I just saw the scariest thing in the world. Or perhaps the most telling of our times. I don’t really know. But there it was, as I was refreshing my twitter page…@DetMattParkman (for those who don’t know twitter-speak, the @ sign makes it link back to that person’s page…it’s like the hyperlink of twitter).
It was there, on actor Greg Grunnberg’s twitter account, a link to his character’s twitter page. Yes, his character. Heroes character Detective Matt Parkman has his own twitter page. Excuse me while I die a little inside.
OK, back. I joined twitter for the same reason I joined myspace: to keep up with the bands I love. They were using the site to announce new tour dates, special giveaways, and meet and greet times and locations (especially on Warped Tour). I also follow some real-life friends, though not that many. I follow a few actors…who am I kidding, it’s just Greg Grunberg and Kristen Bell. And I recently started following one of the main personalities from the Philly morning show I podcast.
But now, twitter has been taken over as the next marketing plan. And now is when it’s going to implode.
Once Myspace became popular, it was taken over by the biggest bands, comedians, actors, and ADS. It was started by the uncool, and suddenly everyone had a myspace, and thus it was the best place to market your newest album, show, or movie. And now no one uses it anymore.
Maybe twitter will last a few more months, but keep your ear to the ground – or in this case, to the nearest emo-teen. Now that twitter is being used to advertise and market the newest trends, it has become un-trendy. The only thing keeping it useful is the fact that it has no replacement. Yet.
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2 comments:
I'd disagree on a couple levels. First, Twitter has been used to market things since the beginning of twitter. Actually, I'd argue that one of the main reasons why twitter took off originally is because it's useful for more than emo teens, but is actually relevant for real people around the world (to some extent). Twitter is one of the most valuable tools to market libraries, for example, and is one of the major things that we're looking at addressing (including teaching NGOs to market themselves through twitter and other technology tools).
I'd argue that MySpace died not because it became mass market but precisely the opposite: as it began to be used by real people, they noticed that the design and formatting sucked, and there were tons of other better ways to do the same thing.
I think you're right that over time there will be other ways to do what Twitter does, but I think it'll follow more the model of social networking broadly: nothing will replace Facebook as the default social networking tool, but other sites have adapted the concept within their realm of experience. I'd guess the same thing happens with Twitter.
I've been trying all day to find another way to say it but I can't. Katie, it's because you're not cool. Sorry.
I see all of these social networking sites in a different way than you do. I see them not as tools of adults to spread the word, I see them as tools of teenagers to connect with the scene, whatever that scene may be (in this case, the emo scene tends to be one of the more trend-setting scenes in terms of social networking sites, mostly because they find people who feel just as alone as unconnected as they, and create their own in-crowd outside of school).
LiveJournal started it *years* ago, back when you had to be invited to join by another LJ user. Then came Myspace, which was more open to the public and music-centered. Which was great when it meant that your favorite band's lead singer would message you back on Myspace (even if it was just a ghost writer, which no one realized at the time). What happened with Myspace was not that everyone realized it sucked, it was that suddenly the cool kids were on it. If I wanted a safe haven online, free from the high school bullies, Myspace used to be the place to go. Once the bullies found out about it, it was abandoned for message boards (which still have not caught on the way many other sites have...which is why they're still quite popular with the scene). And then Twitter.
For better or worse, my scene is a lot about who knew about that band first, who could get closer to the stage, who got the set list after the show. Once the cool kids catch on, the cool scene kids want nothing to do with it. Once Ashton Kutcher challenges CNN to a 1-million-follower-battle-royale, the scene gives up.
You may see the possibilities, but I see the crushed scene dreams. We're all waiting for what's next, and who can be the first person to find it.
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