As the summer has come to an end, I am putting up my white clothing and shoes, pushing the kids out the door to school and reflecting on a summer of main stream twitter activity.
As the use of social software has become the standard for digital life and price of entry for those who claim to be at the leading edge, twitter seems to have captured this summer's recent talk. Here are a five observations:
- Twitter 101: This fall, DePaul University’s College of Communication is offering what is being touted as the first-ever Twitter college course. De Paul was one of the first Universities in the late 1990s to lead the way during the first bubble with a degree in eCommerce studies. Perhaps the twitter course will guide tweet students on how to monetize this free service and while increasing their own influence. Read more at http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2009/09/01/twitter-101-depaul-universitys-social-media-prof-gives-his-syllabus/
- Twitterdammerung: The world's first "Twitter opera", Twitterdammerung, has been given
its premier at London's Royal Opera House. In the run-up to the event, Twitterers were invited to contribute to
a plot which started conventionally enough: “A man and a woman were
standing arm-in-arm in London’s Covent Garden. The man turned to the
woman and he sang…”.
Twitter soon gave a few twists to the original premise, adding a
love affair between William and Hans, creating a love triangle with
Helga. I think this could be a great new way of creating reality content. Read more at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/opera/6143295/First-Twitter-opera-given-premier.html - New tweet term - Tweet-turrets: You know him/her. Shoot you may have unfollowed them. Tweet-turrets is a condition when a person thinks that their every thought is important enough to broadcast to followers. Usually found in people who suffer from narcissism and isolation from real people.
- Best Buy searches for a Tweet Influencer: A recent
job posting on Best Buy Co Inc.’s Web site for a Senior Manager –
Emerging Media Marketing position based out of the company’s corporate
headquarters in Richfield, Minn. listed two preferred job
qualifications: a graduate degree and 250+ followers on Twitter. Read more at http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/43490 - Fox’s “Twitter on TV” Experiment not designed for viewers. Tweet-peats combined reruns of popular Fox TV shows Fringe and
Glee, with producers and members of the cast tweeting their show
commentary as the episodes rolled.
Unfortunately, the experiment came off the rails as the screen design never intended for people to watch the shows. Too bad that they did not learn from current TV's beautiful viewer interface used during the 08 election called Hack the debates. Read more at http://mashable.com/2009/09/04/fox-fail-tweet-peat/
While twitter is a popular social software platform, by no means is it defining the entire social media scene. As a matter of fact, the elusive youth market seems to use it as a feed service and nothing more. I have found that it is a lovely way to broadcast thought leadership and news. What are you using it for?