How is Twitter Different

To develop an effective strategy for platforms like Twitter, it is important to appreciate the characteristics and features that distinguish it among social platforms. The most notable feature of Twitter is its simplicity and ease of use, as tweets are short, and the platform is designed to be user-friendly. Other key distinguishing features are summarized below:

• What’s happening? Twitter connects people with moments that are happening. The “What’s happening?” tagline stands for “what’s happening in the world and what people are talking about right now”.
• 280-Character Limit: Brevity is a virtue in a time-starved era. Since the character limit was increased, about 12% of tweets exceed the original 140-character limit. Of course, interested users can still read more by clicking on the hyperlinks that take them where the tweeter wants them to go.
• From a marketer’s perspective, tweeting is more about taglines than descriptions.
• Anyone can Follow (almost) Anyone: Twitter is not a two-way communication platform like most other social networks. Tweets are public by default; anyone can view and interact with anyone else’s tweets. However, users have the option to protect their tweets through their account settings.
• No Filters: Every tweet arrives at every follower’s feed, unlike Facebook which is filtered.
• Public tweets are visible to anyone, regardless of whether they have a Twitter account. These unfiltered voices on the net are a valuable source of information on trends and subjects of relevance to marketers. They connect with potential customers by following their target segments.
• Marketers can connect with potential customers in targeted segments by following them on Twitter.
• Viral: Tweets can spread with great speed because they are unfiltered, and because retweeting generates momentum. Not surprisingly, impactful tweets (exhibits 21.1 and 21.2) quickly go viral, and prominent tweeters like Obama who has 133 million followers, have considerable influence over their followers.
• From a marketing standpoint, you need to remain alert. If they spread, tweets could yield big gains or cause severe damage. You need to track any contagious content that impacts your brands and respond promptly.
• Lists: Users can organize followers into lists e.g., customers, prospects, with each list on a separate timeline. This helps marketers segregate their audience into groups according to their characteristics.