More on twits, tweets and twitter

Enormous number of responses (well about 3, but one was actually online - thanks James) to my last blog about Twitter etc..

I've now met quite a few people who are almost as confused as me. One trainee said she uses Twitter for work-related messages, and Facebook for proper friends. But is now wondering if that's the best way round.

I also read someone else on the subject who does exactly the opposite and tweets for friends only. But is wondering if THAT's the best way round.

Another contact has pointed me at Hootsuite for Twitter. (Surely Tootsuite would have been a cleverer name.) It looks like it does what Tweetdeck does, but I can't summon up the energy to look.

I'm also intrigued by the demographics. I'm the only person in my extended family (apart from my dad) tweeting and not many of my oldest and closest friends seem to. Most people I follow appear to be, shall we say, upwards of 40-ish (I'm nearly 50) and working in the media or related industries. Or they're news providers like Media Guardian, Telegraph etc..

What does this mean?

I have no idea.

Comments

[Holger Nauheimer]

Thanks for that, nicely said. Today, I had my first #unfollowtuesday (about 10 people unfollowed me, and I did the same with another 10).

So, here is my little wisdom: I use Twitter
a) for professional / marketing reasons,
b) instead of email, more and more, to quickly exchange important and not so important information, and
c) to be up-to-date on what's hot in my professional sphere.
d) I do also follow some people in my hobby area (cycling) and some other areas of interest (I am very selective about this)

I don't use Facebook very often, when I do I tend to use it for more private exchanges. But I have just asked my assistant to advise me on a better Facebook presence I might or might not.

But people have all kinds of reasons to decide this way or that way. Believe me, a lot of young people twitter (including my daughter) but Twitter is like real life - you won't usually be at a party of folks from your kid's generation (although my wife calls me an "professional adolescent" - I am 50 as well). So, it is just natural that you follow people who are more in your age group.

Hey, this could be the subject of an interesting sociological research: Who follows who, or: is Twitter an ideal tool to map sociological levels such as gender, age, education level etc.

Another reason why Twitter might attract a lot of people in our generation: it is easier and quicker to use and you don't need to think so much about the appearance of your profile.

By the way - I mainly twitter about change management and Web 2.0 (if you are interested: http://twitter.com/hnauheimer)