This interview reveals a bit more about the phenomenon called Twitter.

This excerpt from the interview explains why Evan is excited.

Q: What do you think the future will hold for Twitter?

A: We really believe Twitter is potentially massive in terms of its impact on millions and millions of people. I believe it’s bigger than anything I’ve ever worked on. We have high hopes for it. We’re not looking to sell it anytime soon. We’re just looking to execute right now and get it to as many people as possible. I don’t know what that number is, but I think it’s as big as the biggest Internet successes out there today. The more I work on it, the more I see opportunity.

If you are on Twitter you can get Evan’s tweets by following @EV.

The Curious Genius of Twitter - Fast Company.com

This isn’t as revolutionary as the web itself was, but it’s way up on the list.  Just how high Twitter will rank will be determined over the next 3 to 5 years as it spreads it’s tentacles into our connected lives.

I like to watch the frontiers of technology for new developments and I like to see if I can predict the effects those will have over time.  I started doing this way back when the first PCs were being marketed.  Not the IBM variety.  I’m taking the S100 bus and forward, but that’s another story.  (That was in the late 70’s during my college years.)

As a software engineer and then as a development manager, I always wanted to know where things were going.  I wanted to be sure our systems didn’t just meet current needs, but predictable future needs as well. As they say “don’t go to where the ball is, go to where the ball is going to be”.

During the 80’s I was working in a large company whose applications were based on mainframes.  I was always working to bridge the gap to PCs.  I watched as the PC revolution came through and peaked.  I felt left behind.  I focused on Windows-based systems, but I wondered if there would ever be another boom like the one that drove the PC.  After some consideration I figured that the pace of change was only accelerating so there should be at least one or two more major waves of change before I hit retirement.  Boy, was that right.

This interest in the future is what led to me starting my first major venture called Web Access in January of 1995.  The Mosaic browser that ignited the web boom, was just 6 months old at the time but I could see the potential.  I spent the next year evangelizing and educating people about the potential of the web and the rest is history.  The web grew from a tiny swell to a tsunami of unparalleled proportions in record time. 

Now we have Twitter.  It’s not as revolutionary as the web, but I see all the markings of a major innovation with far-reaching effects.  I will do more blogging to help explain the Twitter phenomenon and it’s potential.

So, stay tuned.

Magazines down from 23% ro 18%.

TV done from 71% to 65%.

The only traditional media category that rose is Cable TV News - up from 47% to 49%.

But Social Newtorking site interaction grew by 98% during the same period. 

These and many, many other interesting stats can be found here - http://www.frankwbaker.com/mediause.htm

(Source: Ketchum Global Media Network and Global Research Network partnered with the University of Southern California Annenberg Strategic Public Relations Center on this study.)

This is the continuation of a trend that started with the advent of the Web.  Newspaper readership dropped from 58% in 1998 to 52% in 2005.  That decline is accelerating.  Young people now prefer to read news online and never acquire the newspaper habit.

Personally, I never learned to appreciate newspapers.  They are bulky, dirty, and generally inconvenient.  I can read the New York Times on my laptop or iPhone much more efficiently, and easily.  I can start reading during my morning routine, and can continue whenever I have a few minutes of down time on my iPhone, or my laptop. Plus, now I can get better news from bloggers which are focused on the subjects I care about.

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1. Branding
2. Create a buzz
3. Online reputation management
4. Establish yourself as an expert
5. Word of mouth
6. Build relationships and become more personal
7. Open up the line of communication between business owner and millions of potential customers
8. Small businesses can compete with the large companies
9. Social networking with potential clients and customers from all over the globe
10. Get great traffic - Not only great traffic…. but freakishly crazy amounts of traffic.
11. Increase your link-ability
12. Helps with search engines - Link juice from a quality site = higher ranking in the search engines.
13. Much cheaper than traditional marketing and advertising
14. Your company is more accessible - An accessible company means a more trustworthy company.
15. Direct conversation to a specific niche - There are so many social networking, social bookmarking, and social news sites that are dedicated to specific niches.  You have the ability to speak directly to these people and not have all the other noise of unrelated topics getting in the way. If you are speaking their language, you have a better chance of them actually hearing what you are saying - and you’re getting the RIGHT KIND of following.
16. Provides another way for potential customers to find you - If you’re not high enough in the search engines for potential customers to find you, they can still find you through social media.  So, even if you’re not on the front page of Google, it doesn’t mean you can’t receive traffic. Social Media has the potential to send you TONS of traffic - when done properly (I’ll write more on that soon!).
17. It’s a way to explain yourself - One of the reasons some businesses are skiddish about social media is because they’re afraid of negative comments.  It’s possible to receive negative comments. But, social media provides the platform to explain, to make things right. The fact of the matter is - if someone has something negative to say they can say it.  Ignoring them doesn’t stop the damage.  But, when you reply, you are seen as a business owner who cares, who wants to make the customer happy, and that you’re human. Social media is a two-way conversation, so go ahead and defend yourself - just do it proactively.
18. Show Your Stuff
19. Find out exactly what your customers want - Social media is amazing in so many ways, as you can see from the last 18 reasons. But, what is so  cool is that you don’t have to wonder what your customers want. You want to know what they want? Ask them on social media, and they’ll tell you.
20. Your customers can play an active role in the business - Instead of focus groups, let your customers play an active role in your business. Let them offer suggestions, let them share their likes and dislikes - all on social media. You might find yourself ideas for new products and services you’d never have without them.

Bottom line - marketing is about getting out the word, engaging in conversations, taking suggestions, problem solving, educating your audience, and promoting your company, product, or service. One of the best ways for small businesses to create buzz is through social media.

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This list is from Shana Albert who blogs at http://www.socialdesire.com.  This was a guest post on the blog BlissfullyDomestic.com. 

And here’s number 21 - Social Media is the future - The sooner you get used to it, the further ahead you will be.

Ben knows what he’s talking about.  Here is a summary of his 15 keys to building a community.  The link to the full post is at the bottom.

1. Convert Casual Users into Fans

The number one rule of creating a great community is to enable people to share the positive experience that they’ve had on your site. Your aim should be to convert casual users into fans because fans are the ones that will share your content with others.

2. Love on Your Existing Fans, but Not Too Much

3. Empower your Users

4. Make More People Happy

5. Stop Engineering and Start Thinking About the Market

6. Don’t Skimp on Great Content

7. Provide Ways to Give Feedback

8. Power of Little

Offer users lots of small, simple things to do on your site that don’t require login, such as rating, commenting, saving a favorite, creating an account and finally (hopefully) they will do the most difficult thing of all, contribute to your site.

9. Encourage ‘Thefting’

10. Be Willing to Prune Your Community

11. Measure the Number of Shared Experiences, not Users

12. Shared Experiences = Goodwill

13. Create Info Porn

People love to look at data about themselves. It the reason why there is a mirror in practically every elevator that you’ve been in. If you have data about your user’s behavior on your site then show it to them. Update it on a daily basis and they will come back on a daily basis. One of the most popular pages on Lol cats is the page that tells people how many ‘fans’ they have.

14. Don’t Pay Contributors

15. Don’t Confuse Sharing with Marketing

When your users share content with others they are not marketing. They don’t even think about it in that way and in turn you shouldn’t treat them as marketers. Don’t force marketing messages at them, it will burn their trust.

See the full post here.

Here’s a link to his site’s unique visitor stats for 2008 at Compete.com.

Check out www.ICanHasCheezburger.com here.