Though Twitter already holds the distinction of being the world’s fastest growing social network, its founders are in no mood to sit back and relax on their current laurels. Instead, they have now set their eyes on making Twitter a one-billion member strong social community.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said earlier this year that Facebook, the world’s most popular social networking site is on track to reach the magic figure of “one billion members”. While I do not treat Twitter and Facebook as competitors, it will be interesting to see which of the two manages to cross the 10-digit barrier first.
Not just about the numbers
It’s not just the Twitter numbers that fascinate me. I’ve always looked at Twitter as the convergence of micro-blogging, social media and online marketing coupled together in a simple and easy to use manner. When Twitter originated, even the most die-hard optimists would have shied away from predicting that a 140-character micro-blogging site will rule the social media world.
Twitter currently has 145 million members worldwide so one billion might seem like a long shot to some people. However, considering that nearly 1.8 million users are joining the Twitter bandwagon every week, the odds are stacked strongly in favor rather than against the micro-blogging site.
I’ve often re-iterated that Twitter’s USP is its simplicity. There’s a golden rule for websites – If it ain’t simple enough, people are not going to use it. And I’m glad that ease of use was one of Twitter’s basic founding principles.
Unlike Facebook, Twitter has kept the key aspects simple – Privacy and User Experience. There have been no major overhauling changes till the last month or so. And now even when Twitter is offering the new preview mode, it’s still giving users an option to revert back to the old look and feel.
The Business Angle
Twitter has matured as a business platform over the last couple of years. The company announced last month that it would start putting more advertisement after a successful trial with brands including Starbucks Corp., ESPN and Coca-Cola Co. The advertisement trials were done with 30 advertisers, including major movie studios, Nike Inc. and Best Buy Co.
During the trial, Twitter displayed the ads next to the search results of the site and by the most popular topics, which is on the right side of the Web page. Contextual marketing is a key component of online promotions and I’m glad that Twitter has figured this out sooner than later.
Do you think Twitter has the legs to win the race for the 1-billion-member trophy? Will the revamped website that makes it easier to post photos and videos, attract more users and marketers? Share your opinion by leaving a comment below this post.
although Twitter is social media darling of the moment I feel it will be yesterday’s news long before it reaches the big billion. such is the life of any popular electronic entity of the now, here today, just a memory tomorrow…
Geowaco, it could be “yesterday’s news” before it hits the big number; based on the current throve of ‘Twitter Bandwagoners’, I doubt if would be news that soon.
Many of the successful “electronic entities” of yesterday are struggling or forgotten today due to their sluggishness with, or lack of innovation. Most literally sat on their laurels. If Myspace had been as aggressive as Facebook is with innovations when they were on top the social networking chart, they’d be more relevant today.
On other hand, I hope Twitter and its peers took a cue from the past and move into the future with boldness.
How do people come up with this stuff? As of January, Twitter had 75 million users, but only 15 million active accounts. Facebook has 500 million users and is still growing. Does anyone really think that Twitter will hit 1 billion before Facebook or QZone? The 190 million users Twitter is said to have currently is based on self reporting. I’ve yet to see any independent verification yet. Keep in mind, the more users you say you have, the more will come and the more advertisers will pay.
As of August 2010 Facebook had 128 million unique visitors per month compared to Twitter’s 29 million. Unfortunately this isn’t an apples to apples comparison since people who are not Facebook users can’t see any FB content until they’re logged in. The same is not true of Twitter. You don’t need to even have an account to view content from most users. Some visits to Twitter may be only window shopping, not actual users. Of course there’s the problem of mobile use. While the Facebook iPhone app reportedly represents 50% of the device’s usage, I’ve yet to see independently verified numbers for either mobile use of Facebook or Twitter. Arguably Twitter has a huge contingent of mobile users that can’t easily be tracked.
I agree with both commentors below that Twitter is likely to peak before it reaches 1 billion. I’d put my money on Facebook to hit that mark first, if it can.
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