Is Twitter Getting too big? A lesson for your speeches

A recent post by Brett Duncan of Marketing In Progress really made me think about twitter. It wasn't even the post so much as his comments at the bottom of the page. When discussing the growth of twitter he states "Early adopters like a product as long as they are the early adopters for it. Once it reaches that majority status, early adopters start looking for something else to adopt . . . early." 

This is an interesting thought. Is Twitter getting too big? Is it starting to grow too much? I am guessing that those who are invested in the growth of twitter would say no, but I think it is a fair question. I think Brett's point that people who are early adopters of something do tend to get upset when whatever they have adopted becomes mainstream. I equate this to the music fan who thinks that their favorite band was much better when no one knew who they were.

I have to admit, I wasn't sure what I would think of Twitter. I was a little skeptical at first and didn't know what all the fuss was about. However, after trying it out I have really liked it and use it almost every day to keep up on news, new blog posts and just banter with other people. I was not one of the "early adopters" but have sort of jumped on the bandwagon just before it exploded with the likes of Oprah and Ashton Kutcher. However, I have noticed the explosion of twitter as of late and I'm not sure what to think of it. Will people leave? I think they will. At what point will that saturation get? If you know then you are a smarter person than I.

Take a lesson about Twitter when you are preparring a speech. Know when to say when. You want to leave the audience waiting for more. If you start putting too many things in your speech or your presentation you are going to start losing your audience. If people start to feel overwhelmed or that you are putting too many things in your speech, they will start to lose interest and they are going to be looking for a way out to something better.

Is this going to happen to twitter? Probably not for quite a while, and I am sure they will do just fine. However, something will probably come around that will challenge it, much like they have challenged facebook. Were you an early user of Twitter? Are you starting to feel like Twitter is getting over-exposed? If they are, is it that big of a deal? Are you looking for something new?

Travis

Comments

[Brett Duncan, MarketingInProgress.com]

Travis - thanks for the link.

I actually hated Twitter when I signed up a year ago. I think a lot of it had to do with who I followed (mostly friends making sure I knew every little thing they were doing) and the tool I used (a Treo).

What really made the difference for me was getting an iPhone in February. With that, Twitter became very easy to navigate, which meant I started following the right people and enjoying it as a news source.

I think a good example of being too big is Facebook. I mean, as recently as last year, it was the darling of the web. Now, people act like it's lost its edge, and it's all because it's gotten too big.

@bdunc1