The path to Tweetvana
“I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.” – Obi-Wan Kenobi
If today’s Twitterpocalypse is anything to go by, it clearly shows that Tweeters keep a VERY close eye on their follower numbers. I very rarely bother to look at my follower count, so the first I knew about the great #zerofollowers disaster was when I started to see the barrage of confused/angry/comedic (delete as applicable) tweets. All of this linked very nicely with my theory of Twitter types.
I believe that amongst all the various groups and factions there are three distinct types of Tweeter, and each of these individuals are distinguished by how they look at the subject of the follow. I shall share them with you now.
#1 – The Broadcaster
There are those on Twitter who are only interested in acquiring as many followers as possible, these are the broadcasters. Sure they might follow you back, but it’s highly unlikely that they’re listening. For them it’s all about having the largest number of people receiving their message.
#2 – The Opportunist
The opportunists cast their nets as wide as possible, by following as many people as possible, in the hopes that they will catch the elusive Megamouth Shark. Like the broadcasters, these people are just as unlikely to engage as they are waiting for the big fish. But they ARE listening intently.
#3 – The Enlightened
Those that follow what Siddhattha Gotama described as ‘the middle way‘, seek neither to amass followers or unearth the holy grail. They allow their interactions to grow organically. They follow only those who they feel can be of value, or that share an interest. They embrace serendipity whenever and wherever it appears.
At times they move closer to the broadcasters, or the opportunists, but they are never driven by these aims. For them, Twitter is a wonderous place. Full of friends, conversations, debates, sadness, anger, business, prizes, charity, help and connections. In fact it becomes all of human life condensed into 140 characters.
“If I look at the masses, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will.” – Mother Theresa
Mark Jennings 11:20 pm on May 10, 2010 Permalink |
Stuart, I love this thinking. I think there are more divisions, for want of a better word, and those who move between groups, of fade in and out.
Really got me thinking.
Stuart 11:26 pm on May 10, 2010 Permalink |
Mark, rather than there being more divisions I believe that the two extremes simply move along the spectrum.
Chris Hall 2:35 pm on May 11, 2010 Permalink |
I think many people (including me) have moved through some of the definitions you outline. It’s a trait of us all to want to be accepted by the masses and therefore we perhaps start as ‘broadcasters’ in a quest for followers.
This often leads to becoming an ‘opportunist’ and then working towards the realisation that you have seen the light and by very definition become ‘enlightened’. But as Mark says there may be more if we wanted to analyse it further.
Great Post.