Speaking of the Death of Twitter
Posted on February 8th, 2010 in Uncategorized |
…as I have been for some time now…
The MSM is catching up to this blog in realizing that Twitter was the most over-hyped story of 2009 and that almost nobody really likes it—not even the marketers who are both its primary users and its primary audience.
Brand Week’s cover story this week is titled, “Is Twitter the Next Second Life?”.
Author Tod Wasserman writes,
If you’re a marketer who has steered clear of Twitter, your (non)strategy may be paying off! It’s possible that this Twitter thing may just take care of itself...
…Like Second Life, Twitter has become a wasteland for brands. Verizon, a company that spent more than $1 billion on advertising in 2009, has around 5,000 followers — about 0.3 percent the amount that Perez Hilton has. Coca-Cola has 15,000. Apple’s not even on Twitter. And some corporate Twitter accounts suffer from prolonged neglect. Delta Airlines’ Twitter page went from June 17 to Dec. 22 last year without a single update.
I find this all very encouraging, not least because it bears out what I’ve been writing for months.
“Twitter is a little bit overrated,” says [Goeff Contrill, the CMO for Converse]. “There will be a new media toy that will replace it in a year or two.”
When, I wonder, will David Carr write the column admitting that he’s been wrong all along?
4 Responses
2/9/2010 11:35 am
If this isn’t the ultimate rhetorical hall of mirrors I don’t know what is. Here’s how this goes: Media hypes new tech toy. Other media notes hype. Some media accellerate hype. Some media start to question hype. Some media (this blog) stake out a roguish early position that it will fail. People use it. Some people abuse it. It works in some ways, it fails in other ways, perhaps most notably as a viable business. Now the media notes the possibility of failure. Some media disagree and boosters pitch in. Some media note the fall from grace and predict bad things. Some media (this blog) pump their fists and say “I called it - Twitter is dead/dying!”
Meanwhile, how many people still use Twitter and what are its trends compared with, say, Facebook? If Twitter is dying, prove it.
2/9/2010 4:37 pm
Twitter even solves mysteries! Witnesseth:
http://tv.gawker.com/5467638/did-the-daily-show-steal-a-joke-from-another-comedian
2/9/2010 4:56 pm
That’s the best you got? Then I rest my case.
2/9/2010 11:20 pm
You have no case.