Twitter has now turned spiritual. No longer is it a social and ego-boosting forum used mainly by pimply teenage kids and publicity crazed celebrities, it is now being used by the world’s Catholic Church leader, the Pope! Stated in a recent Australian article (Thursday, June 30, 2011) the Pope sent his first tweet – “Dear Friends, I just launched http://www.news.va. Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ.” And what makes it even more interesting is that he sent it from an iPad. An iPad! For the traditionalists and technophobes, this may be a sad moment in history, but it just goes to show that social networks are here in a big way… and here to stay.
It’s time to get with the program
It’s common knowledge that Twitter is dominating the social network category; it’s quick, it’s short and it has people talking. Not only is it a great way to network and keep up to date with social trends, hot topics and the like but it is also a great way to maximise exposure to businesses. Word of mouth is one of the most trusted influences when making any sort of decision – whether it be choosing the best Italian restaurant in Melbourne or deciding on a great holiday destination. Word of mouth translates onto social networks and creates a buzz. You may recall when KFC hinted on Twitter and Facebook that a new burger was going to be released? Well, it got people talking and not just on the social networks but radio too. So, let’s not be afraid of it, let’s take advantage of it!
Proof is in the tweet
In a March 2011 blog by Twitter (http://blog.twitter.com/2011/03/numbers.html), it revealed some interesting statistics that are clearly indicative of how rapid Twitter is growing. Since being launched on March 21, 2006, Twitter has grown exponentially:
• 3 years, 2 months and 1 day. The time it took from the first Tweet to the billionth Tweet.
• 1 week. The time it now takes for users to send a billion Tweets.
• 140 million. The average number of Tweets people sent per day, in the last month.
• 177 million. Tweets sent on March 11, 2011.
• 456. Tweets per second (TPS) when Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009 (a record at that time).
‘Tweeting’ and ‘status updating’ may seem like foreign language to some of us, but if it’s good enough for the Pope, it’s good enough for the rest of us. So go on and take it one tweet at a time!
Check out one of our past blogs on how to engage followers on Twitter: https://arrowdigital.com.au/seo-blog/?p=580
