Image via CrunchBase
Every Twitter user has a specific role, goal, objective and purpose in the Twitter”o”sphere.
Not all Twitter users have same motivations and goals. Some user’s objectives fit “hand in glove” with other users while some other’s conflict with others. Regardless everyone contributes to the Twitter”o”sphere – even those who have not sent a single tweet out into the ether!
At the end of the day, every Twitter user – hopes and seeks to gain something from the Twitter”o”sphere. Some try to gain influence, while others try to show that they are in the know. Some try to beat the establishment in breaking the news, while others try to read that same breaking news. Some try to engage in one word conversations with thought leaders while others be bystanders and enjoy the repartee’ …..
Twitteronomics!
Similarly each of these users have their own motivations and not all the motivations are aligned or equal. They are very subjective to their own roles in the society and goals/objectives. While a student beat’s the news media in tweeting a breaking news, rest of the beat reporters tweet only after they can drive traffic to their publishing properties. While a stock picking guru with a large following will only tweet about it after he took a (stock trade) position, another day trader will tweet to artificially pump their picks. Political party A tweets to smear party B and party B tweets to clean up the mess.
What’s important about all this is to learn about underlying objectives and motivators of Twitter users – before you act on the message. Make sure their underlying objectives and motivators are in alignment with yours before you respond to the message. For example, you should know if a stock picking guru is tweeting about a trade because its a good buy or because he took a position and trying to get the whole world to pump the stock up; if a watchdog group is spreading smut about a political candidate based on facts or because they have been funded by the opposing political party.
Motivators also change based on content and context. For example – messages that are newsworthy – are typically shared right away where as messages with specific individual actionable benefits are tweeted only after the user benefited/acted on them. For example a tweet about a hot airline deal to Hawaii is only shared after the user consumed it or cannot get any more marginal benefit from that news;
There will be times when you might not be able to tell the Twitter user’s underlying motivations and objectives. Its best not to act on such messages until you get similar directions/guidance from other users.
I would define Twitteronomics as the study of Twitter users, their motivators, objectives & goals based on their individual subjective forces, content being shared and the context.
Opinions expressed are mine own ….
@Vsistla
If you have not read Cory Doctorow’s fascinating book –