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Profiling Tool
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Twinterviews
Thank you for visiting the Ultimate Twitter Profiling Tool. With this profiling tool you are able to:
- get a profound view on the people in your Twitter network
- find out why they are on Twitter
- how many followers they have (even in the second grade!)
- how active or inactive they are
- what type of content they are looking for
- and much much more...
Once you have filled out the Ultimate Twitter Profiling Tool you can simply retweet the tool to the people in your network, so that you can start comparing & benchmarking.
Your results are available, real-time, 24/24 and 7/7 via an online reporting tool.
The more people that use the tool, the more information you get!
What are you waiting for ;)
Cheers,
The UTS team
Twinterview: Lander Janssens
Age: 24
Country: Belgium
Job title: Web Director
Twitter username: grapplica
LinkedIn
- Who are you and what do you do in life?
I'm Lander Janssens, aka Grapplica, and I'm a Web Director for Proximity BBDO
- What is the role of Twitter in your daily life?
It's a trafficdriver, a reputationbuilder and a very strong networkingplatform
- Are you mainly a tweetreader, tweeter or both?
Both
- What do you aim for with your tweets?
Touching people with comparable interests, I aim to provide valuable links and info on advertising, design and social medi
- If Twitter would be a car brand, which one would it be?
A BMW: BMW is a fantastic brand, beautiful models and execution but there's too much people driving one. It loses it's exclusivity, it's not the mass of the community that clutters it, it's what most of that mass does with it
- If Twitter wouldn’t exist, how would you replace it?
Facebook mobile
- What does Twitter lack for you?
Many things - most profoundly: rating, or thumbs up on, tweets and having an overall tweetchart with the likes of all times
- If you had one question for the Twitter community, what question would that be?
What are you going to do when you die?
- How did you experience this type of research via Twitter?
- What is your reaction on the first results?
- What will the future bring for Twitter?
They'll sell to Google & retire sipping Margarita's , Google will make Twitter really big and integrate it thoroughly
- How should brands approach Twitter?
If they have customers something to offer, ex. contest or useful info, they should, even communicate that widely. If not they shouldn't, best practice is having a twitterpage by someone high up the ladder (CEO), who's usually inaccessable
Twinterview: Imke Dielen (or Helena Van Eykeren in real life)
Age: 25
Country: Belgium
Job title: Account Manager & Online Consultant
Twitter username: imkedielen
LinkedIn
- Who are you and what do you do in life?
Imke Dielen is the blog personality, Helena is my real name and I'm an Account Manager & Online Consultant @markee_be
- What is the role of Twitter in your daily life?
Twitter is my every day survival through the enormous information stream on internet & some days it's redundant.
- Are you mainly a tweetreader, tweeter or both?
I'm both, but each day is different. It depends on how much time I have.
- What do you aim for with your tweets?
Some keywords that speak for themselves: connection, information, conversation, interaction, insights, tips, expression
- If Twitter would be a car brand, which one would it be?
Defender :) tough, robust, safe, overview and a little rebel
- If Twitter wouldn’t exist, how would you replace it?
I would use facebook and my blog even more. MSN would do overtime to.
- What does Twitter lack for you?
A good search, a good archive and from the other side: an overall integration in other websites and applications.
- If you had one question for the Twitter community, what question would that be?
Where are we going to?
- How did you experience this type of research via Twitter?
- What is your reaction on the first results?
- What will the future bring for Twitter?
A lot of wonderful evolutions... ;-) it's a tool, and communication tool come and go...
- How should brands approach Twitter?
As a communication tool, use by passionate people in the company...
Twinterview: Kirsten Verdel
Age: 31
Country: The Netherlands
Job title: Campaign and mediastrategist
Twitter username: locuta
LinkedIn
- Who are you and what do you do in life?
Kirsten Verdel, 31 years old, from Rotterdam, the Netherlands. I do an awfully lot of different things in life. So where to start? :)Basically you could say I'm a campaign- and media strategist, a journalist, public policy specialist and writer.
- What is the role of Twitter in your daily life?
I use Twitter mainly as a form of slow chat. It kind of replaced MSN and IRC for me in many ways. I also use Twitter for 'breaking news'And I use it to keep track of what my friends and interesting people are doing.
- Are you mainly a tweetreader, tweeter or both?
Definitely both
- What do you aim for with your tweets?
To inform friends about my whereabouts or what I'm up to, and to inform them and others about news they might find interesting.
- If Twitter would be a car brand, which one would it be?
Tata. Like Tata it's growing insanely fast and it's accessible to virtually everybody, it's young (new) and far from perfect yet.
- If Twitter wouldn’t exist, how would you replace it?
I would go back to blogging, msn, hyves, facebook and IRC. Things I still use now, but less frequently.
- What does Twitter lack for you?
Lots of little things mainly, like massdeleting DM's. Or better archives.
- If you had one question for the Twitter community, what question would that be?
Various suggestions were just given to me by tweeters, most of them quite funny, but I guess I would stick with: 'everybody happy?' :)
- How did you experience this type of research via Twitter?
- What is your reaction on the first results?
- What will the future bring for Twitter?
Fast growth in the next year, advertisements, cooperation with either Google, MS or Apple, more features. If they don't keep changing, some other company will take over
- How should brands approach Twitter?
Start by giving regular customers discounts. Basically reward loyalty. Furthermore, think with tweeters, not for them.
Twinterview: Polle de Maagt
Age: 26
Country: The Netherlands
Job title: Social media strategist
Twitter username: polledemaagt
LinkedIn
- Who are you and what do you do in life?
Polle de Maagt, social media strategist. I work for Trendwolves/Boondoggle and my own company, Cafe del Marketing
- What is the role of Twitter in your daily life?
Twitter is the fastest way to contacts peers, keep up with events and find the latest news. It feels like a warm bath of buzz
- Are you mainly a tweetreader, tweeter or both?
I am more a tweeter than a tweetreader actually, although I try to change my behaviour :)
- What do you aim for with your tweets?
I really do not have a clear aim; twitter is fun, social and chill, it isn't about a personal branding twitter strategy
- If Twitter would be a car brand, which one would it be?
Toyota Prius
- If Twitter wouldn’t exist, how would you replace it?
Twitter is email meets sms meets blogs meets Hyde park. So I guess I should invest more time in those ;)
- What does Twitter lack for you?
Sms-support in EU and a clear proposition for new users. Twitter should be more like a protocol, integrated everywhere
- If you had one question for the Twitter community, what question would that be?
How could we use twitter better?
- How did you experience this type of research via Twitter?
- What is your reaction on the first results?
- What will the future bring for Twitter?
Twitter will hype, stumble and fall. But there will be other, new microcontent services integrated in social platforms
- How should brands approach Twitter?
They should rethink conversations, offline AND online and start to act like humans instead of bureaucracies. Talk to me!
Twinterview: Jan Leenders
Age: 32
Country: Belgium
Job title: (Copy)writer / Artist
Twitter username: auctionart
LinkedIn
- Who are you and what do you do in life?
Jan Leenders. (Copy)writer. Parttime artist. Husband of Inge. Father of Jitse and Fenne. http://letfabrik.com
- What is the role of Twitter in your daily life?
It isn't really part of my _daily_ life. I mainly use it in (partly) online art projects. Check @twit2art and @endlessmantra
- Are you mainly a tweetreader, tweeter or both?
The way I use it, I'd say: a tweeter. But most of the time I only tweet when an art projects asks for it.
- What do you aim for with your tweets?
Creating art projects. Talking about them so I can finetune them, or possibly use the feedback in a new artwork
- If Twitter would be a car brand, which one would it be?
For me Twitter is a tool to create art, so something practical. A small white van. With SARDONIS in black letters on the side
- If Twitter wouldn’t exist, how would you replace it?
I would probably try to create art using Flickr, LinkedIn, Facebook or something like that
- What does Twitter lack for you?
I'd like to know how many people click the links in my tweets. It would be nice if that was build into Twitter
- If you had one question for the Twitter community, what question would that be?
What do you want? What medium? What subject? What style? What color scheme? Hmm, five questions already :)
- How did you experience this type of research via Twitter?
- What is your reaction on the first results?
- What will the future bring for Twitter?
You mean the Twuture? I'm not clairvoyant, so I really don't know
- How should brands approach Twitter?
As humans. Inventive. True to themselves and their public
Twinterview: Tom H. C. Anderson
Age: 38
Country: USA
Job title: Founder & Managing Partner, Anderson Analytics, LLC
Twitter username: TomHCAnderson
LinkedIn
- Who are you and what do you do in life?
CEO of full service online research firm Anderson Analytics, first to leverg next gen textmining in MR, therefore at forefront of SNS resrch
- What is the role of Twitter in your daily life?
I was an early LI user, working with blog mining/screen scraping brought me to FB, Blogging and eventually Twitter. Part of daily comm tools
- Are you mainly a tweetreader, tweeter or both?
Both now, got on it originally to understand it better for MR consulting purposes
- What do you aim for with your tweets?
As with all SNS I believe you must deliver some value. That is relative of course. Some personal more but business related info
- If Twitter would be a car brand, which one would it be?
Party Bus, Scandinavian student graduation flatbed truck, or Megaphone Car perhaps like this one http://bit.ly/NdQmy
- If Twitter wouldn’t exist, how would you replace it?
Not sure, Come to understand its quite different than FB or LI, though both offer tweet type options, perhaps its closer to blogging
- What does Twitter lack for you?
Separation of following and follower is unique, not quite a network in the same way as other SNS, but this may be its strength as well
- If you had one question for the Twitter community, what question would that be?
- How did you experience this type of research via Twitter?
- What is your reaction on the first results?
It's different, I think it's important not to be afraid to try new methodologies, there are so many levels to learn on, great initiative
- What will the future bring for Twitter?
Tricky, Twitter may go data portability root vs walled garden. Needs to continue linkng to other SNS. Already so w/FB, prob soon with LI too
- How should brands approach Twitter?
Twitters a bit like a large public pool. No one will notice when u first jump in so just do it. Once in learn to swim better & make friends
Twinterview: Bart De Waele
Age: 37
Country: Belgium
Job title: Information architect
Twitter username: netlash
LinkedIn
- Who are you and what do you do in life?
Bart De Waele. Entrepreneur (Netlash, Talking Heads, Tagger.fm). Married to Gudrun, 2 sons. Became fused with his keyboard.
- What is the role of Twitter in your daily life?
Annotation of my life. Sharing my knowledge, discoveries and thoughts with the Internet world. My Social Search Engine.
- Are you mainly a tweetreader, tweeter or both?
I tweet a lot, ànd read a lot. Giving in order to receive, so to speak: both knowledge and attention.
- What do you aim for with your tweets?
The correct mix between an insight in my life, my knowledge and my thoughts; therefore creating value for my readers.
- If Twitter would be a car brand, which one would it be?
A brand which does not ask stereotype questions ;)
- If Twitter wouldn’t exist, how would you replace it?
Facebook, what else. But then without the quizzes.
- What does Twitter lack for you?
A 'I like' button. And maybe also 'threaded' reaction options.
- If you had one question for the Twitter community, what question would that be?
Which business model could you invent for Twitter?
- How did you experience this type of research via Twitter?
- What is your reaction on the first results?
- What will the future bring for Twitter?
In the end, Twitter will become invisible, since it is a platform rather than an application. A bit like MS-DOS.
- How should brands approach Twitter?
As thé listening-tool. A Twitterer is the canary in the coal-mine – no real miner, but if it dies on you, you’ve got a problem.
Twinterview: Clo Willaerts
Age: 39
Country: Belgium
Job title: Marketing Manager
Twitter username: bnox
LinkedIn
- Who are you and what do you do in life?
Mother of two. Chocolate lover. Internet fanatic. Organiser of Brussels Girl Geek Dinners. Marketing manager.
- What is the role of Twitter in your daily life?
Twitter is 58% of my digital life. It feels like a "lifeline", in the "Who wants to be a millionaire" sense.
- Are you mainly a tweetreader, tweeter or both?
I'm mainly a tweeter (10 per day on avg). I follow 1300 people so impossible to read what they tweet all the time.
- What do you aim for with your tweets?
I want to make a difference. Turn the power of the network into as many positive things as possible.
- If Twitter would be a car brand, which one would it be?
It would be a vintage mini cooper. Small, unique, lots of fun, an acquired taste, a bit fickle or untrustworthy at times.
- If Twitter wouldn’t exist, how would you replace it?
By meeting lots of random people at the water cooler. A very BIG water cooler.
- What does Twitter lack for you?
100% uptime.
- If you had one question for the Twitter community, what question would that be?
"What are you doing?"
- How did you experience this type of research via Twitter?
- What is your reaction on the first results?
- What will the future bring for Twitter?
Either they run out of money, or a virus causes a deadly outage. Then it returns under a different name.
- How should brands approach Twitter?
They shouldn't. Twitter is for people.
Twinterview: Soud Hyde
Age: Over 18 :)
Country: Kenya
Job title: Technologist
Twitter username: majiwater
LinkedIn: N/A. I don't have one at the moments
- Who are you and what do you do in life?
I am Majiwater a technologist by nature and a 'swiss knife' e-business guru in the making
- What is the role of Twitter in your daily life?
Mini-information updates that help me keep up with my vocation and interests
- Are you mainly a tweetreader, tweeter or both?
Both
- What do you aim for with your tweets?
Providing or soliciting information. Mainly used as an information engine apart from the random bi-friendly tweets
- If Twitter would be a car brand, which one would it be?
Probably Toyota. Its like an all in one car. Serves business, pleasure, family and friends
- If Twitter wouldn’t exist, how would you replace it?
Link Facebook to Gmail and probably Google
- What does Twitter lack for you?
A RT button. An analytics engine for business users
- If you had one question for the Twitter community, what question would that be?
Define twitter in 3 sentences or less?
- How did you experience this type of research via Twitter?
Interesting and novel
- What is your reaction on the first results?
Promising insight
- What will the future bring for Twitter?
Twitter will be a catalyst for realtime and semi-realtime stream(text) communication over the internet across multiple domains
- How should brands approach Twitter?
Twinterview: Kevin Schulman
Age: 38
Country: USA, Washington DC
Job title: Senior Vice President
Twitter username: kschulman14
LinkedIn
- Who are you and what do you do in life?
Sell and do MR pro w/ 12 yrs exp in product dev, brand equity & customer experience. also building EFM system for startup
- What is the role of Twitter in your daily life?
Resource for interesting info. try to tweet 3-4x day and contribute content, original or others. also trying build my brand
- Are you mainly a tweetreader, tweeter or both?
Definitely do both but read more than tweet and the reading is all about the links, not the tweets themselves
- What do you aim for with your tweets?
Provide useful content to followers & "search term" folks in brand, customer experience or MR. also try build personal brand
- If Twitter would be a car brand, which one would it be?
As user I say BMW strong respected brand w/ great design & engineering. as biz critique I say Ford, good brand & no revenue
- If Twitter wouldn’t exist, how would you replace it?
Revert back to more LinkedIn w/ Q&A and groups - maybe try FB. my guess is if Twitter goes, a replacement quickly emerges
- What does Twitter lack for you?
Not sure, really struggle to think of anything but like most consumers, we're lousy at knowing what we aren't getting
- If you had one question for the Twitter community, what question would that be?
What benefit do you get from Twitter and how important is that benefit?
- How did you experience this type of research via Twitter?
It was good to do. as MR guy it provides insight into what types of questions can/should ask, type responses to expect, etc
- What is your reaction on the first results?
Nice layout, good format, like word clouds. findings consistent w/ what I expected meaning people like me are on here
- What will the future bring for Twitter?
They need to monetize soon, VC can't fund forever. As they do missteps will occur, cause growing pains & invite competitors
- How should brands approach Twitter?
 Download the results of the Ultimate Twitter Study
The winner for this last question is grapplica!
Read all the answers to this question
Question:
Within a few weeks, Steve jobs will unveil the features of the iPhone 3.0. So, our question is:
What should the next iPhone bring to the table in terms of new features?
hash: #TwitterStudyQ11
Conclusion available soon
Read all the answers to this question
Question:
What would cause you to quit Twitter?
hash: #TwitterStudyQ10
What could cause that you quit with Twitter? (#TwitterStudyQ10)
- If it's not free anymore;
- If there are too much commercial tweets;
- If there is too much spam on the platform;
- If people stop tweeting interesting news and links;
- If something better comes out!
It seems like Twitter will have a hard job in selling premium services to its users (and to brands). Both in terms of functionalities as in terms of selling advertisement on the platform.
And when there is something new and better or when the functionality of tweeting is integrated in an existing - more popular - service, a lot of users will quit and join the new kid on the block:
'If something better comes along, peeps start leaving. One can only use a few social networks and there is already Facebook & LinkedIn'
Remember what we said about what could happen if a platform like LinkedIn is copying the Twitter model and integrates it in its offering!
But for some of our participants, only 'a huge meteor that destroys planet earth' can stop them from tweeting! :-)
Read all the answers to this question
Question:
What are do's and don'ts for a brand on Twitter?
hash: #TwitterStudyQ9
Do's and don'ts for a brand acting on Twitter are (#TwitterStudyQ9):
DO'S:
- Listen
- Crowd source! Use Twitter to know what's on people's minds and to get inspired.
- Ask questions, ask people for their opinion on what you are working on.
- Talk
- Share exclusive information.
- Share relevant/interesting thoughts and links.
- And do it in a personal way!
- Act like a human!
- Communicate on a personal level.
- Reply to complaints.
- Respond fast.
DON'TS:
- Spamming your followers
- Don't repeat the same message over and over again!
- Making use of automated tweets
- Don't see Twitter as just an extra stream of communication!
- Don't see it as the next big thing for distributing your advertisements.
- Bashing on competitors
- Focusing on attracting as much followers as possible
- Remember: on Twitter it's not about broadcasting, it's about being conversational!
Read all the answers to this question
Question:
What brands are doing a great job on Twitter and why?
hash: #TwitterStudyQ8
If we ask our community which brands they follow and why (#TwitterStudyQ8), a lot of people answer that they do not follow a lot of brands at all: 'gelcock: no idea don't follow brands, what would be the point?'.
It seems like personal brands are far more important on Twitter than 'real' brands! Gurus in a certain domain, founders or CEO's of big companies and celebrities are the most popular once.
Brands that are mentioned are MTV, Proxis and KFC (especially for their promotions or couponing actions via Twitter). Also Google, Apple and Twitter itself are in the list of brands that are doing a good job on Twitter because of the quality and usefulness of their tweets: '@barbara_b: The only brand I follow (so far) is Proxis. They tweet promotions: easier than going to the site & faster than a newsletter'.
Most of our participants seem to be afraid that brands will 'spam' them like they do via other online and offline media. It looks a bit like brands will have a hard time, when they want to attract followers on Twitter and have real impact there. Relevant/useful content is the one and only king on Twitter!
Read all the answers to this question
Question:
What are reasons for you to start following other twitter people?
hash: #TwitterStudyQ7
People start following other people for 3 main reasons: '@vincedaenen: follows people who make him 1. curious 2. smile 3. wonder'. Nice summary of the answers on our 'Tweet of the Day'!
Having a common interest with OR being able to make someone smile for a few seconds seem to be very important... But, being inspiring and sharing interesting thoughts and links stay the most important.
Our participants also admit that they delete people out of their folowing-list from time to time because they are not as interesting as they thought. You need to be able to learn from your followers seems to be the credo! People follow other tweeps who are able to function as their filter for online content: '@colinhopemurray: Follow people on Twitter because they spend more time browsing on Twitter than I do - and they act as a conduit'.
Most of our participants do not have a real life connection with the large majority of their followers. They get to know them via tweets of other people (RT's, @-replies, #followfriday, ...).
Read all the answers to this question
Question:
What types of people are using twitter you think? What kind of characters?
hash: #TwitterStudyQ6
Who uses Twitter according to the community itself (#TwitterStudyQ6)?
-
Journalists and bloggers to know what to write about, to know what is HOT;
-
Professionals to be in the know all the time and to promote their personal brand;
-
Celebrities, because other celebrities are doing it too and it’s a hype!?
If we go over the tweets of yesterday, we may conclude that Twitter is still perceived as a niche tool which is especially popular among social media professionals, tech savvy marketers, geeks and journalists.
All of them are using it in a very professional context...
A final tweet to end this piece with: 'Everybody uses Twitter now, thanks to Oprah' :-)
In the quantitative phase of the study we will go in-depth on which types of Twitter users there are & which profiles are using Twitter for which particular reasons.
So, stay tuned!!
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Question:
Can you complete this tweet? 'The 3 negative elements of Twitter are...'
hash: #TwitterStudyQ5
When it comes to negative things about Twitter as a platform/tool, our community comes up with the following (#TwitterStudyQ5):
Information overload ('overload' & 'noise') and spam followers seem to be the biggest issues!
A lot of users mention that the web interface of Twitter not really offers what they are actually looking for. It lacks in-depth search and tracking options, detailed profile searches and profiling options, it is not easy to follow-up and manage @-replies, searching for friends that are also using the platform does not work out well,... This is the main reason why a lot of people are using interfaces like TweetDeck to make their life in the Twitterspehere a bit more easy… to be able to make use of the value of Twitter as a tool at all.
Next to that, the instability of the Twitter API and the fact that Twitter can be somewhat addictive are mentioned in quite some tweets.
We are half way the qualitative phase of our study, up to the last bunch of questions...!
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Question:
What makes Twitter unique compared to Facebook?
hash: #TwitterStudyQ4
If you search on the internet to take a look at the opinions that are there around the battle in terms of attention, users and usefulness between 'Twitter' & 'Facebook' you get 121.000.000 hits on Google.
It seems to be a HOT topic! :-)
If we take a look at the results of our tweet/question of the day (#TwitterStudyQ4), we get the following picture:
 |
 |
Simple tool to use
Easy to start with |
More complex to use
Learning curve is needed |
| Saving time (being up-to-date fast) |
Wasting time (it's keeping you from your work) |
| Public |
Rather private |
Loose contacts
Business contacts |
Near contacts
Old & new 'friends' |
Only conversations
Effective herds who produce relevant info
Focused and to the point
Topic experts |
Explosion of different kind of things
Not always that relevant
A lot of 'trash'
Nice to knows/sees from friends |
Conversation based
About shared interests |
Relationship based
About a shared history |
Tweet: 'Facebook is for people you know, twitter is for people with the same interests'
Some tweeps refer to the fact that it is very easy for Facebook to copy-paste the Twitter model:
Tweet: 'Not that much difference, as soon as Facebook brings in hash tags and direct replies into its status update feature'
Although, we believe that LinkedIn copying the Twitter model is more like a treat to the guys at Twitter if you look at the platform’s profile pointed out above!
Read all the answers to this question
Question:
What are the 3 main reasons you started using twitter?
hash: #TwitterStudyQ3
The main reasons to start twittering are:
- Out of curiosity: to understand what the buzz is about, to get the concept of the medium, to experience how it could be useful to enrich your personal and professional life.
- Being on top of the news in general and for specific topics or interests.
- Peer pressure/recommendation, not being the one who is not into the hype.
- Networking with friends and professional contacts, staying connected all the time.
- Differentiate yourself from colleagues and friends: 'I am on it, they aren't yet!'.
Looking forward to your answers on the upcoming tweets!
Read all the answers to this question
Question:
Can you describe what Twitter means to you in one Tweet?
hash: #TwitterStudyQ2
Our second question (#TwitterStudy2) in the qualitative phase of this research project brought some refreshing insights to the table regarding the meaning of Twitter in people's live:
The ease of setting-up an account and using the platform itself, the worldwide reach without any boundaries, the fact that it is a tool for people to speak-up their minds easily and at high speed as well as the fact that it is still growing in popularity all seem to be key driving factors behind the rise of Twitter.
Twitter is like a huge depository of information and various thoughts which is continually filled. It is a radar to keep up-to-date about a specific topic, to know what happens right NOW. It is also seen as a collective brain and an archive of what has been on our minds or in the news in the past, both in general or about a specific topic.
All users seem to understand that it is about both 'giving' and 'taking', that it is 'discovering' but also 'sharing'. Twitter has become the new Digg and the new Delicio.us at the same time. Some even call it 'an interactive RSS feed', fed by a worldwide community with a broad range of interests.
Tweets:
Twitter = my sappy little brain in 140 characters or less
Twitter: a giant, world-wide refrigerator that anyone can read, covered in 140-character magnet-notes about nearly anything
Users appreciate that updates may - or even have to - be short and that thoughts, news and information are shared very fast. It seems that Twitter has taken over the position blogging used to take when it comes to amateur publishing! Blogs are more and more the playing field of professional online journalists, while Twitter is the real longtail for online content... Blogs are moving towards the 'Head' of the tail, supported in terms of trafic generation by links shared on Twitter.
Users indicate that the Twitter-platform is the place to be if you want to know everything about the here and now.
Twitter = headlines, blogs = background information!
Tweets:
A way of quickly tapping into new trends and relevant news, before the blogosphere starts publishing it
Twitter is my virtual watercooler: interaction with professional colleagues, helpful advice with links, news & gossip
'Tweeps' (as people on Twitter are called by the community itself) share their tweets with people they know and those who are like-minded. But, no one cares about the lurkers at all! The openeness and transparancy of the conversation (also through search) is what Twitter makes such a great tool, they say.
Twitter is the ultimate '(personal) branding' channel, both from a professional (what do you know, what clients or conferences are you visiting, which books are you reading, ...) as from a private (the parties you are on, the music you listen too, the interesting/funny/intelligent thoughts you have, ...) point of view.
Some trendwatchers mention Twitter as THE tool of what they call the 'statussphere'. We may speak of a STATUSsphere indeed, but here 'status' refers more to showing-off, not necessarily sharing what you are doing at a certain moment in time! Twitter has become our very own and personal communication channel.
'Broadcast Yourself' should be an ideal tagline for the tool, but that one is already taken, no? :-)
Read all the answers to this question
Question:
What words do you spontaneously associate with 'TWITTER'?
hash: #TwitterStudyQ1
What did we learn from this first exercise? 'What are you doing?' – the question Twitter is asking us all the time – is actually a wrong one. 'What do you want to share?' would actually be much better!
If we would have to summarize the main associations from our community with 'Twitter' it would be: 'A social network of friends and/or business contacts where you can share and discover interesting, exciting, inspiring or funny news/links in a very fast way'.
It is about being in the know and staying up-to-date, not about status updates! Last but not least we notice some 'confusion' on how twitter should, may or can be used... Taking this away will be the ultimate goal of this project!
Up to the next question...
Questions or remarks? Contact us: @UltiTwitStudy
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Upcoming tweets/questions
Twinterview: Lander Janssens
Age: 24
Country: Belgium
Job title: Web Director
Twitter username: grapplica
LinkedIn
- Who are you and what do you do in life?
I'm Lander Janssens, aka Grapplica, and I'm a Web Director for Proximity BBDO
- What is the role of Twitter in your daily life?
It's a trafficdriver, a reputationbuilder and a very strong networkingplatform
- Are you mainly a tweetreader, tweeter or both?
Both
- What do you aim for with your tweets?
Touching people with comparable interests, I aim to provide valuable links and info on advertising, design and social medi
- If Twitter would be a car brand, which one would it be?
A BMW: BMW is a fantastic brand, beautiful models and execution but there's too much people driving one. It loses it's exclusivity, it's not the mass of the community that clutters it, it's what most of that mass does with it
- If Twitter wouldn’t exist, how would you replace it?
Facebook mobile
- What does Twitter lack for you?
Many things - most profoundly: rating, or thumbs up on, tweets and having an overall tweetchart with the likes of all times
- If you had one question for the Twitter community, what question would that be?
What are you going to do when you die?
- How did you experience this type of research via Twitter?
- What is your reaction on the first results?
- What will the future bring for Twitter?
They'll sell to Google & retire sipping Margarita's , Google will make Twitter really big and integrate it thoroughly
- How should brands approach Twitter?
If they have customers something to offer, ex. contest or useful info, they should, even communicate that widely. If not they shouldn't, best practice is having a twitterpage by someone high up the ladder (CEO), who's usually inaccessable
Twinterview: Imke Dielen (or Helena Van Eykeren in real life)
Age: 25
Country: Belgium
Job title: Account Manager & Online Consultant
Twitter username: imkedielen
LinkedIn
- Who are you and what do you do in life?
Imke Dielen is the blog personality, Helena is my real name and I'm an Account Manager & Online Consultant @markee_be
- What is the role of Twitter in your daily life?
Twitter is my every day survival through the enormous information stream on internet & some days it's redundant.
- Are you mainly a tweetreader, tweeter or both?
I'm both, but each day is different. It depends on how much time I have.
- What do you aim for with your tweets?
Some keywords that speak for themselves: connection, information, conversation, interaction, insights, tips, expression
- If Twitter would be a car brand, which one would it be?
Defender :) tough, robust, safe, overview and a little rebel
- If Twitter wouldn’t exist, how would you replace it?
I would use facebook and my blog even more. MSN would do overtime to.
- What does Twitter lack for you?
A good search, a good archive and from the other side: an overall integration in other websites and applications.
- If you had one question for the Twitter community, what question would that be?
Where are we going to?
- How did you experience this type of research via Twitter?
- What is your reaction on the first results?
- What will the future bring for Twitter?
A lot of wonderful evolutions... ;-) it's a tool, and communication tool come and go...
- How should brands approach Twitter?
As a communication tool, use by passionate people in the company...
Twinterview: Kirsten Verdel
Age: 31
Country: The Netherlands
Job title: Campaign and mediastrategist
Twitter username: locuta
LinkedIn
- Who are you and what do you do in life?
Kirsten Verdel, 31 years old, from Rotterdam, the Netherlands. I do an awfully lot of different things in life. So where to start? :)Basically you could say I'm a campaign- and media strategist, a journalist, public policy specialist and writer.
- What is the role of Twitter in your daily life?
I use Twitter mainly as a form of slow chat. It kind of replaced MSN and IRC for me in many ways. I also use Twitter for 'breaking news'And I use it to keep track of what my friends and interesting people are doing.
- Are you mainly a tweetreader, tweeter or both?
Definitely both
- What do you aim for with your tweets?
To inform friends about my whereabouts or what I'm up to, and to inform them and others about news they might find interesting.
- If Twitter would be a car brand, which one would it be?
Tata. Like Tata it's growing insanely fast and it's accessible to virtually everybody, it's young (new) and far from perfect yet.
- If Twitter wouldn’t exist, how would you replace it?
I would go back to blogging, msn, hyves, facebook and IRC. Things I still use now, but less frequently.
- What does Twitter lack for you?
Lots of little things mainly, like massdeleting DM's. Or better archives.
- If you had one question for the Twitter community, what question would that be?
Various suggestions were just given to me by tweeters, most of them quite funny, but I guess I would stick with: 'everybody happy?' :)
- How did you experience this type of research via Twitter?
- What is your reaction on the first results?
- What will the future bring for Twitter?
Fast growth in the next year, advertisements, cooperation with either Google, MS or Apple, more features. If they don't keep changing, some other company will take over
- How should brands approach Twitter?
Start by giving regular customers discounts. Basically reward loyalty. Furthermore, think with tweeters, not for them.
Twinterview: Polle de Maagt
Age: 26
Country: The Netherlands
Job title: Social media strategist
Twitter username: polledemaagt
LinkedIn
- Who are you and what do you do in life?
Polle de Maagt, social media strategist. I work for Trendwolves/Boondoggle and my own company, Cafe del Marketing
- What is the role of Twitter in your daily life?
Twitter is the fastest way to contacts peers, keep up with events and find the latest news. It feels like a warm bath of buzz
- Are you mainly a tweetreader, tweeter or both?
I am more a tweeter than a tweetreader actually, although I try to change my behaviour :)
- What do you aim for with your tweets?
I really do not have a clear aim; twitter is fun, social and chill, it isn't about a personal branding twitter strategy
- If Twitter would be a car brand, which one would it be?
Toyota Prius
- If Twitter wouldn’t exist, how would you replace it?
Twitter is email meets sms meets blogs meets Hyde park. So I guess I should invest more time in those ;)
- What does Twitter lack for you?
Sms-support in EU and a clear proposition for new users. Twitter should be more like a protocol, integrated everywhere
- If you had one question for the Twitter community, what question would that be?
How could we use twitter better?
- How did you experience this type of research via Twitter?
- What is your reaction on the first results?
- What will the future bring for Twitter?
Twitter will hype, stumble and fall. But there will be other, new microcontent services integrated in social platforms
- How should brands approach Twitter?
They should rethink conversations, offline AND online and start to act like humans instead of bureaucracies. Talk to me!
Twinterview: Jan Leenders
Age: 32
Country: Belgium
Job title: (Copy)writer / Artist
Twitter username: auctionart
LinkedIn
- Who are you and what do you do in life?
Jan Leenders. (Copy)writer. Parttime artist. Husband of Inge. Father of Jitse and Fenne. http://letfabrik.com
- What is the role of Twitter in your daily life?
It isn't really part of my _daily_ life. I mainly use it in (partly) online art projects. Check @twit2art and @endlessmantra
- Are you mainly a tweetreader, tweeter or both?
The way I use it, I'd say: a tweeter. But most of the time I only tweet when an art projects asks for it.
- What do you aim for with your tweets?
Creating art projects. Talking about them so I can finetune them, or possibly use the feedback in a new artwork
- If Twitter would be a car brand, which one would it be?
For me Twitter is a tool to create art, so something practical. A small white van. With SARDONIS in black letters on the side
- If Twitter wouldn’t exist, how would you replace it?
I would probably try to create art using Flickr, LinkedIn, Facebook or something like that
- What does Twitter lack for you?
I'd like to know how many people click the links in my tweets. It would be nice if that was build into Twitter
- If you had one question for the Twitter community, what question would that be?
What do you want? What medium? What subject? What style? What color scheme? Hmm, five questions already :)
- How did you experience this type of research via Twitter?
- What is your reaction on the first results?
- What will the future bring for Twitter?
You mean the Twuture? I'm not clairvoyant, so I really don't know
- How should brands approach Twitter?
As humans. Inventive. True to themselves and their public
Twinterview: Tom H. C. Anderson
Age: 38
Country: USA
Job title: Founder & Managing Partner, Anderson Analytics, LLC
Twitter username: TomHCAnderson
LinkedIn
- Who are you and what do you do in life?
CEO of full service online research firm Anderson Analytics, first to leverg next gen textmining in MR, therefore at forefront of SNS resrch
- What is the role of Twitter in your daily life?
I was an early LI user, working with blog mining/screen scraping brought me to FB, Blogging and eventually Twitter. Part of daily comm tools
- Are you mainly a tweetreader, tweeter or both?
Both now, got on it originally to understand it better for MR consulting purposes
- What do you aim for with your tweets?
As with all SNS I believe you must deliver some value. That is relative of course. Some personal more but business related info
- If Twitter would be a car brand, which one would it be?
Party Bus, Scandinavian student graduation flatbed truck, or Megaphone Car perhaps like this one http://bit.ly/NdQmy
- If Twitter wouldn’t exist, how would you replace it?
Not sure, Come to understand its quite different than FB or LI, though both offer tweet type options, perhaps its closer to blogging
- What does Twitter lack for you?
Separation of following and follower is unique, not quite a network in the same way as other SNS, but this may be its strength as well
- If you had one question for the Twitter community, what question would that be?
- How did you experience this type of research via Twitter?
- What is your reaction on the first results?
It's different, I think it's important not to be afraid to try new methodologies, there are so many levels to learn on, great initiative
- What will the future bring for Twitter?
Tricky, Twitter may go data portability root vs walled garden. Needs to continue linkng to other SNS. Already so w/FB, prob soon with LI too
- How should brands approach Twitter?
Twitters a bit like a large public pool. No one will notice when u first jump in so just do it. Once in learn to swim better & make friends
Twinterview: Bart De Waele
Age: 37
Country: Belgium
Job title: Information architect
Twitter username: netlash
LinkedIn
- Who are you and what do you do in life?
Bart De Waele. Entrepreneur (Netlash, Talking Heads, Tagger.fm). Married to Gudrun, 2 sons. Became fused with his keyboard.
- What is the role of Twitter in your daily life?
Annotation of my life. Sharing my knowledge, discoveries and thoughts with the Internet world. My Social Search Engine.
- Are you mainly a tweetreader, tweeter or both?
I tweet a lot, ànd read a lot. Giving in order to receive, so to speak: both knowledge and attention.
- What do you aim for with your tweets?
The correct mix between an insight in my life, my knowledge and my thoughts; therefore creating value for my readers.
- If Twitter would be a car brand, which one would it be?
A brand which does not ask stereotype questions ;)
- If Twitter wouldn’t exist, how would you replace it?
Facebook, what else. But then without the quizzes.
- What does Twitter lack for you?
A 'I like' button. And maybe also 'threaded' reaction options.
- If you had one question for the Twitter community, what question would that be?
Which business model could you invent for Twitter?
- How did you experience this type of research via Twitter?
- What is your reaction on the first results?
- What will the future bring for Twitter?
In the end, Twitter will become invisible, since it is a platform rather than an application. A bit like MS-DOS.
- How should brands approach Twitter?
As thé listening-tool. A Twitterer is the canary in the coal-mine – no real miner, but if it dies on you, you’ve got a problem.
Twinterview: Clo Willaerts
Age: 39
Country: Belgium
Job title: Marketing Manager
Twitter username: bnox
LinkedIn
- Who are you and what do you do in life?
Mother of two. Chocolate lover. Internet fanatic. Organiser of Brussels Girl Geek Dinners. Marketing manager.
- What is the role of Twitter in your daily life?
Twitter is 58% of my digital life. It feels like a "lifeline", in the "Who wants to be a millionaire" sense.
- Are you mainly a tweetreader, tweeter or both?
I'm mainly a tweeter (10 per day on avg). I follow 1300 people so impossible to read what they tweet all the time.
- What do you aim for with your tweets?
I want to make a difference. Turn the power of the network into as many positive things as possible.
- If Twitter would be a car brand, which one would it be?
It would be a vintage mini cooper. Small, unique, lots of fun, an acquired taste, a bit fickle or untrustworthy at times.
- If Twitter wouldn’t exist, how would you replace it?
By meeting lots of random people at the water cooler. A very BIG water cooler.
- What does Twitter lack for you?
100% uptime.
- If you had one question for the Twitter community, what question would that be?
"What are you doing?"
- How did you experience this type of research via Twitter?
- What is your reaction on the first results?
- What will the future bring for Twitter?
Either they run out of money, or a virus causes a deadly outage. Then it returns under a different name.
- How should brands approach Twitter?
They shouldn't. Twitter is for people.
Twinterview: Soud Hyde
Age: Over 18 :)
Country: Kenya
Job title: Technologist
Twitter username: majiwater
LinkedIn: N/A. I don't have one at the moments
- Who are you and what do you do in life?
I am Majiwater a technologist by nature and a 'swiss knife' e-business guru in the making
- What is the role of Twitter in your daily life?
Mini-information updates that help me keep up with my vocation and interests
- Are you mainly a tweetreader, tweeter or both?
Both
- What do you aim for with your tweets?
Providing or soliciting information. Mainly used as an information engine apart from the random bi-friendly tweets
- If Twitter would be a car brand, which one would it be?
Probably Toyota. Its like an all in one car. Serves business, pleasure, family and friends
- If Twitter wouldn’t exist, how would you replace it?
Link Facebook to Gmail and probably Google
- What does Twitter lack for you?
A RT button. An analytics engine for business users
- If you had one question for the Twitter community, what question would that be?
Define twitter in 3 sentences or less?
- How did you experience this type of research via Twitter?
Interesting and novel
- What is your reaction on the first results?
Promising insight
- What will the future bring for Twitter?
Twitter will be a catalyst for realtime and semi-realtime stream(text) communication over the internet across multiple domains
- How should brands approach Twitter?
Twinterview: Kevin Schulman
Age: 38
Country: USA, Washington DC
Job title: Senior Vice President
Twitter username: kschulman14
LinkedIn
- Who are you and what do you do in life?
Sell and do MR pro w/ 12 yrs exp in product dev, brand equity & customer experience. also building EFM system for startup
- What is the role of Twitter in your daily life?
Resource for interesting info. try to tweet 3-4x day and contribute content, original or others. also trying build my brand
- Are you mainly a tweetreader, tweeter or both?
Definitely do both but read more than tweet and the reading is all about the links, not the tweets themselves
- What do you aim for with your tweets?
Provide useful content to followers & "search term" folks in brand, customer experience or MR. also try build personal brand
- If Twitter would be a car brand, which one would it be?
As user I say BMW strong respected brand w/ great design & engineering. as biz critique I say Ford, good brand & no revenue
- If Twitter wouldn’t exist, how would you replace it?
Revert back to more LinkedIn w/ Q&A and groups - maybe try FB. my guess is if Twitter goes, a replacement quickly emerges
- What does Twitter lack for you?
Not sure, really struggle to think of anything but like most consumers, we're lousy at knowing what we aren't getting
- If you had one question for the Twitter community, what question would that be?
What benefit do you get from Twitter and how important is that benefit?
- How did you experience this type of research via Twitter?
It was good to do. as MR guy it provides insight into what types of questions can/should ask, type responses to expect, etc
- What is your reaction on the first results?
Nice layout, good format, like word clouds. findings consistent w/ what I expected meaning people like me are on here
- What will the future bring for Twitter?
They need to monetize soon, VC can't fund forever. As they do missteps will occur, cause growing pains & invite competitors
- How should brands approach Twitter?
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