The year of the Tweet

Welcome to Twitter Tuesday. Every Tuesday we will post about Twitter. Stop by for advice and how to's for marketing professionals. Every other week we will post our AppQuest Edition featuring a review of twitter applications. 

5 reasons 2009 was Twitter’s breakout year 

As 2009 opened, Twitter was nothing new. It had been around since 2006, steadily growing its following, but the wave hadn’t had quite broken over the masses yet. That would soon change. A social network needs a certain critical mass of users to make a splash, and the events of 2009 would see Twitter eclipse that mark. According to Compete.com, Twitter had 3.4 million visitors in November 2008 and by November of this year, they had over 22 millions visitors. That’s a 676% growth from year to year. 

This was largely due to a natural ramp up of followers, but some big events helped vault it ahead. Its mass media status was confirmed when Taylor Swift thanked her Twitter followers in an acceptance speech at the MTV Video awards. David Letterman did a bit with Kevin Spacey about Twitter. Even CSI has used Twitter to help solve crimes. That’s about as much an official declaration of going mainstream as you can get. 

Also, Twitter was Google’s fastest rising search term in 2009 and “What is Twitter?” was Ask.com’s fourth most asked question (right after “How do I get pregnant?). 

So why was 2009 Twitter’s big year? Here are 5 ways Twitter made the transition to new media powerhouse in the past 12 months.

5. Twitter helped people find (and lose) jobs more efficiently 
As the recession deepened and unemployment spread, people looked to find a job any way they could. Twitter quickly proved its networking ability could be focused to find HR managers and info on available jobs. It also allowed people to get to know companies they were interested in in-depth by following its employees – an invaluable tool when applying for a job. For many people who didn’t know or care about Twitter, they suddenly had a compelling reason to try it out. 

But Twitter also made headlines for helping people lose their jobs. People learned to be wary of declaring their boss hatred on blogs and Facebook a long time ago, but most are still getting their heads around Twitter, and don’t realize they can get sacked in one incomplete sentence as their tweets spread beyond their followers. Cautionary tales have been around since before 2009, but the folks getting themselves into trouble expanded and got more high profile this year, as when NFL player Larry Johnson got himself cut form the Kansas City Chiefs for getting into an offensive bickering match with a fan. The crossover from private amusement to professional liability put Twitter in headlines in both traditional and new media, and tipped off bosses around the world on a new way to keep tabs on employees. So don’t say anything about your boss on Twitter you wouldn’t say on the 6 o’clock news. Seems a few people still haven’t caught on.  

4. People congregated on Twitter en masse to mourn the death of an icon
Almost immediately after the news broke that Michael Jackson had died, Twitter exploded with updates about his passing. Millions of people began sharing their grief and nostalgia for the singer, or simply tweeting “RIP MJ.”  This wasn’t surprising, as coming together to mourn is a basic human need. But the scale of the outburst was pretty surprising – conservative estimates claim that tweets about Jackson accounted for 30% of all activity on Twitter in the hours following his death, blowing talk of the Iranian election and the swine flu out of the water. The event turned Twitter into a platform for mass grieving and consolation, and showed how many people turn to Twitter first to share and comment on big news. It also revealed how Twitter is ideal for people to use in making themselves feel important, as publicly commenting on a huge event makes them feel involved. This is a large part of social media’s appeal, and something Twitter has taken to the next level. 

3. Twitter helped Iranians achieve freedom of speech
With communication channels being blocked left and right in Iran after the controversial election, Twitter became the primary medium of getting info out of the country to rest of the world. You know when the US State Department asks you to delay scheduled site maintenance in the interest of preserving freedom of speech, you’ve got a pretty powerful communication tool. The incident displayed Twitter’s ability to subvert government censorship and spread on-the-ground happenings in real time to a global audience. With talk of Twitter’s role being broadcast on CNN and TIME, many more people discovered the site and began to understand just how much potential it had to change how we receive information. 

2. H1N1 demonstrated Twitter’s efficiency of fear-mongering
The swine flu pandemic showcased Twitter’s power for both good and evil. Worried people around the world logged in to find the facts on the mysterious virus. Many regular folks and official organizations like the CDC obliged with good information. But they were largely overshadowed by the misinformation and irrational panic. That’s the thing about crowds – they have a way of taking fears, developing their own momentum and getting carried away. The Twitter community was no exception. Though Twitter offers a lightning fast tool to inform the public from a decentralized platform, the incident highlighted the dangers that come with it. It’s bound to draw flocks of people who feel the need to tell everyone that the end is nigh at the first sign of trouble and spread rumors as proof to thousands of unwary followers. If you think it’s crazy people trust Wikipedia for information, Twitter will probably make your head explode. But again, this is Twitter facilitating a basic human need to connect and share in troubled times, so it’s not surprising it took off so quickly, nor is it likely to slow down. Brace yourself.

1. Twitter officially declared the word of the year
To cap off the Year of the Tweet, Twitter was named the word of the year by the Global Language Monitor, topping the likes of “Obama,” “H1N1” and “vampire.” The list was compiled by tracking which words garnered the most attention across the Internet. Political events that shook the world, a panic inducing global pandemic and the death of the world’s biggest pop star could not top Twitter. If there was any doubt Twitter was a new media force to be reckoned with, it was washed away. 

Despite its rocketing success in 2009, Twitter is still sinking into our collective mind. Most people are still trying to get their heads around what it’s for and why they should care, much like they did in YouTube’s early days. It remains to be seen whether Twitter will become part of our permanent Internet furniture collection as YouTube has, but it’s certainly headed in that direction, and shows no sign of slowing down going into 2010. 

Jason Ross is a copywriter for The Duffy Agency. He loves working on both traditional and social media projects and speculating on the future of the ad industry.