Twitter and the Tipping Point

This is the first in a series of three articles on Twitter.

How do Twitter and Malcolm Gladwell’s ‘The Tipping Point’ come together? If you’ve read the book, you’ll know that a tipping point is established when the momentum of a service, product or idea becomes so great that it reaches a type of critical mass, ultimately becoming a part of a mainstream society for any period of time.

Twitter seems to be approaching its own Tipping point, as seen by the various growing pains it has encountered lately, including unplanned outages and a rethink on their free SMS service for Europe [link]. As they become a victim of their own success, the simple, easy-to-use and highly addictive web service is quickly gaining notoriety as a new way of reaching, engaging and interacting with like-minded peers or customers.

Ironically, Twitter is also proving to be a platform for facilitating other tipping points, due in no small part to its ability to connect Gladwell’s 3 agents of change - Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen – to build momentum for other ideas, products and services.

Which one are you?

Twitter seems to be tailor-made for the agents of change described by Gladwell. In my Twitter account alone (www.twitter.com/Aizlewood), I’m already well aware who of the 54 Tweeters I’m following fall into one of the 3 categories:

• There are most definitely the Connectors - those who simply tweet about interesting topics, events and new blog posts. Without these Tweeters, I wouldn’t know who’s just published a post on Tracking iPhone visits, or ever know about a great app called Olive.
• Then there are the Mavens – the ‘information specialists’ who bring new ideas, new technologies, mash-ups and various other tech-fu to our insatiable appetites. Without this select bunch, I would never know about particular Wordpress hacks and great ideas like Egommunication.
• Then, of course there are the Salesmen – the Tweeters who brazenly market and promote their services, products and solutions, at least in a round-about way, to the Twitterverse. These guys speak for themselves, and using the same example of Olive, I would never have downloaded the free version with intention to buy!

When you have these 3 basic ingredients for creating a Tipping point, Twitter has, either intentional or not, created a fertile land of allowing the smart marketer to start & maintain the momentum for their product or service. By harnessing the power of gathering like-minded enthusiasts in one place and forcing them to talk as often as possible, the opportunity to start and engage in conversations about something particular is better than ever.

The next article will address what Twitter is, who it’s for, and why use it. Stay tuned!