ABI/Inform.)
The author suggests “… these platforms are especially valued by Chinese citizens for whom this level of freedom of speech has not existed in the past.” If it is true, Twitter and sites like it may become a major media outlet in China and other Asian nations.
It certainly has the numbers. Twitter went from 600,000 users a year ago to over 6 million. That is a 1,000 fold increase in less than a year! Plus, this is only a measure of Twitter’s domestic web traffic; it does not include Tweets from cell-phones nor users overseas. The increased activity recently caught Business Week’s attention:
The microblogging service Twitter has caught on with everyone from celeb Ashton Kutcher to CEOs. Yet for all the buzz, Twitter has always seemed more novelty than business … It turns out there is. In fact, there’s growing evidence that Twitter, a company with no revenues today, could be worth several hundred million dollars. Two sources say social-networking service Facebook offered to acquire Twitter late last year for $500 million in cash and stock … What’s the big appeal? Twitter’s growth, for starters. Six million people use the service, up from 600,000 a year ago, according to Web traffic monitor Compete, and those numbers don’t include people who Twitter from cell phones or overseas. (Green, Heather, Robert Hof, and Spencer Ante. “Six Million Users: Nothing to Twitter At.” Business Week 16 Mar. 2009: 51. Found via ABI/Inform.)
Business Week’s point it less social-revolution and more economic profit. Yet, it is quite difficult to argue with the numbers.
So, Who are These 6 Million People and What do They Say?
It isn’t as difficult as it might seem to argue numbers. Only a month before the Tibet outcry and three months prior to the earthquakes, Twitter released a blog of its usage statistics. China is decidedly absent. Why? Reading through the comments I found one from an apparent Twitter employee: “Dear Australia, We love you. But we had to choose a cut-off point for this particular chart, which we hastily put at 10 — i.e., the top 10 countries outside the U.S. by twitter.com visits. Currently, Australia is number 12. Try harder! :)”
A little harsh. More recent statistics from the Alexa show China much higher in Tweets than the year before. It is ranked #5 (and India at a surprising #4) claiming approximately 3.2% of user visits. This is significantly less than the U.S. at 47.5% which begs the question, “Who Tweets?” I still know fewer than 10 people on Twitter and from asking classmates I don’t believe I’m alone. But the site has 6 million users meaning almost 3 million in the U.S. This gross discrepancy comes from defining potential world impact on users rather than usage. It seems like a minor issue. Yet as the Alexa numbers suggest, Twitter’s overall web traffic at 0.2176% of world usage (3 month average) means only a small fraction of its accounts are active.
Additionally, the question of what information is rushing across Twitter’s server raises concerns. For those of you without Twitter accounts, take a look at a site called Twistori. Clicking one of the six keywords on the left will cause the site to display – in real time – all posts containing that word. Anyone want to time how long it takes to see some profound insight into China’s media restrictions? Or even India’s upcoming elections? I hope you have several days to dedicate yourself.
I’m also sad to say that one Tweet that catches your attention may be a plant. Astroturfing has grown increasingly common on social sites. Sara Yin with Hong Kong’s Media reports:
In the pre-internet days, astroturfing was limited to politics. The phrase refers to the practice of paying people to create fake grassroots (hence the pun) sentiment … But in China’s online sector, astroturfing has become a media issue, with reports of students hired to feed messages on bulletin boards (BBS), social networks, blogs, even Twitter … One of the biggest astroturfers is the Chinese Government, which has built up an army of blogging students (known as 50 Centers, as the typical price for their services is 50 cents per post) to fend off what they see as hostile forces on the web. These pounce on online discussions that touch on sensitive issues and neutralise them, sometimes through on-message posts, other times by rendering the discussion meaningless through banal posts. (Yin, Sara. “Astroturfing.” Media 7 Aug. 2008: 9. Found via ABI/Inform).
Tweet Your Day Away
So, what do you think? Twitter certainly offers some amazing benefits, particularly in mass information dissemination. That information may prove utterly useless though if it only comes from a small group of active users especially if they Tweet with ulterior motives. Personally, I plan to keep my account active. I even started posting again primarily to break up some day-long study sessions. I don’t have any followers and only keep an eye on a few friends. It’s just strangely appealing to broadcast my actions and ideas onto the web. Maybe you’ll agree.
Entry Filed under: Pre-Departure, China, Guangzhou, India, Pre-Departure
18 Comments Add your own
1. David Caldwell | April 10th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
I’ve got a twitter, though it’s usually filled with pretty uninteresting material:
http://twitter.com/immanis
Here’s a video I came across that basically describes the whole process - you may enjoy it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN2HAroA12w
2. Lonnie B Hodge | April 10th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Thanks for the shout and a great synopsis about Twitter.
Many of my students have now adopted Twitter (imagine that!) and there are a great many top bloggers and China thought leaders in Advertising, Photography, New Media, Business and Journalism on the service.
Too, there are some important cultural bridge building commercial twitter users letting the “Twitterati” know about the release of bi-lingual (or explained videos) on services like Youku.com which is getting many more daily hits than is Youtube…
Here a a few folks, all friends, and services you may want to check into:
http://twitter.com/kaiserkuo Former Digital Guru at Ogilvy and now a marketing force at Youku
http://twitter.com/flypig The other half of the cultural marketing team at Youku
http://twitter.com/normandymadden Editor of http://twitter.com/adagechina
http://twitter.com/sdweathers formerly with BBC and now a TV sensation in China, albeit with some depth
http://twitter.com/shelisrael Journalist with C-Net for many years and author of Naked Cinversations. His new book is due out soon: Twitterville
http://twitter.com/thomascrampon Former Bureau Chief of the IHT and now Asia Director of Ogilvy 360 Digital Strategy
http://twitter.com/wolfgroupasia David Wolf the brightest communications and Strategy guy in China
http://twitter.com/Youkubuzz The news about videos coming out in English
http://twitter.com/rmack Founder of Global Voices Online, Former CNN Bureau Chief in Beijing and Tokyo, HKU Prof…
http://twitter.com/rolandinchina Philanthropist and Businessman now building homes in Sichuan. Part owner of the cutting edge PR service Pitchengine.com
http://twitter.com/weirdchina Businessman and MBA in Shanghai
http://twitter.com/marcvanderchijs Founder of Todou Video sharing
http://twitter.com/ganglu PhD in wireless and one of the early team members of Netease and other top services in China
http://twitter.com/danwei one of the most influential bloggers and journalists in Asia
http://twitter.com/sagebrennan Repected Venture Capitalist in Shanghai
http://twitter.com/isaacmao Harvard Berkman Law Felllow, Venture Capitalist, China’s First Blogger
http://twitter.com/theprkingduck VP of Ketcham Newscan, The gold standard of personal blogs in the Asia Sphere
http://twitter.com/fuzzheado Author of the Wikipedia Revolution and former Prof at Columbia
http://twitter.com/frankyu Microsoft leader on the Vista Project and now the authority on gaming in China
http://twitter.com/danharris of The China Law Blog
http://twitter.com/lonniehodge Some professor in China
Head here for more great names to follow: http://twitter.grader.com/index.php?Action=TwitterUsersByLocation&Country=CN
Have fun….
Lon
3. Lonnie B Hodge | April 10th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
I forgot my best friend in Australia with whom I am doing a show on Blog Talk Radio about China ( http://blogtalkradio.com/chinaconersation ) ….
http://twitter.com/deswalsh Former Aussie government ‘crat turned Chinaphile and one of the world’s leading authorities on Social Media. He has written books about LinkedIn for business and Corporate Blogging and he is one of the nicest people on the planet.
And http://twitter.com/gyspsydust Chinese Traditional Medical doc today doing the China Symposium at Harvard. we are doing a panel together at the IUAES World Congress (IUAES) on “Humanity, Development and Cultural Diversity” to be held in July, 2009 in Kunming, China.
I just took over, in addition to professorial duties and CEO’ing CultureFish Media, as director of operations for http://pitchengine.com a cutting edge social media release service (being used by 3,600 brands) which we have just localized for the China market. Des is the Aussie country director…
Whew!
4. Logan J Travis | April 11th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Hello again Lonnie and thank you for the list of prime tweets. Can I ask, how in the world do you follow 18,000+ people?! Really, do you use a program to filter/grade/emphasize tweets? I’m new to twitter (obviously) so I just can’t conceive managing that kind of volume…
Oh, thanks too for the link to TwitterGrader.com. I really appreciate knowing I’m well on my way toward tying your 99.99 with my already stunning 6.
5. Jimmy Spann | April 13th, 2009 at 11:54 am
I also signed up for a twitter account shortly after Lonnies talk with us. However, I never really got into updating my status every 5 minutes like the rest of the twitter users. I think that I might use it more often when we are in China and India to update all of my friends and family that are back here in the States keeping track of me on our trip. And I do think that it is a great marketing scheme for celebrities who can let their fans and followers know a little bit more about their life and can market their new projects, or stir up a controversy for sporting events.
It has taken off just like facebook and myspace, but it will be interesting to see what these social networking sights will come up with next? Maybe they will allow you to post your exact location, through the GPS locator in your cell phones, on your site so that everyone can tell where you are at all times. Or maybe these sights will allow you to link up live web cams through your phones so that everyone can see exactly what you are seeing in real time. Who knows, but twitter is a great way to spread information and is a perfect example of how one can use viral marketing to spread the word to the rest of the world.
I am also curious how someone is able to follow so many people? Is there a point where it becomes too large?
6. Lonnie B Hodge | April 13th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
They already have iPhone clients/applications that will locate you on Twitter….I use Twinkle (I know…) and Twitterfon…
If you look at my tweetstream ( it is amazing the lexicon that has evolved) you will see that I am very NON commercial and most of my tweets are about charity, China, and social media related topics…I only spit out updates publicly if I think there is something to be gained by those reading….BTW, on my recent trip to Thailand it is exactly how I communicated my whereabouts to my friends: via updates. I did try to make them interesting and some of my i-Phone pics received over 1000 views within hours…Amazing….My blog, even at the height of its popularity, could never do that…
I use a a desktop client and one browser based client to manage my raging river of information: I use Tweetdeck to segregate out tweets I absolutely want to read and I use Power Twitter on my FF browser to post pics, links and do searches for information that is current/being talked about…I answer EVERY @ or direct message sent to me and thank everyone who retweets any of my info…It does not take as much time as you might think…
Another good service is called Retweetist. It tells you what is going viral on Twitter as measured by retweets (tweets with an “rt” in front of them) across the Twittersphere…
Twitter is a mainstream source of info now for big papers like the Trib’ and The Guardian…
I will leave you with their spoof from April Fools: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/01/guardian-twitter-media-technology
Best,
L
I
7. Jenna Healy | April 15th, 2009 at 5:23 am
I too was intrigued after Lonnie came to talk to us. I went on the site, looked around, and realized, like Logan, I knew almost no one who used Twitter. Most of my friends were already on FaceBook, MySpace or were still protesting all social networking tools like I was before the MBA program began.
I think now I’ll sign up for an account, even if it’s just to follow all the people Lonnie posted for global news and such. Is there a way to find people you know on Twitter, like how LinkedIn looks through email contacts?
8. Lonnie B Hodge | April 16th, 2009 at 5:26 am
There is a service called Mr Tweet (ya) http://mrtweet.com that matches you with like minds….and you can use http://search.twitter.com to track keywords or folks you want to follow….All Twitter accounts have rss feeds too if you want to follow someone specifically and add them to Google Reader etc….
9. Simeon Trieu | April 16th, 2009 at 7:04 am
Thanks for the article, Logan. I’ve been an avid fan of Twitter for about half a year now. Actually, I connect with Lonnie all the time on Twitter.
For example, I just watched the vid Lonnie put up, hilarious! In common tweet format:
This describes Twitterers to the tee! RT @lonniehodge Here’s a video I came across that basically describes the whole process - you may enjoy it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN2HAroA12w
(where RT means Re-Tweet, kind of like forwarding an e-mail, and I’ve referenced Lonnie with @lonniehodge, his twitter name so people know the source)
This is all good and well, but for Chinese news, we are relegated to English tweets. We rely on those expats who are living in China to tell us what is going on from their own biased perspective. It’s better to follow tweets from people who understand both cultures (hence they are acting as a bridge, an important foundation in US-China relationships) @kaiserkuo (he gave a presentation to the 2008 MBA trip) is one such person. Want to see the real, RAW China? Follow a twitterer who speaks in Chinese. But, I can’t say that you’ll understand it all, especially with the slang being rampant, but that’s how our sources will be if we want to hear it directly from the horse’s mouth.
10. Chris Carr | April 16th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Lonnie has been on me for two years to join Twitterdom. But I can barely get through my emails each day and am hesitant to add another layer of distraction to work flow.
That said, I have toyed with it a bit and think it’s pretty cool. My general experience is also that when you ask someone in the US what Twitter is, you still get a lot of blank stares. In China, much less so — they Chinese seem to relish new technologies like this, especially their younger crowd, and this is one reason some firms set up portions of their R&D there.
What Twitter means for the future in business, I don’t know. But I would predict that even more cool business opportunities will come out of it to pursue.
11. Logan J Travis | April 19th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
I keep discovering more and more about Twitter. Lonnie, thanks again: I love @retweetist. I needed a wider net to catch global news but wanted one that would have some filtering. Retweetist has done the trick so far. Also, your comment about your non-commercial tweets bears consideration. I keep getting “followed” by re-branders, online mentors, etc. Most appear to troll the twitter-waters for new users to add to their grossly exaggerated follower count (i.e. I doubt many actually read their usually mundane tweets). I pass on most, though a few post news that interests me. I follow-back but add them to my “Bias?” group in TweetDeck (very handy).
Twitter still finds its way into major media streams too: From the Wall Street Journal’s Opinion section, Williams and Stone: The Twitter Revolution. Now, how do I tweet a resume?
12. lonniebhodge | April 21st, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Here is an older article from Biz Week on the Twitter Escalator Pitch…..I have known it to work… http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/may2008/sb20080516_673078.htm
Also Pitchengine.com is a perfect example of a business that leveraged PR folks on twitter and releases on Twitter to build a biz now being looked at by venture folks and takeover companies…
L
13. lonniebhodge | April 22nd, 2009 at 4:13 pm
By The way: Live Tweeting the Omega China Golf Tour Nanjing event this week at the Sofitel Resort. First accredited live Tweet of a Pro Tourney…
http://twitter.com/chinagolf
http://china-golf.us
Gorgeous place…
14. Raquel Rusing | April 24th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
All this Twittering I keep hearing about has got me Twitterpated! Soooo… I caved. I signed up, too. And after I signed up I realized two things:
1. I originally signed up as a means to inform my family and friends about my travels in Chindia. This wasn’t well thought out because I don’t have internet access as I walk the Great Wall of China or shop at the Pearl Market. Also, I think the whole concept of this, even domestically, would be much helped if I had a phone with internet. All those iPhone users - have at it. I quit. I have Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, two emails, blah blah… maybe this fragmented industry needs a little consolidation. I’ll wait for my moment to strike.
2. This whole status concept is horrible! Think of all the perfect opportunities for someone to take advantage of you!
For example:
Twitter Update #1: “Off to San Francisco for the weekend! Ciao peeps!”
-Response: you come home to your house trashed because you link your Twitter to your Facebook, which has your address and robbers decided to jack that Apple laptop and your Sony big screen tv. And don’t even look for it… your Tivo is gone, too.
Twitter Update #2: “Uptown Cafe in 20… anyone need to study calc??”
-Response: Billy Bob, that creepy guy from your calculus class waited all day for you to visit Uptown Cafe like you said you would and he’s confused how that update wasn’t his direct invitation to meet you there… this is the fourth time he’s shown up somewhere and now you’re thinking about calling the cops.
Twitter Update #3: “Join me down by the river at noon for some koolaide and cookies!”
-Response: your followers have become so enamored with your charismatic twitting that they convene at the river to drink Flavor Aid and you’ve just found yourself to be the next Jim Jones.
I know that I’m being pretty ridiculous, but it does scare me to some degree. We have become so needy for constant attention and Twitter has merely set up another avenue to fulfill that greed. I can understand its benefits from a business standpoint - you have to keep up with the millennia generation going 80 seconds a minute, but from a personal perspective, maybe we should have invented a site that reminds us to slow down every few minutes.
15. Jenna Healy | April 24th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
I couldn’t agree more! I get a little “weirded out” sometimes with all the social networking media…
And sorry guys, I haven’t fallen in love with twitter yet. It seems just like the “status update” feature on Facebook, in which only your approved friends can see what you’re writing.
Am I missing something? I have the NYTimes and WSJ on my iPhone, so any news on Twitter seems to be redundant. Is the point that tweets can move faster than news crews?
16. Matt Eves | April 28th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
I have had a couple really interesting conversations with a friend of mine who works in internet marketing at Shopatron here in San Luis Obispo that were all about Twitter. I decided to start a twitter on the history of electric autos and update it as I read through the history of the industry over the past 100 years. I think pick something you are passionate about, be a source of valuable information on it, and post everything you see that reminds you of it or something you’d like to look at later. Twitter becomes an online library of proof of your interest in something… There are plenty of RT twitter accounts, (Retweet) where someone just reposts what somewhat else already did… I find that a poor use of the service… but observations you make with your own eye via your own research…. I think that is valuable.
I think it takes a lot of time and devotion to commit to a Blog and people these days would rarely take time to read through someone’s blog, but following people on twitter is easy and doesn’t take that much time… I love it!
17. Chris Carr | May 3rd, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Logan,
You may enjoy this Fox News article on twitter in business, that a friend just sent me:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,518481,00.html
18. Cece Reyes | May 9th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Twitter is a great resource, and best used as Logan mentions, for some purpose that is interesting to many or it seems particularly useful for celebrities, hence the Ashton Kutcher/CNN race. Ellen and Oprah jumped on the twitter train about the same time. Politicians also seem to be signing up and and politicians and the first I recall hearing about Twitter in the news was when George Stephanopoulos interviewed John McCain. I heard mixed reviews on that - the interview was lacking interest compared to a live interview, but nice to know a politicain can keep an answer to 140 characters or less.
I have been signed up for some time, but can’t bring myself to tell people I’m doing laundry or I’m in class, again. Good news is I have 1 follower, Raquel. She thinks I’m still studying. There are some great uses that I see for Twitter including travel updates (when access permits) and group activities, as well as news and emergency messages like earthquakes in China. And Ellen used it for a contest - she tweeted for people to show up at a specific location with a 6-pack and an ID, and the first student to arrive won a trip…those people are glad they were following her tweets.
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