Sunday, October 11, 2009
Twitter's popularity is driven by an older age group. However, Claire Miller states in her article, "You Tube attracted young adults and then senior citizens before teenagers piled on." Will Twitter follow a similar path? Will Twitter be adopted by teenagers in the future? If not, will Twitter's success come to an end?
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I personally do not think that Twitter will follow a similar path, unless it adapts to include more services that teenagers would be attracted to. A quote from Miller’s article says ''Because it's a one-to-many network and most of the content is public, it works for this [professional purposes] better than a social network that's optimized for friend communication.'' Seeing as how “friend communication” is what teenagers want from the internet, I don’t think that the current Twitter is enough to lure teenagers to use it. I don’t believe that means that Twitter’s success will end, however, as its current users will most likely continue to use it as they grow older, and today’s teenagers will join when they reach the age where they want to utilize the internet for professional purposes.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the article stating that Twitter is primarily used by adults due to it's "one-to-many" network, but I don't think that we can rule out it's future use by teenagers. We can't really predict the impact of Twitter on a younger generation. I know that my mom uses Twitter, and she constantly provides me with updates about Jason Mraz and Lance Armstrong, who both (apparently) are avid Tweeters. I think that young people may find the ability to get quick status updates on their favorite celebs appealing. I don't think that Twitter will be as big as MySpace and Facebook because it's not the interactive SNS teens like and are used to, but I can see teens using it for gossip and celeb tracking.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I've noticed that Twitter has been becoming increasingly popular with my friends (it seems as though at least one person updates their status with "follow me on twitter!" each day), I don't believe that it will generate the teen audience that dominates Facebook and Myspace. Twitter just isn't as interactive as teens need a social networking site to be. Instead, Twitter mainly appeals to those users that have some sort of a marketing motive in mind. Celebrities, companies, and entrepreneurs all use Twitter to sell themselves or a product, not to connect with friends, as teens do with social networking sites such as Facebook. So, although Twitter won't be adopted by teenagers, it will continue to grow as the advertising world grows.
ReplyDeleteLike everything else in life, Twitter will eventually come to an end. Such as with Facebook's predecessors, Myspace and Friendster, people will eventually move on to whatever the newest trend is. Especially since Twitter is aimed at an older audience, the community that used it and has become loyal to it will die off much faster than the the Facebook generation even if they do not progress to the newest networking site. Such as in the past, there was one point in our history when people used to write and send love letters to each other, a trend that does not really exist anymore. In today's fast paced culture, very few of our trends and habits will stay popular for long especially with our society's ever-so-gradually-decreasing attention span.
ReplyDeleteI dont believe that Twitter will follow the same path as social networking sites. I feel that it is very different from these such sites. Twitter has few features that appeal to teenagers, and unless it changes, I dont believe many teens will be attracted to it. Some are attracted to it, and more people are starting to "tweet" but I dont think the masses will begin using it. As Cody said, our culture is so fast-paced, and trends dont last long in popularity.
ReplyDeleteOther social networking sites allow users to do other things, but because Twitter's concept is quick and concise, it wont be a place for teens to relax and to get distracted like sites such as Facebook and Myspace. Because twitter was aimed to older people, I dont think it will implement such changes. Twitter attracts celebrities, older generations, and professionals, and because it is already popular in these niches, it probably wont see the need to expand into teenagers.
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ReplyDeleteI think that by the time the younger agegroups would be interested in twitter, twitter will have been replaced by something less silly, much the same as the myspace/facebook battle. Twitter, as ageneral concept, is likely to persist andd become popular with all ages, but the culture of twitter (i.e. "@Bmartin is going to put mustard on his sammich") is not going to last once the phenomenon is no longer new and exciting. people will get to a point where they are sick and tired of tweets on insignificant nonsense, and will leave twitter. but the concept of a status update will likely continue and be adopted by the younger generations.
ReplyDelete**edit** i just got on facebook, and my step brother's status is "grilling a pork tenderloin." I feel deeply saddened by this.
I agree with Ben's statement that people will probably get to a point where they become sick of getting updates on insignificant events. I think it appeals to a certain demographic because of its capability to keep you updated with someone's life. However, I think it will become a problem of getting too many updates on things that are insignificant to most. On facebook, a person can choose to look up someone and see their wall and what they've been up to. I know some of my friends get twitter on their phones and it drives them nuts when it goes off constantly. In regards to it spreading, I believe it has already started to do so. Most new media begins with a certain audience and then usually a few people from younger/older groups start to question it and try it. I think twitter's success will fade not only because of the development of new media but also because of the monotomous and limited features of twitter.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Twitter as it is now is fated to decline sometime in the future. For one, it's main attraction is it's status updates . . . and I have to say, myspace and facebook have already done that. And both have provided even more to the users. Like some had said, once the "newness" of this form of media wears off, I believe that people will get tired of twitter and will sign off for the last time. The only way that Twitter can survive is if they add on some more features, which I wouldn't be surprised is in the works, and if a new, tangibly useful application is added.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of the posts before me in that Twitter does not really have the services to attract a wide teenage audience. Twitter is well-known for its status updates and marketing capabilities, but personally, I'm not looking for either. I like to keep in touch with my friends, share pictures, and swap stories, and I've already adopted Facebook for that. I think many teenagers would probably agree with me. Altogether, I don't think Twitter's success will come to an immediate end. Like David said, it is good for marketing and publicity, so it will probably continue to expand and adapt as advertising does.
ReplyDeleteMiller's article states that Twitter is more widely used by an older age group and I believe it will probably continue that way. Miller discusses the fact that teenagers are fickle, and I think that Twitter is not multi-faced enough to hold their attention. Originally, when Facebook did appeal to an older age group, it was very simple and did not have many options and virtually nothing to add to your profile such as quizzes or games. It has since evolved to be much more multi-faced, and appeals to more teenagers and young people than ever before. Also, I would argue that since pre-teens and teens are not completely independent from their parents, their use for Twitter is diminished because they cannot actually follow someone on Twitter and be able to fully participate in what they are talking about. Miller also discusses the use of Twitter as a way to promote oneself, which teenagers are generally not interested in since they are not a part of the working professional world. Furthermore, Twitter is a form of communication that is somewhat one way, and teenagers may prefer a more overt form of communication that is more instant and tangible such as Skype or Facebook.
ReplyDeleteI would argue that Twitter would only be adopted by teenagers in the future if it evolved and had more multi-faced features that appeal to teenagers. If changes to Twitter were to occur, then Twitter's success will be prolonged. Ultimately, I agree with Ben in that Twitter, regardless of its success at any given point, will eventually be replaced with some other form of communication just as we have seen the once popular MySpace diminish in popularity.
-Sarah K.
Twitter definitely does cater to an older audience than facebook or myspace. As others have said, twitter lacks the tools to entice teenagers, such as the quizzes and the social networking portion of it. Since very few people of the younger generation follow twitter, it is difficult to entice others to do so because they do not have friends on the site to want to socialize with, like facebook does. One aspect, however, of twitter that is thrilling to me, as well as many other teens, is the celebrity portion of it. Several celebrities actually have a twitter and update it, rather than having others maintain it, like most of them do when it comes to their myspace or their facebooks. The only time that twitter has ever enticed me is when I have been curious as to what Taylor Swift, or other celebrities are up to. However, twitter also bothers me in the same aspect as the girl in the article, Kristen Nagy, in that people on twitter tend to update their twitter so frequently and I do not care to know all about their personal lives at every point in time. Facebook statuses are kept at more of a minimum and do not overdo it, like twitter does.
ReplyDeleteOverall, twitter will not gain a larger audience until other exciting things are incoporated in it. If it somehow begins to entice some more teenagers, I think it could gain more popularity, like youtube, because when other teens see their friends do it, they sometimes jump right on the bandwagon. However, I think twitter will come to an end, but I also think several other sites such as facebook and myspace will eventually end also. It is in the nature of human society for a new and more updated technology to evolve from these others that will soon take over as the main attraction.
Allison R.
I think that because both MySpace and Facebook incorporate the main idea of Twitter with their status updates, Twitter will never catch on as much as the social networking sites. It will not follow the same path as those two. I know quite a few friends that have them, but they still provide more information on their social networking site of choice, not Twitter. It seems that tweeting seems to be used, for the most part, by businesses and celebrities who do not need a full Facebook page to share what they want. 140 characters gets a viewer interested enough to follow the provided link to a product their advertising or a story of some sort. Although both Facebook and MySpace provide ways to link your account to Twitter, I believe that is not necessarily to the benefit of Twitter. (Although Facebook, if I remember correctly, just provides this service for businesses) It just seems like another thing to draw people into those social networking sites that already provided the service that Twitter has.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ben when he mentions that as people will tire of simple and unimportant updates, the newness will wear off and Twitter will start to decline. I’m not really sure how much I needed to know how hot it was in Austin, Texas as Lance Armstrong was picking up his son from school. I don’t care that much.
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ReplyDeleteIt's certainly possible that Twitter is doomed to a premature death, but I believe Miller noted something important when she quoted Lipsman saying, ''Twitter is defying the traditional model.'' As Miller pointed out, Twitter is an oddity in the realm of new media.
ReplyDeleteOther sites such as FaceBook and MySpace were popularized by the younger generation, whereas Twitter was taken up by the older generation. Taking this into consideration, I would say that it is very difficult to predict Twitter's future. If we were to assume that Twitter will follow the paths of other media have, then I would say that Twitter will, as mentioned before, die down, as people get bored with unimportant updates. However, since Twitter's beginnings differed so greatly from the other media, who knows?
It's possible that Twitter will stay around for quite some time. Miller noted that on Twitter, instead of showing yourself via quizzes and little games, like on FaceBook, you prove yourself through clever posts and witty remarks. This more intellectual approach to making a personality online might be Twitter's saving grace. By this I mean that those who use Twitter to show their intellect might keep the site going for longer, as contrasted with the inane status updates found on both Twitter and FaceBook, like Ben's brother's "grilling a pork tenderloin."
Similarly, Twitter is actually being used in the news, as mentioned in the other reading. A few weeks back I read an article on the Kayne West and Taylor Swift controversy. In this article, the reporter spoke of the unanimous outrage from celebrities on Twitter. The reporter quoted Katy Perry saying something along the lines of "It's like he stepped on a kitten!" Intellectual or not, Twitter is worming its way into more and more media.
I do think that teenagers will adopt twitter in the future. Although there are many things that teenagers prefer on Facebook or myspace, I believe twitter will adapt to what teenagers look for in social networking sites. When myspace and facebook first came out, it was not an automatic success with the teenage population. As time went on, people joined because they saw that everyone else was using it. I think as time goes on people will notice the growing popularity of twitter and join just to experience the website themselves. If it does not become popular, I think twitter will just be used lessed not disappear completely. I don’t think twitter will ever completely disappear because there will always be someone who uses it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with a lot of what has been said above, especially about Twitter not being interactive enough to attract the teenage demographic the way that Facebook, Myspace, and YouTube have. However, I think that there is one argument that has been missed: part of the appeal of Facebook and Myspace to the younger demographic is that, for awhile, these sites were restricted to only those met an age requirement. After all, people always want what they can't have; and Twitter is easily available to anyone and everyone.
ReplyDeleteThink about it; part of the reason why Myspace and later Facebook were popular was because, for a time, they were exclusive; Myspace, at the beginning, was limited to those 16 and older, and Facebook was limited to college kids. Anyone who wasn't in the Facebook or Myspace "clubs" (for lack of a better way to put it) wanted in, they wanted to be included. I think that was part of the appeal for the big social networking sites, and I don't feel like Twitter has had the "exclusive" feel to it, which means that to teenagers it's not necessarily as attractive. Twitter does have an age requirement (users have to be at least 13), but it does not seem as limiting as Facebook and Myspace were in their beginnings.
Of course, this argument is slightly mute now that both Myspace and Facebook have the same age requirements (13 years old): but I think that part of the reason why they became such big hits was because of the very publicized age limit, and reputation for being relatively exlusive (especially for Facebook).
Twitter likely will not become more common among teenagers simply due to its nature. Firstly, the generally public nature of status updates will likely be seen by parents as dangerous. Considering how often sites that make privacy fairly easy to control (i.e. MySpace and Facebook) are considered dangerous for children and teenagers, Twitter will not be easily welcomed by parents. Though there is an option to make updates "private" (only viewable by those who have been approved), it is absolute and applies to all updates, and is easy to disable.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, the functionality Twitter offers is more conducive to those with larger networks of acquaintances, rather than networks of personal friends. This fact alone seems to exclude children and teenagers who generally have tight-knit groups of friends with whom they communicate.
I would argue that a lot of the statements made in the article are broad and are therefore not very credible. I agree that some teenagers have not caught on to Twitter, however a significant amount have, especially older teenagers. I don't think a wide enough sample was taken for this article to be making the claims that Twitter isn't attractive to teenagers at the moment. So I guess in this sense I would say yes, Twitter will reach a teenage audience (because I believe it already has). I was unaware that YouTube went through such a pattern as well, which I also find to be kind of bizarre, because I don't know anyone from this age group who uses much less even knows what YouTube is. Perhaps my knowledge of these two media is what's incorrect/off-base/false. I think Twitter will remain an integral social networking site, so long as they continue to upgrade it and keep giving it a new face. I think this is what keeps all of the sites (Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, etc) alive.
ReplyDeleteTwitter may eventually catch on to teenagers but not at the rate that youtube did. I don't think it will ever reach the same popularity either because teenagers nowadays have facebook which has a status update that functions sort of like a twitter account. Most teenagers aren't as concerned with what others are doing. The success of twitter may improve somewhat and may continue to linger the way it is now. It will most likely remain popular with the older population with relatively the same amount of success it has now if not a little more. Nowadays some companies are requiring their employees to have twitter in order to keep up with a business. Although with the growing amount of celebrities and radio stations now using twitter to communicate, more teenagers may use it due to that but as of right now, the trend does not seem to follow.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both Ben and Gretchen. In an effort not to reiterate everyone, I'll try to expand on their ideas a bit.
ReplyDeleteOne of the main issues people find with Twitter and young adults is the lack of privacy. What if Twitter came out with a privacy option? In that sense, Twitter could either be a public relations tool in which tweets are available to all followers, or sort of a micro-blog with tweets only available to followers the user has deemed OK (LiveJournal has a function like this--when you make an entry friends only, you can choose which specific friends have access to the entry). This might solve the privacy issue.
And, I think Twitter can serve basic functions for teenagers in a perfect way. For instance, say tomorrow is declared a snow day at 5:45 a.m. If the school had a Twitter account and tweeted that message, students could simply roll over in bed, check their phone, and go back to sleep. Thinking back to the days when I would sit at the kitchen table and watch the Snow Day news ticker for an hour, I find that use of Twitter to be a great one for teenagers. Maybe teenagers aren't tweeting themselves, but using Twitter to receive updates directly to their phones.
This refers back to what Gretchen said when she critiqued the article. I find that the article was extremely closed-minded, and needed to extrapolate a bit in order to fully grasp the implications Twitter might hold. Thus, I do not think it is going anywhere!
Twitter has already begun to attract a younger audience, as more and more teenagers are creating accounts, posting tweets, and following their friends and celebrities. However, I think that Twitter is already facing its decline, or at least it shouldn't be expected to expand much further. While the 140 character tweets are conveniently concise, the same feature is already available on Facebook in the form of status updates. This being the only thing that Twitter offers, it does not provide an innovative site for anyone, not just teenagers, to utilize. For this reason, I believe that once the excitement of it being a new attraction wears off, few people will continue following and even fewer will join. Thus, I agree with Gretchen that if Twitter is upgraded and given a new face, it may continue to play a role in many teenagers' lives. If not, we can tweet it goodbye.
ReplyDeleteTwitter is a fairly new development in the world of social networking, so it is difficult for me to strongly believe that teenagers will never embrace the idea of constant status updates (especially when it is a major part of their myspace/facebooking experience). Miller notes:
ReplyDelete"Many young people, who have used facebook since they began using the internet and for whom text messaging is their primary method of communication, say they simply do not have need for a twitter."
I can agree with this because I myself have no need for a Twitter account--I have never had a status on my facebook account so why would I want to tweet anything about my life? Status updates are odd little things to me because I find them to be very narcissistic (why would someone think that any of their 453 "friends" might care about what kind of hair day he/she is having) and yet I read through my facebook news feed almost daily, whether it be out of habit or because I am geniunely curious about some of my fellow facebookers. I think this stems from a strong feeling that people are developing as technology and media advances--the need to be constantly connected with others. The people we are close to and the people we never even knew existed are now only a click away, so why not remain closely connected with others?
I can see Twitter catching on to a broader audience simply because it is so accessible. My phone has a button on its screen that I can press to instantly access facebook, myspace, youtube, my email, etc. I am sure that I could add one for Twitter, too, if I pleased. As more phones are introduced with this feature (so far it is only on iPhones, blackberrys, and the like--phones marketed for people who need to send emails quickly, easily, and from any location i.e. adults), it seems likely that tweeting will become more popular with a younger crowd. Afterall, it is as easy as sending a text message, and that is something we know that teenagers do frequently.
Prior to reading the articles I had no idea that teenagers did not make up the majority of the Twitter users or should I say Tweeters? I personally started using Twitter because it was not blocked on our high school wifi, where the other social networks were. I thought it was weird when my friend’s parents got one but now I suppose it’s not that weird. I was shocked to find out that adults use Twitter the most then again I could see how it is a simple version of a social network for them to use. Often Facebook and Myspace are too complicated for those with limited knowledge of the internet. Twitter I believe will follow the path of more adult users. I think that Twitter will not die only because it is now a great way to communicate with the media. Countless television shows have polls that you can interact with through Twitter. Like one of the articles said, it is a great way to motivate business and find what the public is interested in. The side bar on Twitter that contains “Trending Topics” shows the most popular topics on Twitter. I think that this is really fun to know and also it helps me keep in touch with what is going on in the social world. The article talking about journalists using Twitter also shocked me because I thought that they would rely on it more since it essentially the voice of a large part of our country’s population.
ReplyDeleteI don’t believe that Twitter is really a network that appeals to teenagers.
ReplyDeleteAs Jennifer previously mentioned, it’s great for the “one-to-many” aspect. Celebrity updates if you’re into that sort of thing, and advertising and marketing. But it’s not great for networking (which we teenagers seem to love) as far as my knowledge is concerned. I don’t know much about Twitter, and that simply reflects the fact that it’s not caught on. I’m reminded of my Honors Quest class. They tried to have us use Twitter for a discussion one class period, and were surprised to discover that very few people had Twitter. We have Facebook already for the status updates like “just bought milk” and “just finished his second essay!”
However, this doesn’t mean that Twitter will die out. It might (I sort of think it will... everything dies.) continue to appeal to older audiences, and as people leave others join to fill the gap. Cody mentioned that those loyal to Twitter will die out sooner because they’re older, but at the same time others may join. Miller’s article mentions that some people may join for the updates when they are older, but that it doesn’t appeal at the moment. So perhaps it will have a steady stream of users.
But as I mentioned briefly, I think it will die. People move on, so even if the concept stays strong, people will probably take up a site that offers something new and/or different. Unless Twitter makes some drastic adjustments. Christine brought up a good point: a snow day / crazed rapist escapee / etc. alert service would be great for some communities. But I know UA has something like that already without the assistance of Twitter.
So what's the point?
I don't think that Twitter will go away any time soon. I know that many people rely on it in order to feel connected with the outside world. They can find out what they're favorite celebrities are doing or what they're favorite organizations are up to. News networks are now on Twitter, updating their followers are the latest news stories. There are so man other types of organizations and business that use Twitter. It is becoming more popular. I'm not too sure how Twitter works, but it seems to be becoming a more popular trend. I don't see teenagers using it as much as adults do because I feel like teenagers are more reliant on texting in order to stay connected with their friends. However, as Twitter become more popular, I can see teenagers hopping on the bandwagon because it is the cool thing to do.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Twitter really has much of a future. Why limit yourself to 140 characters? Twitter is most useful in mobile applications, and mobile networks are only getting faster and faster. At some point, a better, more robust, service is going to come along and usurp its following. Also, at least in the past, the majority of Twitter users stopped using the service within a few weeks of signing up. Twitter has been hyped and pushed into the mainstream by the media ,and though it has been rapidly adopted, I believe its novelty is already wearing off and it will soon see a decline. I don't think it will disappear altogether, but it will fall into the background of the internet, being used by those who actually find it useful and not by all the people trying to sign up for the latest internet sensation.
ReplyDeleteI think Twitter will follow a similar path, but that it won't ever be as prevalent in teens as facebook or myspace is because twitter is not a social networking site like those two. I do see teenagers following their favorite celebrities, celebrity crushes, bands, organizations, and so much more. Twitter is such a vital aspect to the business world and I don't forsee them giving up on it. Will twitter's success come to an end? I believe it will because everything comes to an end, just a matter of when. Something superior to twitter will be unveiled and people will relocate their status updates to the newer site.
ReplyDeleteIt appears that Twitter today does not appeal to the teenage population. As such, I do not think that, unchanged, Twitter will ever interest such an age group. The incentive is lacking for teenagers to use Twitter and there is the issue of privacy – or lack thereof. In any case, I feel that the nature of Twitter will never allow it to be popular among the younger folk.
ReplyDeletePersonally I don’t understand Twitter, nor have I ever felt the need to. More and more it seems like a strange concept. But I can see how perhaps there could be good uses for Twitter. However, as far as dying out is concerned, I feel like it probably will eventually. Although, in the case of Twitter, there seem to be many professional uses of it, such as following news or some such important person (not a celebrity but perhaps a political figure), so perhaps it will stick around a while. There certainly seem to be enough prominent figures involved with Twitter nowadays to keep it around for the time being. In all fairness, I feel like it is relatively likely that something similar but different will arise and garner more popularity than Twitter has presently and Twitter would in effect die out.
I believe that people have consistently been obsessed with the rich and famous. Twitter just appears to me to be an extension of that. If the current pop icons create twitters I believe teens will flock to it (if this hasn’t already happened, I don’t use twitter and am a little fuzzy on what exactly it is).
ReplyDeleteI think twitter will continue to succeed, at least for a while, because it seems to give people the ability to see what their favorite celebrities are up to without tabloids. I think that it may eventually fail simply because it isn’t sensational enough, but for now it seems to be attracting a pretty steady audience.
I believe Twitter is already in the process of being adopted by teenagers. Young people are realizing the ability Twitter gives them to check up on the latest celebrity news in a quick way. There are also unique contests and meet-and-greet opportunities that certain celebrities (such as Ellen Degeneres) post as their Twitter updates. Over the summer I made a Twitter account to keep up with what my favorite celebrities and musicians are doing. I was surprised to find how many of my friends already used Twitter to do the same thing. To me, it seems redundant to use Twitter strictly for status updates because that is already included in Facebook. I feel as though Twitter's appeal to Facebook users is that it keeps them up to date with people they cannot be friends with on Facebook, i.e. celebrities. Because of this, I feel that more teenagers will create Twitter accounts to stay updated on pop culture while older users may use it strictly for status updates for their family and friends.
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ReplyDeleteAll in all, I dont believe twitter will last. It has so little functional capacity. The article said that some only use Twitter to follow their favorite celebrities. Well, Facebook already has celebrity profiles that you can become fans of, allowing you to be updated on their current projects or newest concerts.
ReplyDeleteI feel Twitter is the Ford Pinto of social networking sites; outdated, bland, and overall somewhat useless. Facebook has status updates and you can write on your friends wall, which equals the two basic functions of twitter. Add on to that the rest of facebook features and you've got a pretty one-sided comparison.