Summary
1) Twitter users are mega interactive 2) Click-through traffic is not necessarily a phenomenon of Twitter, but rather the confidence in certain Twitter users 3) Jury is still out on monetization strategy
Analysis
The growth of Twitter by nearly 1,400% in little over a year indicates the interest among a certain genre of online proponents - neophytes and aficionados alike - in near-realtime interaction. Mega twitter users are among the most visible, "always-on" members of the online community. They flock to the Twitter medium because it offers a way to communicate massively with almost instant ease.
Within the Twitter community there are a few standouts, those users who have mastered the art of sharing links and news and insights on which their followers rely for opinion shaping. Some of these, liek @GuyKawasaki and @Mashable, amass hundreds of thousands of followers simply by scoring the web for interesting items related to their specialties and posting them. When a user clicks on these links, it appears as though a new and vital clickstream channel is opening for potential monetization.
The problem, however, centers on who these users are that click-through, and what their actual intent is. When I go to an ecommerce website and begin looking through potential purchases, I typically do so with intent. I'm looking for a specific item and will search multiple sites and look for specific recommendations. I'm actively engaged in a potential ecommerce trasaction.
Twitter is altogether different. For the most part, a click-through on a Twitter post is typically idle curiosity based on a) the poster and b) the interest in the post's content (i.e. how clever the poster is in condensing his/her comment into the requisite 140-character format). Because most regular Twitter users are hyper-communicative, they my plow through dozens or hundreds of interactions in a session, clicking through on some, responding to others, carrying on multiple strands of conversations with multiple participants in real time.
The real question, of course, is what action is taken as a result of these onine exhcanges? I would argue the ecommerce aspect of Twitter remains negligible. Twitter is like 21st century version of the early-20th century party line - people are there to relate and connect. The common joke going around Twitter right now is that the Spammers (i.e. the "ecommerce people trying to make a buck on click-through and traffic driving) have taken over. There's a quiet backlash beginning to occur.
The jury is still out on how Twitter can be used to create commerce. Social Media consultants are springing up everywhere, yet the most visible evidence of progress to-date remains the ubiquitous "tweetup" where online folks gather to meet offline and share companionship, ideas, and a few drinks.
To be sure, all firms with an online presence should consider their Twitter profile in evaluating their overarching online portfolio. The path to profitable usage, however, remains elusive.
This author consults with leading institutions through GLG
Analyses are solely the work of the authors and have not been edited or endorsed by GLG.
