I Admit It: I Am Fascinated with Twitter
Twitter isn’t as popular as Facebook in Canada, (nor would I assume it’s like Facebook in the U.S. or elsewhere). With Facebook, you can assume that most individuals you meet, at least those under 30, have an account. Twitter on the other hand seems to be restricted to a sparse sector of the Canadian population.
While I no longer have a Twitter account, I am proud to say that I found the website long before it found mainstream popularity. Being a Web 2.0 junkie, I signed up for the website in what I believe was early 2007 after discovering it’s existence on Digg. At the time, the site wasn’t overly popular, (it began to rise in popularity later that year after being created in ‘06). I let my account sit their idly for two years before deleting my account due to not feeling it was necessary to attach my name to the ‘Twittersphere’. Finally, three years after discovering Twitter I have found a use for the website: A way to search opinions in real-time.
My unscientific research has uncovered a wide range of not only Canadians, but people in general use Twitter. Of course, you’re not going to find many 80 year old war-vets on the website, but there is a nice mix of what appear to be average young adults and teenagers to middle aged adults. Regardless, I only know a handful of people across the country that use the service. What fascinates me about the site is it’s search engine and the ability to see what people are saying about a given topic instantaneously, straight from the source.
Google is great for finding news stories, but when I’m having a problem with my cell phone service and I’m wondering if its an isolated problem or not, I go to Twitter to see what others are saying about my cell-phone provider. If I want to see what people are saying about the latest episode of a niche show I watch, or what people are saying about my place of employment, Twitter proves to be an incredibly valuable resource. It’s a first-hand source to get opinions and information about what’s going on in the world.
While I don’t see myself signing up for a Twitter account again anytime soon, I’ll continue to use the service to lurk the mass accumulation of opinions and information that the site has gathered.
TL;DR: Twitter search is great because I can see what people are saying about big events, and niche topics.
