It’s time to have a retirement party and bid the glory days of Twitter so long. It was a good run. We made a lot of connections, met peeps IRL, bantered, and did a bit of business. It was the first check-in in the morning and the last check-in late night. It’s where blog jacks launched, and ‘raderie was born. We survived a recession on Twitter, and together we kept the ROFLs and LMAOs and LOLs rolling in the stream.
The Twitter Glory Days
Twitter used to be the gathering place for anyone who was anyone. Actually, let me rephrase that — Twitter used to be the gathering place for anyone who was no one! Twitter made us someone. It built our personal brands and the frontrunners, self-professed Twitterholics like moi, lapped it up and enjoyed the ride. We all launched about 2009, and didn’t know what we were doing, so we did anything. In these archives, you’ll find a sheep video with Danny Brown and Dino Dogan. It’s a gem, a keeper, and only the old timers know of it!
We shared posts, we had Twitter chats, we had #FF each week and people followed like they were supposed to. Blog posts got shared and people stopped in to read and comment and stick around to comment some more.
Connections were made and plans happened to meet IRL at a variety of conferences. People met, laughed, drank, ate, and stayed connected.
Triberr waltzed in and shook up the blogosphere in 2010, and we adjusted anew.
Something Happened On The Way To The Forum
And, then something happened…Twitter got serious about an IPO and mergers and acquisitions by the biggest players got people thinking about monetization and commercialization.
Sponsored tweets happened. Celebrities happened. Corporations got the Twitter bug. New companies jumped on board. Everyone began to tweet around the world.
What was lost in that ultra growth phase Twitter experienced can never be resurrected. Each of us in the know knows.
What is still for sure, though, is that the brands created then are still around in the stream. It’s so cool to see. Last night I caught up with my stream and saw a familiar name from five years ago, still tweeting true to form. Made me feel still at home.
Used to be I’d worry when someone disappeared from my stream. I’d start a tweetathon with my stream to ask if anyone had heard from the MIA. Eventually they’d surface and I stopped worrying.
Today, I no longer worry because I seem to be the one taking more of a back seat. The stream is littered with an echo chamber of content some of it schlock and some of it good stock. Personal tweets are a rarity in the stream, and I have to say it’s what made Twitter Twitter.
Sayonara, Twitter. We’ll always remember you.
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Hey there miss,
It’s interesting to see the various thoughts around Twitter from folks like your good self who were there early on. It’s most definitely a different beast than what we came to love just 6 short years ago or so. And yet…
I feel that our own experience and expectations also need to morph with the platform. Yes, there are more marketers and brands on there; but there are just as many individuals and organizations that are still making the platform feel like its originating self.
Perhaps the medium now moves towards a crowd-sourcing, fact-checking resource, where some digging can lead to instant accountability in the public space. Perhaps we can use it to hold our peers to a higher level, and our politicians to a more involved state, and less soundbite pushing.
It does seem less instantaneous and spontaneous than it used to; but maybe that’s a good thing, as it refocuses our attention where it needs to be (our home bases) and makes us reevaluate how we use each individual channel?
Here;s to what lies ahead!
Hi Jayme.
I try to personalize as much as possible. Tons of noise on twitter of course, but if we can set a good example, and keep engaging, and chatting, we can shift things a bit 😉
RB
Like RyanKBiddulph , I’m working to keep the glory days alive and well. I strive to speak with, not talk at, as much as possible, and although I do my share or RTs and shares, I also try as much as possible to inject conversation, ‘raderie and connection as much as possible. And BTW…although I wasn’t around in 2009, I do know of the Danny/Dino video:) Cheers! Kaarina
Get Silencer, it saved my stream. Now I can interact with people when I choose to and actually respond to people. Love it. I think it might only be available for Chrome though. https://www.silencer.io/
I still love Twitter. It is my favorite social medium because it is most like a conversation. I’m sad to read that you aren’t getting much out of it.
profkrg Hi, Kenna! No one’s fault but my own, I’m sure. When you take a bit of a backseat to social engagement, you’re soon lost and forgotten. If I were engaging at previous levels, I’m certain there wouldn’t be a blip in the stream. I still do love Twitter, and now my business partners are telling me I need to move along to LinkedIn and cultivate that stream. When you have to do social for business, the strategy changes!
Thanks for coming over here! Appreciate that!
RyanKBiddulph Hi, Ryan! Thanks for the note and sorry it took so long to reply, too. You’re right. The personalization is so important and not just sharing content others are. Thanks!!
KDillabough RyanKBiddulphThere are a nice network of we who were in the height of Twitter, and you were instrumental in all of it!! I’m sorting through the next best strategy and don’t think I’ve gotten there yet, but as we’ve chatted about, it’s time to figure out who we want to be and how! Thanks for coming over, K!
susansilver I should look at this, Susan. I rarely take a look at my stream, but there is good content inside. I think I get worried I can’t read it all so I don’t look as much as I should! Thanks, lady. So good to see you here!
Soulati | Hybrid PRÂ I’ve been a bit more active on LinkedIn lately because I was teaching social media marketing and my students wanted to know specifically about it. I increased my presence for teaching purposes. However, it’s difficult to justify spending much time there unless you’re doing it for business or on a job search.
I still love Twitter, but I didn’t even jump on until late 2011, so I was already late the the party 😉
Art of Breaking Out Omgosh! You did miss the party!!! Thanks for coming over. It is my fave channel; always has been. I’ll see you up there!
“Twitter used to be the gathering place for anyone who was anyone.
Actually, let me rephrase that — Twitter used to be the gathering place
for anyone who was no one!” Could not have said it better myself.
Thank heavens for Pocket, or I might of missed this. Or rather, might never have made it back to comment.Â
If you want ‘old’ Twitter.. it’s kind of G+ but not really. That’s too open in searches, too limited in its active users that it’s still ‘all biz, all the time.’ IDK once in a while I’ll +1 or share something there that’s more for fun or just ‘me’ but for the most part, it’s not the platform for ‘personal.’ What I see just repeats what’s been posted elsewhere. That said, because it is smaller there is more of a chance to make an impact. (Gotta make more time in my day for it.)Â
I couldn’t agree w/ you more that much of what’s posted is ‘schlock’ and the same ‘headline’ being recycled as a news article or blog post by anyone, everyone jumping on the same topics and bandwagons. TPTB rigged the game, then bailed on the vary game that made them. Others trying to break in only broke the stream littering it w/ autospam noise. It’s not just that businesses and brands are trying to use Twitter (all SM) for marketing and SELL!, it’s that they’re doing it so so badly.Â
Then there’s the backlash of b.s. in that ‘one bad tweet’ can ruin a career, a life. I’ll skip that rant but it’s a big reason why people don’t have conversations, don’t share their bad days or possibly offensive humor or act in any way like a human — humans are flawed, mistake making creatures and you can’t do that in social. Gotta be smart and perfect all the time. And no platform is ‘safe’ you’re being watched and judged everywhere… grrr.. I said no ranting.Â
That typed I still like Twitter. I still read and share, selectively; and then schedule around my live posts. I still have chats, even make a point to watch for conversations rather than scheduled posts. Disappointing to me is that, even when a post seems real time and chatty, I can tell you almost always my engagement gets no response or acknowledgement. Many people it seems are there to be seen, but only care about a select few.Â
Alas what I need – clients, a bloody job – isn’t there. The intel is there, the professional development is; it’s why I can’t do PR/SM conferences, I get so much online. As others mention LinkedIn.. only so much time to go around, you fish where the fish are more likely to be biting. I’ll be seeing you around the waters for sure. And FWIW, I owe you a call. 🙂