Overview
Created in 2006 as a SMS-based group messaging platform, Twitter initially allowed users to post 140-character long text messages exclusively. It quickly became a media and tech darling, and has exploded in popularity, with the service seeing 140 million tweets a day in 2011 and 500 million in 2021. Today the character limit has been doubled, and images and videos can be posted, but the network retains its position in the social zeitgeist. The banning of President Trump following the attempted coup in 2020 was seen by many political viewers as a necessary move, but does it indicate that private social media companies have too much power?
Strengths & Weaknesses
Twitter “punches above its weight” in the social media landscape, with great visibility despite lower usage than Instagram, Snapchat, and LinkedIn. This is likely due to its popularity with members of the news and entertainment media. The focus on pithy text messages means it has a democratic feel, with all users on the same level. Tweets from Steve Martin or Barack Obama look just like your tweets! The challenge with Twitter is that it can be hard for your tweets to get much traction with your followers because they blend into the other tweets passing by on the timeline. The perfect tweet can go viral, but most will be largely ignored.
Recommendations
Following the 80/20 rule on a platform like Twitter is essential. The text-heavy, stream-of-consciousness style of the Twitter timeline means that crassly self-serving Tweets can be scrolled on by. Another important practice for Twitter is to keep up a regular schedule without overwhelming your followers. Get them used to seeing occasional content that shows that your library is engaging with and becoming a part of the community.
What can we learn?
It may seem like a challenge to build a virtual community on Twitter, but the key is to develop a distinctive voice and an authentic desire to connect with your followers. A great example of this would be the Twitter account of frozen sandwich meat brand Steak-Umms, which has inserted itself into the national discourse by becoming a fearsome crusader for science communication and information literacy.