Twitter's Big Day: Oprah Winfrey and Ashton Kutcher Bring Twitter to the Mainstream
Twitter has gone mainstream. Late last night, Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) became the first Twitter user with more than 1 million followers. Today, media mogul Oprah Winfrey sent out her first tweet and will dedicate a full episode of her talk show to Twitter.
While Twitter's sudden mainstream appeal might be somewhat disconcerting for early adopters who would prefer it if Twitter wasn't suddenly the cool new thing to try out for soccer moms, it will surely bring a lot of new opportunities (and challenges) for Twitter.
Like any good tool, though, Twitter is flexible enough so that it can be whatever you want it to be. At its best, Twitter can connect you with like-minded users, but for users with large numbers of followers, Twitter becomes more of a broadcasting than a two-way communications medium.
I Can Talk to Oprah Now!
Unless you are a public figure or a publisher, however, having a large number of followers may not even be the best way to create a positive experience on Twitter, though the current hype around Kutcher and CNN racing to the 1 million follower mark will surely drive the perception that follower numbers are what Twitter is all about. Also, while the current perception in the tech blogosphere is that Twitter is all about self-promotion, for those mainstream users who are joining Twitter now, that will simply not be the case, and we will have to wait and see how many of Kutcher's and Oprah's new followers will use Twitter for anything else but to follow their favorite celebrities. It will also be interesting to see if Oprah decides to continue using Twitter in following weeks and if she will actually use it for two-way communication with her fans (beyond the all-caps message that heralded her arrival on Twitter today).
Can the Mainstream Handle Twitter?
On its own site, Twitter will also have to explain its utility better if it wants to draw in all the potential mainstream users who will hear about Twitter for the first time today. Twitter, after all, still asks you what you are doing, even though that is probably the least interesting way of using Twitter. It is also important to note that Twitter, being the small company that it is, barely has any tech support besides its Get Satisfaction page, so a befuddled new user doesn't have any place to go to ask questions about how to use it.
Can Twitter Handle the Mainstream?
This sudden mainstreaming of Twitter, however, doesn't mean that Twitter has finally jumped the shark. In the end, Twitter going mainstream will barely affect most current users. After all, once you manage to unfollow Ashton Kutcher again, most of us won't have to deal with Oprah, Kutcher, or any other celebrity on the service; though, who knows, you might soon be getting DM's from your mom...
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*sigh* 1 tweet and 182,000 plus followers *sigh*
Now all that remains is a case of ding-dong-dutch
to Mister Turner and to tell Larry King that "I told you such"
i guess the moral of the story is I'd get more views
writing about Ashton Kutcher rather than about news
To hear me sing my full summary, watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHkDmKx435k
I'm afraid I still don't understand the point of Twitter, but it isn't surprising that it's gone mainstream.
Celebrities are flocking to twitter because they see it as a place to market themselves to a captive audience. They don't get the social part, but they do understand "media."
For them, it's not about interacting with their fans; it's about using their fans to promote themselves, their projects, their products, their causes, and their celebrity friends.
Those who use twitter to connect and interact won't be following Oprah, Ashton, Demi, and the rest, and when the celebs tire of twitter and move on, the real tweeps won't notice.
ASHTON KUTCHER WON!!! ASHTON WON!!! ASHTON WON!!!
But what is the meaning of this victory to the marketing world? What did it prove?
In a single word, Transformation. This was the defining moment of how the Internet won over the Television. It is, as Ashton said, “A changing of the guard…from the old way of consuming media to the new way of consuming media.” Not only did CNN have the advantage of having continuous air coverage, but they had not one, not two, not three, not four, but over five nationally, and in fact, internationally recognized faces and names plugging their Twitter account. And yet Ashton still won.
So, how is this transforming? As Ashton said “The new wave is here…We get to choose what we want to see and don’t want to see and who we want to have broadcast.” It no longer resides with the big companies, “the Giants” forcing you to watch endless commercials, listening to their points of view, or buying into their ideology. But the power now rest firmly in the hands of the consumer. This simple competition has put forth what we should already know. Consumers, People, are going to the web for their entertainment, for their personal growth, and for fulfilling their lives. We now have, more than ever in the history of mankind, the ability to connect across all boundaries, across all oceans, and right through the middle of any misunderstandings that our governments have with each other. We have the power to determine what we watch, what we let into our lives, and with a simple click, close off what we don’t like. No longer are our lives dominated by mass media force feeding us what they want us to hear or what they think we should hear.
It’s remarkable that a multinational news and cable organization would compete with a single man and lose. It’s ironic that they would tell their viewers to go to the web. The very medium which will one day replace watching CNN on the television.
The masses have spoken. The dice have been cast. The internet is the ultimate victor here. “Victory is ours!!!!”
Will the marketing world wake up? Will they see that the consumers they are spending millions trying to reach on the television are not even there any more? I don’t know. Perhaps if they are visionaries they will. But if they are steadfast in their resolve that the television will continue to be their best channel, then they will go out the same way that the newspapers and print media are going out today…a slow and agonizing death.
Congratulations Ashton and thank you for your efforts to rid the world of Malaria. Thank you also for the clarity of this message: the world has truly gone to the web.
Patrick Houlahan
VP of Business Development
AdJack
Patrick@AdJack.tv
I will follow them ASAP.
The difference between Oprah's twitt and ours is that we make you money!
I hope people that read this article will know that we are not the attorneys in Florida, we are in Texas, and thereby stopping all of the threatening letters on our website. Thanks!
my comic about the ashton/cnn thing: http://bit.ly/1gBAP
Here we go again
I would like to respond to Oprah Winfrey's comments regarding Susan Boyle on the day that she "twittered" with Ashton Kucher. I am appalled by Ms. Winfrey's comments regarding Susan Boyle's dark hose and light shoes. Has Ms. Winfrey forgotten what it's like to be poor? Perhaps Ms. Winfrey has come so far as to become the spokeswoman for fashion? I listened to Ms. Boyle and was touched not only by the purity of her voice but also by her demeanor and dress. She represents the women in this world that have so much to give but are frequently bullied into silence. Ms. Boyle mentioned in a previous interview that she had to put up with alot of "bullies" in her life. From what I heard, I believe that we can categorize Ms. Winfrey as one of the "bullies".
Shame on you!
Linda Ramirez
i just want to say i saw your show with sarah palin today. she is definately my mentor...You asked her how she can get involved in politics cause of her children...well men do too and you said they had wives..well us women have husbands....also, i wish there were more women recognized today, the men hate her(maybe intimidated) the strong women love her...
did you ever notice how men are the ones to patton things or invent things...like sex toys that are horrible or mamograms that are barbaric. and now they are rasing the age to 50 and every two years. probably it will detect then because it doesnlt detect the beginning of cancer now. so they will say wait so we can detect it and it will be soo far gone to cure.. they realize its not working and its also very painful. I wonder if they would put their ......in a mamogram. i could be wrong , but its just my opinion on things......
Another Traditional Thanksgiving Day in this great country of ours....enjoying what matters most,,,family and friends and good soul food.