The Secret of Twitter: Audience

Ever wonder what all the fuss is about with Twitter? TechCrunch posted a sharp analysis of the phenomenon, saying that while all sorts of competitors come and go, Twitter users are a loyal and very diverse bunch—compare that to blogging, where numerous, completely different platforms flourish.

The article points to Twitter’s 140-character limit as an obvious plus. But more importantly, the article said that the answer lies in understanding Audience.

“Twitter has a simple premise: You tweet & the message is pushed to your friends,” the report said. “The actual mechanics are slightly different (messages go to everyone who follows you, whether they’re your “friends” or not, assuming your stream is public)… but from a user’s perspective, the circle of receivers consists only of the people they know. Everyone else is part of a faceless crowd that’s hidden behind the follower count.”

The report said that this simple premise holds the key to Twitter’s success: messages go to a well-defined audience. “In the moment you release a tweet, you know who’s on the line and you have an idea of who can catch a glimpse of your message.”

Compare that to blogging, where you have no idea who is reading it. Twitter’s audience, with its built-in @ lists and response mechanisms, guarantees that the service is actually useful. Facebook shows some inkling of recognizing this, now that it provides a “news feed” to track updates so that you don’t have to surf everyone’s profiles all the time.

(Image credit: Clipart.com)

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