A lot of people try to compare twitter with facebook, saying twitter is far better than facebook but I will like to draw a very clear line here to say twitter is distinctively different from facebook and cannot be compared. They are two different social networks that perform distinct functions, with distinct features. I like to refer to twitter as the "On the go" type of social network, asin tweets are replied in seconds, handles get verified, events and people spark up #Trends, to the extent that we need not read the daily's to get updated. We get info as events unfold.
Twitter is unique, dynamic and flexible, complicated for beginners and easy for old hands. The thoughts of having to use not more than 140 character per tweet is alone in itself discouraging, not to talk about how fast our tweets travel once we send them.
Twitter has provided an unrivaled platform, where just you and me could turn celebs overnight, we get the opportunity to interact with our idols, asking celebrities questions to get a direct response and maybe just a DM if you're lucky. That feeling of delight, elation, and ecstasy we get wen some celeb replies us.
There are several stuff that makes twitter so different from other social networks. Serves as a mini blogging site adopting tweets, mentions, direct messages (DM), #Trends, followers, following, favourites, Lists, Bio, tweeting since: and again location. I refuse to be a spoiler here for the newbie or even those who are yet to join the community, so ama just pick a few to talk about.
Note
# Put in mind that the word "tweep" will be adopted in describing the citizens of the twitter community
# Twitter spelt twitter will be spelt as tweeter for I see no reasons why we spell tweets as tweets and tweeter as twitter so ama stick to my "tweeter"
#TRENDS
A #trend is a word, phrase or topic that is tagged at a greater rate than other tags said to be a #trending topic. They become popular either through a concerted effort by tweeps or because of an event that prompts people to talk about one particular topic. (E.g. the popularization of #Monsters, #Belibers, #Potterheads, #Bokoharam
#MENTIONS
Simply, when someone includes your tweeter handle in their tweets, you receive a notification, informing you that you have been mentioned by someone. Eg. " @itsme_folz , @yahyabindir and @nosiee_x8x8 are together in a camp right now."
#DIRECT MESSAGES (DM)
Ama say only one thing here…… we all are screwed if anyone ever hacks into our accounts to read or messages.
#FOLLOWERS AND FOLLOWING
Imagine someone following you around in real life…lol
We all know that annoying thing some tweeps do, they follow you, and then beg for a follower back and then as soon as you follow them, they turn around to unfollow you. One word #idontgetthis
As a #nontweeterceleb or newbie , it is perfectly normal for us to have less followers than we are following putting into consideration the quote accounts we follower, celebrities that will never follower back except for your lucky days and all of that. I believe our journey actually starts when we have over 200 more followers, compared to following. E.g, following 500, followers 725. Pls always mention people when you follow them, so they will follow back. For instance "now following @Dikeleslie pls follow back"
#TWEETS
For me, tweets should be original and should reflect you as a personality, it kills me, when tweeps steal tweets #tweetiefs. Am like c'mon, who are you kidding? We all know that aint you. I have only one tweeter rule, NEVER STEAL TWEETS. It's okay to do that for facts, events e.t.c but pls its better you retweet, for it helps give credit to the original tweeter, saves you time and energy of having to copy then paste. To cut the long story short, your tweets should be you, reflecting who you are and what you stand for.
Let's take a look at the general tweet composition on tweeter
o #Pointless babbles: 40%
o #Conversations: 38%
o #Self-promotion: 9%
o #Spam: 4%
o #News: 4%
Tweets generally make up tweeter. Without tweets, there isn't a tweeter. With this, ama be showing us 5 major kinds of tweeps and what they do.
Types of Tweepers
Over the years, I have been able to distinguish tweeps as to what and how they socialize with their tweets. I have noticed them since 2009 when I started tweeting @Adeniyi10 and then @ridwanadeniyi 2011. I have got 5
#TWEETIEFS
These groups of tweeps are common and mostly beginners. They are perceived as myopic and shallow for they think their followers are unable to differentiate original tweets from stolen tweets. From experience, Please never steal tweets, to enjoy the tweeter platform, we have to remain original: tweet about things you feel, events, things you really like and never pretend #antifakeness for only when u express your true self will you find tweeps you have a lot in common with and then gradually build your own mini community.
#WASHERS/FAMZERS
They say "show me your friends, and I will tell you who you are". I say "show me 5 of your tweets and ama tell you the kinda tweep you are" theses set of tweeps can't go 10 tweets without washing/famzing either some celeb or even followers. Their tweets will contain words or phrases as #yesboss, "repping ……." "Hanging out with @……….. Oh he/she is the best" unnecessary praise and ass kissing. They will kiss any ass for fame and recognition. These tweeps always want to be associated with a particular group of people e.g, a crew, team or just anything that shows familiarity. They could give you the #washoflife effortlessly. I know tweeps who are experts in this regard, but am not sure mentioning will be necessary.
#CONVERSATIONIST
These set of tweeps are mostly on the down-low, they don't really tweet much, and they prefer tweeps to mention them first, sparking up conversations. The conversations gets so long that older ones needs to load and then I wonder if these group of tweeps know the use of DM's. This group of tweeps consists of class mates, team mates, close friends, colleagues at work, family and so on. The conversations may involve 2 or more people, generating even more conversation. We find tweets like "@fawzeeyah24: hay @mimie_yumm where have you been?". This should not be mistaken for #washing/famzing. eg "@Vinsweg is really good at sciences" remains a fact.
#EMOTIONALBAGS
These are group of tweeps who for several reasons are pathetic, sad, and forlorn might be in some kind of relationship, for their tweets reflects love, heartbreak, feelings, joy, happiness, misery and atimes depression. Don't get me wrong here for seriously, it's a good thing. These category of tweeps are going through a hard time, they just need someone to talk to that might not be available. Thus, tweeter. Tweets like "As long as you're still the same person I fell for, my feelings will never change"
#Lyricist
We have the music lovers in this category who tweet either current songs they are listening to or some verses they made up. These set of tweeps actually possess in them music, just waiting to be explored and nurtured. Here we have those who put together different crews and might even include them in their tweeter handles e.g. @Paulyoung(STFU)
#DREAMERS
Oh dreamers, they are so optimistic, they stalk celebrities, retweet stuff, and complain about things, people annoying them without actually mentioning (#subtweet). These set of tweeps will run away from any form of confrontation for they hate drama.
These are just the ones I have noticed over time, but sure there are more out there. I would like to add here, that no tweep exist in isolation as in "no tweep is exclusively one type eg as a #Lyricist but a combination of two or more category. eg a combination #Emotionalbag, #conversationist and a #dreamer to make one awesome tweep.
Whatever you do tweeps, please remain original and professional. Feel free to express yourself no matter what, for nobody judges you on tweeter. Don't be afraid to loose followers " the more you lose, the more you gain" #fact" and for those of us who for several reasons finds tweeter complicated and annoying, please join the community and maybe just dump the account not forgetting your username/password combination, might just come in handy someday. The tweeter community is a huge one, with over 500million active users (April 2012), generating a revenue of over 140million us dollars.
In 2010, a record was set during the 2010 FIFA world cup. Fans sent over 2,940 tweets per second in 30 second's period, after china scored against Cameroon on June 14 2010. This record was broken severally to the extent that tweeter savers crashed when Michael Jackson died after tweeps began sending tweets to include the words MICHEAL JACKSON at a rate of 100,000 tweets per hour.
I wonder how to end this, but apparently no other way than to mention those people who have provided us with this huge community of our own.
Co-founders
# Jack Dorsey
# Evan Wiliams
# Biz Stones
#Noah Glass
Thank you so much
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