I’ve been writing a lot about Twitter recently, as have a lot of other people as it continues to charge into the mainstream. Read What is Twitter, and Why Should I Care? and you’ll get an idea of where this is going, but we have some recent data collected by The Nielsen Company that talks to its increasing relevance as a communication channel:
It’s growth in terms of users is astronomical:
Fastest Growing Community in February 2009
As Nielsen note, this growth does not take into account the number of mobile users, which could increase these stats incredibly. Twitter’s use-model lends itself to mobile use perfectly, and is a very valid platform.
There is one piece of this story that I’d disagree with though: the title, “Twitter’s Sweet Smell of Success“. While Twitter has raised an impressive $55M since its founding, it has yet to find a business model. I’m sure there’s one out there, and it does not have to be solely ad-driven. But until they have found the secret sauce to generating revenues, the sweet smell of success is still only appreciated by its users.
Thanks for your discussion contribution. Because of it, I have now joined Twitter to experience it and learn more about it. It is easy to use on first impression.
Kevin
I’ve been learning more about it, and have jumped into “Twitter-land”, however, I find I have very unusual followers (nothing scary, just not related to my expertise). I really am interested in having Trainers follow me as that is my area of Recruiting focus (IT and Professional Skills). Jury is still out on how helpful this will be versus just a fun hobby…