Pew, that public opinion pollster, tells us that only 13% of U.S. adults have used Twitter, only 3% tweet about the news and that twitterers are young and left, sometimes right, and haters – and perhaps not a very good indicator of public opinion.
Pew … pew … pew … fire …
The Twitterati, that minority opinionated userbase, find value in a tweet that is often missing elsewhere though.
Yes opinions are shared in tweets, but let’s face it, every time someone clicks ‘Like’ in Facebook, an opinion is being shared.
This Twitterati just wants to express one more opinion about what opinion matters on Twitter.
A brand or business goes to Twitter in order to provide some insight into a service, product and hopefully personality.
In my personal experience, Twitter is a pretty good source of product views, experience and competitive insight.
It’s also an interesting place to just express a thought – a thought that might contain an opinion that matters to someone designing a new product, interested in customer experience, starting a marketing campaign or trying to determine if an opinion is warranted or not.
Quite a bit can be accomplished within 140 characters. Some feel it’s not enough – I feel it’s Twitter’s best feature.
Consumption of opinions is quick and fast – not weighed down by the Frick & Frack of other services – within Twitter. It’s text oriented view is a breath of fresh air in a media rich world. But yes, there are photos and videos to watch too (dash of personal opinionated tone).
Maybe, mainstream public opinion is not always expressed on Twitter, but the ebb and flow of minor opinions can be quite valuable to a business.
I’ve used Twitter to find out how others view certain services and products or to learn about service issues and bugs that haven’t been reported elsewhere yet. I’ve changed my opinion on Twitter too.
I’ve learned and formed positive opinions about many products from Twitter. My personal fondness for Bootstrap, BBEdit, Markdown and many interweb solutions sprang from opinions found on Twitter.
Twitter isn’t the solution to life’s problems. Maybe, it’s not the most accurate measure of the planet’s opinionated pulse even. It is though the place that this Twitterati has found the most value in the least amount of characters – and time.
Sometimes, it’s the little opinions that matter before bigger opinions are created – bigger opinions that might not always be so welcomed.
Of course, that’s just my opinion …
