End of an era for Twitter?

As a New Year emerges, many have added to their resolution list the decision to quit Twitter and return to the real world. Stephen Fry has had a rocky relationship with the micro-blogging site during the past year and whilst he claims it is only a temporary parting, he acknowledges it is necessary in order to get some real work done. Similarly before Christmas, Lily Allen admitted an addiction with the site and announced that she is going cold turkey when it comes to technology.

If 2009 was the boom year for Twitter, it seems we are on the brink of its demise and Chris Hughes’ SocialTrance this evening, his attempt at mass hypnosis, reveals a more sinister side to the site which makes scenes from Doctor Who not seem so far from reality. A recent article from PC World stated that 2010’s top security threats include Facebook and Twitter so even if the site remains popular for some time to come, there are various risks involved which could warrant it some bad press.

Google have recently added Twitter to their search engine in an attempt to keep up with the speed of breaking news, yet this blends a search engine full of useful information with a blogging site which contains a lot of pointless comments so this could be a dubious marriage.

What does this all mean for those undertaking PR evaluation? Nielsen reported that growth on Twitter reached a peak in May 2009 before leveling off, though it did report that the greatest demographic was 35 - 49 and that it could become important within marketing strategies amid the unstable economic conditions. However, they demonstrated that when researching a new purchase online, blogs garnered more trust amongst consumers than Twitter or Facebook, suggesting that blogs are a more effective means of communication for maintaining a brand. Whilst there is a lot of talk about measuring Twitter, and a number of tools with which to do so, many of our clients choose only to measure influential blogs in depth when considering social media, though it can be useful to see how much ‘noise’ is created in other sites. Essentially though, as we begin a new decade traditional media is still valued as trustworthy and some social media sites may become old news before long.

The battle between the social networks

Many users have chosen sides when it comes to two of the most popular networking Web sites today, Facebook and myspace.

Both sites aim to serve the same basic purpose: creating communities and connecting people with common interests. Users on both sites can benefit socially, professionally or even romantically due to the availability of information on the large population of users.

Although some users are members on both sites, many have a favourite among the two. The fight to find which site will start to lead the race has taken a distincy PR shift in recent times with the hiring of PR practitioners in an attempt to position their offerings as the safest, coolest, fastest, most accessible etc. Let us hope that they put some solid evaluation principles in place to measure their efforts.

However the time for these sites might have already passed...will we see the growth of more specific networking sites. I have so far not signed up for either MySpace or Facebook, instead I have recently joined MyRagan the network for communication professionals. Although having only dipped a toe into the site it clearly has bags of potential, with forums and offers that will certainly enhance our combined understanding of the issues facing communicators. I look forward to playing an active part in this latest forum.