What has got me to (occasionally) use twitter is interacting with celebrities. I had a small interaction with one of my favorite rappers which is neat. And if you ever want a 140 character response from Craig Newmark, send him a tweet, the man is a machine, he answers absolutely every single message. And if you say "craigslist" without directing it to him he'll still probably say something.
It seems like one of the things that exist when a medium is young and there aren't that many people using it. There were probably some celebs you could email in 1990 (or IM in 1997) and have them reply. I doubt this will last if Twitter grows much.
I think it could last. I wouldn't expect celebs to answer every message, but there's something inherently appealing to the 140 character limit that makes it feel more manageable.
Re:Is Twitter overhyped?
by ivankirigin on Friday April 10, 2009 @09:18AM
(#555986)
There is definitely a problem in scaling this kind of application. Many people run into it when they start following more than, say, 400 people.
I expect Facebook to do more to let companies better engage with their users. One problem is the privacy. Facebook conversations are largely hidden from the public eye. How will my wall-to-wall comment about shitty Comcast service get picked up by them?
I do think the celeb hype around twitter is just insane. Multiple talk show hosts spend a lot of time begging people to sign up. You really can't pay for that kind of PR.