Will Oprah and Ashton Make Twitter the Next AOL?
A number of people on Twitter are all excited today. First of all, Ashton Kutcher (aplusk) beat CNN (cnnbrk) in a contest to see who could reach 1,000,000 followers first. On top of that, Oprah (oprah) joined Twitter today and already has almost 100,000 followers. She is also tweeting on her show today. So, Twitter can probably expect an influx of new users after today’s show airs. And, Oprah will probably have 1,000,000 followers shortly thereafter.
PC Magazine has an article today, entitled “Oprah and Ashton Will Destroy Twitter.” (Found by way of Guy Kawasaki.)
I don’t know that things will be quite as grim as the article paints it. But, I think we can expect a large influx of users that really won’t understand how things work, much like in the days of AOL. Back in the day, for those old enough to remember, AOL send floppy disks (later CDs) to virtually everyone. AOL really tried to get everyone on the service. New computer users gleefully signed up. Older computer users were thankful for the steady supply of floppy disks for file storage. (CDs were used for coasters or target practice.)
At any rate, AOL users gained a bad reputation. They were considered inexperienced, if not stupid. Long-time netizens would recognize that most people having problems, or causing problems, on the Internet were AOL users, many of whom had difficulties performing the most basic of tasks.
Of course, not all AOL users were that way, but with AOL’s almost excessive promotion, AOL more than any other service, gained a higher percentage of users that were largely clueless about how the Internet works. Many thought AOL was the Internet. (By comparison, many today think Google is the Internet.)
Experienced and power Internet users, if they started on AOL, moved to other service providers, typically a local ISP. Companies, news outlets and other services that had maintained large presences on AOL, slowly moved to the world wide web. AOL was even described as “an ISP with training wheels.” So, over time, those who stuck with AOL were viewed as somewhat akin to children by other Internet users. And, there are probably a number of people, from eCommerce site owners to technical support people, that can tell you “horror” stories from AOL users.
Of course, the stereotype is not fair. It’s certainly a wide swash of a brush to say that all AOL users are or were stupid, but it is a reputation that they, as a group, managed to acquire.
The concern here is whether this will happen to Twitter. How will these new users who hear about Twitter on Oprah view the service? Will the new influx of people be interested in becoming contributors and members of the community? Or, will they just be a bunch of celebrity gawkers hoping to find out the latest gossip from celebrities on Twitter? (Many of which won’t actually be tweeting themselves, but instead be “outsourcing” that service to PR reps.)
Will celebrity gawkers gushing about their favorite celebrities and obsessively tweeting them in the hopes of getting their attention and a reply clog up the service?
Perhaps it is up to the Twitter community to help show these people the ropes, so that they realize that Twitter is more than just a way to virtually stalk their favorite celebrities.
On the other hand, maybe they’ll just get bored when they don’t get enough of the gossip they’re after, and abandon the service as quickly as they joined.
And let’s just hope Twitter co-founder Evan Williams (ev) doesn’t jump up and down, excitedly, on Oprah’s couch while talking about the service.
OTHER ARTICLES:
OPRAH’S FIRST TWEET
How “@aplusk” and “@ev” Getting Sucked into Oprah will Change Twitter Forever, for Better or Worse
Oprah Hearts Twitter. So What?
Oprah’s first tweet so-so, but fans flock
Five Reasons Why Oprah Winfrey On Twitter Is A Disaster
Oprah’s on Twitter! - Live Updates
Twitter and the Oprah-effect
Oprah Hits Twitter, Earth Continues to Spin
Twitter Gets the Oprah Treatment
It’s Not the Recession, You Just Suck
Twitter Wars - Oprah, Ashton, CNN and You
Oprah Winfrey writes her first ‘tweet’ live
Oprah Makes Her Twitter Debut: Live Updates of Oprah’s Twitter Account
Should Oprah Be Allowed To Speak At BlogWorld?
Twitter on Oprah: The Biggest Test Yet
Twitter On Oprah: Will It Be A Boon Or Bust?
Will Oprah (@oprah) Ruin Twitter?
Mobile Twitter Game Heats Up; Oprah, Ashton Kutcher Fan the Flames
Oprah On Twitter and the Nosedive Begins
Oprah’s First Words on Twitter: “HI TWITTERS”
Oprah, Ashton Kutcher mark Twitter ‘turning point’
Twitter’s big tweet: Oprah
Are Oprah, Ashton Kutcher taking the geek out of Twitter?
Oprah Joins Twitter, But Is It Still Cool?
Oprah: Social Media Fantasy Campaign
But do they really get it?
And the Mighty Oprah’s First Tweet Is…
Oprah Tries Twitter, Crowns Ashton King of It
Oprah to Tweet on TV Today (Say That 10 Times Fast)
Thanks to Oprah, we can finally stop talking about Twitter
Audience cheers as Oprah writes first ‘tweet’
Oprah, Ashton Kutcher mark Twitter ‘turning point’
Kutcher, CNN and Oprah make Twitter’s day
From Twitter: Delays when following or unfollowing @aplusk
Oprah is a Twitter Maniac!
Twitter’s Big Day: Oprah Winfrey and Ashton Kutcher Bring Twitter to the Mainstream
Oprah Tweets, Twitterverse Freaks
Ashton Kutcher and Evan Williams Talk Twitter With Oprah [Video]
Oprah and Ashton and twitter… Oh My!
Oprah joins Twitter
And Twitter was never the same …
Oprah Crowns Kutcher King of Twitter
Look Out, Twitter: Here Comes Oprah
With Oprah Onboard, Twitter Grows
Ashton Kutcher Punks Twitter: A Giant Million Follower PR Stunt
Thousands sign up for Oprah’s 1st Tweet
Secret to Ashton Kutcher’s Twitter Success? Billboards
And, as if Oprah and her hoards of followers joining Twitter wasn’t enough, the “mickeyy” Twitter worm is back for another round!
Mikeyy Twitter Worm Returns with Message for @oprah (Also has advice for getting rid of it if your account is “infected” by the exploit.)
From Twitter: Defending against worm attack
I think that new twitter users that don’t play by the rules might just find themselves alienated. If they’re not contributing in a positive way, why would people follow them?
If they just want to monitor their celebrities and their PR spokespeople, more power to them - they don’t have have to join twitter for that, they can just use the web to access those pages.
As long as I can post mini blogs and photos to my page from “anywhere” … I will like Tweeters. Honestly, if it were not for the ease of mobile updates, I would really have little interest. The vast universe of twitter will rise and fall just like everything else, but I doubt the premise or service will ever fail.
Bah- so much talk about twitter and the Hoochie Kutcher gang. All you need is me.
It’s a beautiful day for shutter pulling Speedcat- I am waiting.
I just tore all those shutters OFF (heheheheheheheheheheeeeee)
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