Oprah on Twitter - What will it mean
Today, Oprah will begin using Twitter. She'll have Ashton Kutcher on her show to discuss the medium. This bring up a whole bunch of questions for me:
Is this is beginning of the end of Twitter?
There seems to be a trend - once an entity goes mainstream (and you can't get more mainstream than Oprah), the thought-leaders, the cool kids move on to a different arena, they hunt for something edgier. Will this happen to Twitter? Will Twitter be so bogged down with the potential millions of new users that will flock to Twitter because Oprah says so, that Twitter will cease to function. Twitter goes over capacity even on good days, Oprah's minions have the potential to break Twitter and break it good.
How is Twitter going to make money?
Twitter has no revenue stream currently. Oprah's magic wand has made a lot of people a lot of money. Look at her book club and how its vaulted unknown authors into the stratosphere. With no way of making money in the present, what does that mean for Twitter? What does the Twitter of tomorrow look like?
Why follow celebrities on Twitter?
I've look at Ashton Kutcher's Twitter stream and there is not a single tweet that is of value to me. Same with Shaq, and so far, even Oprah leaves me cold. Why do people follow celebrities? What value do they add to your life or is it pure voyeurism. Do we really care what they say?
There are many many more questions this brings up. Share them here and let's figure it out!
Is this is beginning of the end of Twitter?
There seems to be a trend - once an entity goes mainstream (and you can't get more mainstream than Oprah), the thought-leaders, the cool kids move on to a different arena, they hunt for something edgier. Will this happen to Twitter? Will Twitter be so bogged down with the potential millions of new users that will flock to Twitter because Oprah says so, that Twitter will cease to function. Twitter goes over capacity even on good days, Oprah's minions have the potential to break Twitter and break it good.
How is Twitter going to make money?
Twitter has no revenue stream currently. Oprah's magic wand has made a lot of people a lot of money. Look at her book club and how its vaulted unknown authors into the stratosphere. With no way of making money in the present, what does that mean for Twitter? What does the Twitter of tomorrow look like?
Why follow celebrities on Twitter?
I've look at Ashton Kutcher's Twitter stream and there is not a single tweet that is of value to me. Same with Shaq, and so far, even Oprah leaves me cold. Why do people follow celebrities? What value do they add to your life or is it pure voyeurism. Do we really care what they say?
There are many many more questions this brings up. Share them here and let's figure it out!
I see the Oprah-effect bringing more media attention. We can't assume that late-adopters/Oprah fans are going to dismantle Twitter. Perhaps it will improve the site?
There will be plenty of people who make accounts to follow @Oprah and won't "get Twitter" and will leave immediately. There will be another group who will follow Oprah only and only check Twitter when she mentions it on her show. **Additionally, I see this as a platform for her to occasionally bump in some personal stories, but mostly another avenue for her to merchandise herself, further. RSS feeds from her site, magazine site, book club links, et al.
In the end, it's bringing more media attention to this once small community who now feel like 1969 residents of Woodstock, NY.
Thankfully the power I posses over Oprah on Twitter is that I can Un-Follow her.
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"Thankfully the power I posses over Oprah on Twitter is that I can Un-Follow her"
This statement sums up the power of opt-in only web2.0 communications. We have the power!
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Oprah's Twitter debut may have left some techies less than elated -- the much-hyped news, after all, brought with it the prospect of countless soccer moms signing up and overloading an already flimsy network. In the end, though, it looks like Twitter may have been ready for the rush.
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