Twitter Is Growing !!

 

 

 

I guess most of you have an account on Twitter or is thinking of opening an account in Twitter because you are starting to get bored from Facebook.

One of the main lessons I learned from my operations management class is the Product Life Cycle. A product goes through the following stages: Introduction, Growth, Maturity and Decline. In my opinion, Twitter is currently in the growth stage due to the huge increase in the number of users per day. Twitter was established in March 2006 and by the end of 2007 it only had around 5 million users worldwide. In 2012, the number of users reached 200 million users worldwide. Twitter moved up to become the social networking site with the second highest number of users after Facebook which currently has around 900 million users worldwide. Twitter is very popular especially during important events. For example, Twitter users were actively using Twitter during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, 2010 NBA Finals, the day Michael Jackson passed away and during the 2011 Arab Spring. Moreover, many users are using Twitter to follow their role models, famous celebrities, professional athletes and even famous academic scholars.

                During Twitter’s introduction stage, the company was able to invest in research and development and determine what exactly a social media user want from a social networking website. They discovered that social media users demand instant updates and latest news that is even faster than the famous news channels on TV such as CNN and BBC. During the 2011 Arab Spring, almost all Twitter users were using Twitter to read about the latest updates and breaking news rather than watching the TV. As a result, both CNN and BBC and other main global news channels opened an account on Twitter in order to provide the users with the latest updates. Therefore, people usually followed those users who provided the latest and breaking news that are credible and reliable.

                Due to its extensive research and development and its ability to identify what exactly does the customer require, Twitter decided on October 2010 to introduce the “New Twitter” which allowed the sharing of videos and pictures as well as links to other websites. These developments increased the popularity of Twitter because now users can share their latest updates and breaking news with pictures and videos to support their claim or latest update. Moreover, Twitter created “hashtags #”. Those hashtags assist users to search the latest news about any topic in the world such as political events, economic events, entertainment events as well as sports event such as the World Cup and the Olympics.    

Twitter is still in the growth stage because it was capable of improving and developing its product and conducting ongoing research and development to understand what exactly does the user want and then identify the strategies that will enable Twitter to satisfy the needs and requirements of all its existing and potential users. It is very important to mention that many companies all around the world are using Twitter as their main advertisement media to gain new customers and increase its market share.

My question is how can Twitter defeat Facebook and become the number one online social networking website in the world?   

And finally I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for reading my blog and since we are talking about Twitter, kindly follow me @mohammedashoor

21 thoughts on “Twitter Is Growing !!

  1. Twitter, although part of the social media circle, is actually a micro-blogging site rather than a social network like Facebook. Unlike Facebook, an update on Twitter is not limited to only the people you have ‘friended’ but to anyone who may come across your page. Furthermore, Twitter updates or tweets are limited to 140 characters at a time and reflect ‘what captures my interest’ rather than the ‘what am I doing’ status updates most frequently seen on Facebook. I agree that Twitter is currently in its growth stage as more and more people are logging on, but I do not consider it to be a direct competitor of Facebook. As a social network, Facebook is a lot more informal and allows more interaction between people.

  2. I don’t think long term Twitter and Facebook occupy the same market niche truthfully. Twitter feeds off of humanities recent decline in attention span and obsession with all things celebrity while Facebook feeds more towards the social planning, tracking, and somewhat voyeuristic tendencies that exist in humanity. While there are duplicate goals as far as sharing pictures and sharing statuses I don’t believe the overlap is that great. I believe all technology is fleeting in one way or another and it is just a matter of time before the next idea comes along and Twitter and Facebook begin to bleed users.

  3. I think that Twitter did a very effective job of lengthening their product life-cycle when they indtroduced the “New-Twitter”. The company’s growth, while still rising, had slowed, leading me to believe that they had already entered into the maturity phase. By introducing the new bells and whitles that come along with “New-Twitter”, I think that the company effectively pushed themselves back into the growth phase. The problem to me is that the company might have released “New-Twitter” too early. Typically it is not until the end of the maturity stage or the beginning of the decline phase that a company will need to change it’s offering to stimulate demand. Twitter was still growing fast at the time of the new release, and were not facing tough competition because of a lack of similar competitors. To this end, they may have been more effective in delaying the release of “New-Twitter” until a bit more of the initial buzz had worn off. That being said, it is possible that Twitter has another trick up their sleeve planned for when the company starts moving closer to the decline phase, so until then stay tuned.

  4. I found this blog to be extremely insightful because I have been debating whether or not I should use twitter as a stepping stone for more social media for my parents store. I have had great success with followers on Facebook and feel that if such channels as CNN are using twitter to keep people up to date on news why not use it to keep people up to date on liquor? One of the most effective parts of “new twitter” has to be there market research in to trends and needs of there customers with the installment of video posts and links from various other sites. Truly this company is going far…

  5. I am fairly new to Twitter. I have opened up my account to too long ago, and so far I am loving it. I think that Facebook is in its declining stage which gives Twitter a better opportunity to attract more people to follow Twitter. Each social website is learning from one another and is improving their site learning from their competitors mistakes.

  6. I would agree that Twitter is in a growth stage. I have a twitter account, and use it frequently but rarely to actually “tweet.” As stated in the post, I use it to follow celebrities, news stations, news papers, and other sites that provide relevant, credible, and breaking news. I also enjoy using twitter to follow my favorite restaurants because often restaurants will post specials or deals. For me though, I think that posting a tweet is a little weird. I feel like I’m talking to myself. Am I the only one?

  7. I strongly agree with this post on how it clearly explains the different stages of Twitter. I, myself, do not have a Twitter account just yet. But I am looking to start one. Recently I have noticed that Facebook is falling off drastically due to the spam and unnecessary constant changes it is undergoing, which does not benefit its users. But as for Twitter, it seems to listen to its consumers and that is why it is growing rapidly with a generous amount of new users daily. To answer your question, I believe that Twitter has already surpassed Facebook in a sense, because I for one and many other fellow acquaintances I know, have deactivated their Facebook. Many users want freedom and not to be attacked by spam, and Twitter knows how to keep that out of sight.

  8. In regards to the post’s summary question, “…how can Twitter defeat Facebook and become the number one online social networking website in the world?”. From my perspective, as someone who is admittedly technologically deficient, I wonder just how long ago this debate was directed at MySpace v. Facebook. I’m also then curious as to how long it will take before this debate becomes how did twitter get so outdated compared to “whatever the next thing is”. While I understand these sites appeal, it makes a tentative social media user like myself less apt to get evolved in any of them.

  9. I have recently created a Twitter account, and through personal experience I can say that Twitter has already surpassed Facebook in the sense of creativity. As stated in this blog, Twitter allows it’s users to connect with role models, celebrities and people that most individuals are not able to connect with. I believe that this characteristic of Twitter is what is capturing the interest of people because we live in a world that is intrigued by social media. Since people have not seen these new characteristics before they are being pulled in to the new and fresh social networking ways. In order for Facebook to maintain it’s reign in the social networking world, they will need to create new ways that will appeal more to consumers than the ways of Twitter.

  10. I agree with you that the simplicity and user-friendliness of Twitter is what makes it such a successful social media site. It will be interesting to see how long it continues to grow at such a fast pace, as other social media sites will inevitably break into the market with similar benefits. I think the one thing that differentiates Twitter from sites such as Facebook, Tumblr, etc., is that every post has a 140 character limit, so people don’t have to read a long, drawn out post as you sometimes see on other sites.

  11. It is very interesting to see the evolution of social networking. As one of the other comments pointed out, it was not long ago that the extremely popular MySpace began losing users to the up-and-coming Facebook. I have read recent pieces stating that the average Facebook user is 20+ years old and that the younger teen market is uninterested in Facebook and choosing to use other sites, including Twitter. The trends for which sites are popular seem to be in constant fluctuation. Even more interesting is the business side of social networking. Everyone was looking at Facebook as a way to make money, but many were not really sure how to do it. There are millions of users worldwide, and while there are some revenue generators, such as in-game purchases and clickable ads, no one has really figured out how to turn a social network into a cash cow. Just as Facebook went public, General Motors declared that using ads on the site was not beneficial so, they pulled their ad campaigns. Additionally, immediately following their IPO, Facebook’s stock price began to tumble. All of this seems somewhat reminiscent of the internet boom and subsequent burst of the late 1990’s. Twitter is certainly gaining steam on Facebook and will likely surpass it as the biggest player in the social networking game, but it is also likely that in just a matter of time, Twitter will also face its own obsolescence. Unless, of course, someone can turn it into a substantial revenue stream.

  12. I found that twitter now has over 140 million active users and generates over 340 million tweets daily , twitter had about 100 million user last year (by September), which is a 40% increase. I opened my twitter account like years ago, but I only use it to follow celebrities and news papers. I think when we use twitter we feel connected to one another by sharing experiences, emotions and information. I did a traffic numbers for twitter.com (June 2011 – April 2012) and found that there was a decline on September 2011 and February 2012, but in general the visits to Twitter.com in the U.S. is increasing.

  13. I think this is an interesting article. I do agree that Twitter is in the growth stage of the product life cycle, and I am unsure as to how or if they could surpass Facebook as the primary social networking site. The main difference is that Facebook seems to be more personal that Twitter. Your profile is more geared toward promoting yourself as you see yourself. Twitter I feel is more about following trends that interest you. Also on Facebook you can share more drawn out thoughts while Twitter limits you to 140 characters. I have a twitter account I do not really post anything I more use it for a news source.

  14. I would agree that Twitter is currently experiencing a growth stage, however I do not think it will ever overtake Facebook as a number one online social networking site. While the two sites have similarities, especially due to the new improvements Twitter has made, they have many differences that enable Facebook to stay in the lead. Facebook allows you to connect with people easier and at a greater effect. The limits Twitter puts on its users will hinder its capabilities to ever exceed Facebook.

  15. I definitely agree with this article. With the four stages of the product life cycle I do believe that Twitter is at the growth stage and Facebook at its maturity. With the other two stages I believe tumblr is at the introduction stage because it is also another networking site on the rise. Then there is myspace which is on the decline stage. I’m sure there are still some people that use it, but I personally haven’t heard about it in a while.

  16. Twitter has had an amazing response since its start and has only been growing. As mentioned, the “hyper-fast” updates make it both convenient and allow for users to stay relevant on whats going on as soon as it happens. Famous artist and movie stars even turn to it to talk about concerts/movies/events even before they are officially announced or printed in papers. With its growth exploding, it is clear that there is a big interest in the idea and the product. By understanding its users in the early stages it has allowed for massive growth and I believe that they continue to make changes based on this model. Often, you see updates on Twitter through Facebook which is also another indicator that it is growing fast. While Facebook is the number one social network by numbers, it has become a commonplace for pictures, videos, and telling the “world” about yourself. However, as far as spreading news, it is clear that with its basic design and simplicity Twitter is far more common. As businesses and individuals come to realize this, they will begin to use the service more and more and the user base will only grow. It is not an easy task to ‘beat’ Facebook as the growth they have had in itself has been nothing short of outstanding. However, with Facebook closing in on its maturity, Twitter has the opportunity to grow by stealing users and listening and adapating accordingly. Everyone would like to stay in the know and the fastest we could — that is the purpose of the media. With outlets like Twitter this is much easier, faster, and more friendly to access this information. Twitter just needs to continue to listen to its users and become extremely efficient in getting news out faster and providing the proper tools that their users request. It is already experiencing tremendous growth and I expect it to only grow bigger and bigger.

  17. Social media as become a big part of our everyday lives. Facebook would probably be our first real attack on online social networking. With technology progressing more and more Twitter has now become a global phenomenon. I completely agree with this article discussing the four stages of the product cycle stages with Twitter but for many other social medias as well. Media users want the latest updates on everything and Twitter has steadily helped provide that for their users, which are why, it has really hit its growth stage and is still growing as time goes on. It is very important to mention that many companies all around the world are using Twitter as their main advertisement media to gain new customers and increase its market share.- mohammeda502. Twitter is not only a great social media display more updates but can truly be a great asset for advertisement for companies because companies know there are so many Twitter users. From updates about sports, celebrity tweets, etc. to promoting your company and increasing your market share. Twitter can only move forward for here and has really developed in becoming one of the number one online social networking websites for many.

  18. I know Twitter is very famous in the U.S, we realized Twitter has been developing and changing their social media. However, Twitter is not as well-known as Facebook in the global market. Facebook has great number user in world. The reason why Twitter is not because there are too many substitutions in the market, therefore it will influence the number of Twitter users. If Twitter wants to do better than Facebook, they need to develop a brand new idea of the social media. I am not a Twitter user, but I am a facebook user. The reason why I stay with facebook because facebook has a lot of great functions which Twitter has, for example, facebook has a brand new system call – timeline. Users can easily to look back their old time. Also, facebook give a e-mail address to every users. They hope people can use their mail box instead of others. On the other hand, Twitter doesn’t have the function as much as facebook. Therefore, posting the news is and let people follow the post on Twitter is a great move. Because people would like to receive newest news, if they keep follow up Twitter, they will get the news. I think these move can attract people to stay on Twitter. To keep Twitter move on, Twitter need to improve themselves,; they need to develop something different than other micro-blog. We can see Twitter is on the growth stage, Twitter has potential to do better than facebook. Thus, I agree with this article, I think Twitter caught what people need. I think that is not enough, they need to create something that people never seen.

  19. Twitter has definitely changed the norm of social media. When Facebook was first introduced, it was all that people could talk about. Since then, Twitter has taken over and has generated users from age seven-sixties or seventies. It is something that adults and teenagers have in common. When Twitter was first released, it was a way to communicate or “follow” celebrities on their day to day life style. Currently I believe that Twitter is more popular than Facebook. The differences between Twitter and Facebook is that on Twitter you are getting a glimpse of some real time information, Facebook you are creating more of a “page” for people to go and see what you are like and the type of person that you are. If Twitter wanted to exceed Facebook, then they should offer a way where you can leave short videos on a page without the hassle that Facebook makes you go through when you are trying to leave a video. For example, you are at a baseball game and you want to share the homerun that just happened, all you simple have to do is upload your video to Twitter. Currently I use Twitter for following the news. Being a student, studying, and working, I don’t have as much time to watch the news, therefore I use Twitter. It gives me snippets of what I need to know about and it’s fast, simple, and free. These are three qualities that Twitter has that in my opinion, no other social media outlet has beat.

  20. A number of industry experts say that the reasons for Facebook’s unimpressive IPO and stock price is due to failure to issue the stock at a reasonable price AND because many feel that Facebook is in the decline stage. Facebook has made no innovations since making the site public. They have focused on redesigning their page but has not made any significant changes to “wow” us. Their revenue in terms of advertisements has declined tremendously and GM found that their advertisements on Facebook had no significant impact on sales that they have since removed all ads from Facebook. I tend to agree with these industry experts. Unless Facebook makes an innovation soon.. they might end up where Myspace is currently.

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