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Re: Inside the Minds of Twitter Users

Vickie Smith-Siculiano, PMP — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:27:57 -0000

Fascinating look at the beliefs and motivations of people using social media. And it appears that it varies quite widely - I think that if we learn why people engage on twitter and figure out the different utilities for it, it will help to lift our economy out of the mess it's in, as people learn to trust again!

Re: Inside the Minds of Twitter Users

Bijay Rungta aka @rungss — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 01:55:27 -0000

"One of the tenets of social psychology research is the prevalence of reciprocity:
that people try to repay, in kind, what another person has provided."

It's Kind of natural for a beneficiary to "try to repay" something in return for "what another person has provided" given that Pople have to spend time and resources to do any damn thing..

Then came the Idea of Currency from Barter System...

But, People's calculation of worthyness varies.

One might feel that the Person who followed is worthy of being follwed by themselves...

“People who have a large number of followers are definitely not smarter than those who don’t.”

> Number of Followers might have been attained by Hook or Crook.
> Not all Smart People in this World is on Twitter, this might have been considered in the Data Provided.. but just a point...
> May be you should consider ratio of Number of Followers/Followings, again this has flaws...

Regards,
Bijay Rungta
http://bijayrungta.com
@rungss on Twitter

Re: Inside the Minds of Twitter Users

ac — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:48:50 -0000

@acmagalhaes Inside the Minds of Twitter Users: http://bit.ly/ZjFre

Re: Inside the Minds of Twitter Users

sciencebase — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 04:41:44 -0000

Isn't Coehlo Brazilian?

Re: Inside the Minds of Twitter Users

Jodi Hendrickx — Sat, 16 May 2009 20:12:41 -0000

Who Cares ????

Re: Inside the Minds of Twitter Users

Captain Jack — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 05:37:53 -0000

That's a very small sample and lacks a more comprehensive view of the data. If this is a true snap shot of social networking then we are all in trouble.

Re: Inside the Minds of Twitter Users

Courtney Kuehn — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:09:55 -0000

It would be interesting if research could be done on the professions of Twitterers, and if this research could be organized around time of sign-up. In the beginning of Twitter, I'm sure there weren't many celebrities or brands tweeting. Of-course now as Twitter is becoming slightly more mainstream within social networking/media, we see celebrities and brands join in. I also think that Twitter began with users who were and are geeks, creative-types, explorers, people who (as you share here) are open to learning new things. I'm sure the interest in following those were followers was fairly high. In a few years, it will be interesting to see the volume of users and what people get out of Twitter!

Re: Inside the Minds of Twitter Users

Courtney Kuehn — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:08:55 -0000

Re: Inside the Minds of Twitter Users

Jon Tucker — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 12:58:30 -0000

I the validity of these stats really do depend on who you're targeting. For example, if I personally see someone with 100K followers, I know that there are multiple ways of getting to this high number (some legit and some not legit).

However, if Bob the small business owner hears about Twitter and then sees that I have 100K followers, he thinks "wow! a lot of people care what this guy has to say.".

People that are only mildly familiar with Twitter and how it works will be wow'd at high numbers of followers. In some cases, those may be the people you're targeting in trying to get huge followings.

Jon Tucker
http://www.Twitter.com/JonT...

Re: Inside the Minds of Twitter Users

Alex Kahl @probefahrer — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 10:53:04 -0000

Interesting survey.

We had a survey like that in germany as well. maybe it's interesting for some of you:

2.800 german twitteruser filled out the survey in march 2009:

http://www.twitterumfrage.de

here is a link to a version translated by google:

http://translate.google.com...

Re: Inside the Minds of Twitter Users

sprestonduncan — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 21:55:25 -0000

I enjoyed this study, but would like to see one concerning the localization of Twitter, and the impact on real life, physical interaction that twitter has exherted. How many people have you met in person due to tweeting? Do local events see attendence rates correlate to the popularity of that event's twitter buzz (and to what extent)?

Personally, the relationships I've developed on Twitter have tended to expand into more tangible realms, and i dig that. A lot.

Re: Inside the Minds of Twitter Users

Susan Baier — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:07:01 -0000

Ann, this is very interesting! Have you considered doing a segmentation analysis on this data? To your point (last paragraph), different people are motivated by different things. I think a segmentation analysis would be fascinating to determine, among these highly involved users, how their motivations differentiate them.

Re: Inside the Minds of Twitter Users

Jackie — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:37:38 -0000

it's mostly spam!

Re: Inside the Minds of Twitter Users

Ellen Weber — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:31:33 -0000

Thanks for an eye-opening view of the Twitter mind, Ann and Allen! Well done and very informative overview. I am still forming my own motivation for Twitter:-)

A few things seem clear though - after time on Twitter, it's quite easy to see differences among people's motivation.

It takes time to sort through folks who really engage different ideas and who toss keen insights into a topic - angles you may have missed otherwise. It also takes a fair bit of talent to value and apply diverse ideas, reach beyond old assumptions, engage in fresh perspectives and then shoot back relevant responses in a few meaningful words. Your own thoughtful reflection here inspires the best from all of us.

My own line of work involves applying new neuro discoveries to improve daily practices for leaders and learners. Twitter keeps me up to date so that I see gaps in the fields, and new possibilities from daily discoveries:-) Thanks for nudging the Twitter process into deeper waters for another look:-)

Re: Inside the Minds of Twitter Users

Ann Handley — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:43:53 -0000

A word on methodology: I solicited survey responses from people who follow me (@marketingprofs) on Twitter, where I have about 28,000 followers, and then I asked those followers to retweet the survey link. As far as I could tell, about 116 people retweeted the link to their own network of followers; the sizes of their networks varied greatly.

We didn't specify that we were looking for any certain profile of user, but the information that came back from the 432 revealed that the majority were fairly involved with Twitter -- at least, that's our interpretation of someone who spends 2 3/4 hours a day interacting there. Maybe those motivated to respond to the survey are more involved with Twitter than those who didn't. (That's one possible was to look at it.)

The bottom line is that this is a snapshot, an insight into the minds of users. Thanks for letting me clarify.

Re: Inside the Minds of Twitter Users

Reesie36 — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 05:07:38 -0000

It is more nuanced than simply two answers.

Re: Inside the Minds of Twitter Users

Mack Collier — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:05:08 -0000

The second paragraph states: "Here are the highlights of a survey of 432 highly involved Twitter users".

The average Twitter user uses Twitter much differently than 'power' users do. This survey clearly sought to get into the mind of that group.

Re: Inside the Minds of Twitter Users

Tamona Renee — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:33:18 -0000

Interested article! As a new user, I was just asking the above questions of myself. I realized that I learned of Twitter through a celebrity (Ashton). However, I remain a Twitter user because the community (as well as Ashton) as intellectual. I don't know if it was a good idea for the research to ask about being smarter. Most "smart" people have egos and would not answer that question honestly. Then again, smart people don't have to be the smartest person in the room. They just have to be in a room with smart people. I enjoy being a part of the Twitter community because I find the majority of the people want to exchange information. When I talk about "issues" elsewhere I get complaints (Let's keep it light...). When I talk about issues on Twittr, I get articles, videos, and discussion. Tweet On! Tamona Renee, Love Koach

Re: Inside the Minds of Twitter Users

Denver car donations — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:32:57 -0000

That explains why I keep getting "friended" by people I don't know I guess.

Re: Inside the Minds of Twitter Users

Bianca — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:07:18 -0000

I'm with Brandon.

Your survey should be called "Inside the Minds of Highly Involved Twitter Users" it's not at all a reflection of the general Twitter population for a variety of reasons.

The first rule on doing surveys that aim to reflect a population is to use a random sample, which you guys clearly didn't if you went for the "highly involved users". I'd expect more from "The Social Media Guide"

Re: Inside the Minds of Twitter Users

Ann Handley — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:47:59 -0000

One of the strengths of Twitter is that there are no "rules." You can follow/unfollow/or use it however you see fit...

That said, that results from the reciprocal following question surprised me. I sort of always assumed that people would feel bad if others didn't follow them back.. but guess that's just me. (Ha.)

For the record, I do follow those who follow me, as a rule. But again, that's just my philosophy/preference.

Re: Inside the Minds of Twitter Users

LOTA MANESS — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:46:29 -0000

BUILDS UP MY EGO. ALL OF A SUDDEN I REALLY AM SOMEBODY., I TELL EVERYONE I KNOW ABOUT TWITTER. I FEEL LIKE A REAL PART OF THE WORLD.

Re: Inside the Minds of Twitter Users

Ann Handley — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:44:41 -0000

@elaine The survey was blind; meaning, we didn't collect contact info/name (that was purely optional). Given that, I'm not sure why respondees wouldn't offer the unvarnished truth. Thanks for the comment!

Re: Inside the Minds of Twitter Users

@JoshHurlock — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:39:37 -0000

Thanks for the post Ann.

The key is to build relationships with people. What should matter most is retweets and people taking the time to engage with you. This shows you are making an impact. Once you build a few good relationships then your brand will spread and there you go, expanding your influence.

Re: Inside the Minds of Twitter Users

bobbybadu — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:22:57 -0000

Where is the simple "do not agree and disagree"?