Twitter for all, or just for the Twitterati?

[Kevin McLean]

Twitter has been described both as 'the online equivalent of popping bubble wrap' and a 'megaphone for the planet' as it grows at an explosive rate. Following recent celebrity endorsement from Stephen Fry and Jonathon Ross, a sea of articles have done much to promote it. Like the glory days of MySpace and FriendsReunited, it would seem many people are venturing into Twitterland.

Whilst Twitter's growing popularity is indisputable, we're wondering whether it will remain for 'Twitterati', digital lovers alone, or whether the wider public will take to tweeting too? Current membership numbers are estimated at 6 million globally, a lot less than Facebook's 175 million users, but popular enough to get people into habitual tweeting and to encourage cool Twestivals.

For the social media enthusiasts Twitter offers opportunities to get real-time contact; inisght into the lives of the rich and the famous; to make contacts that may otherwise be difficult face-to-face; airing of opinions; ideas; up-to-date news and so on.

But having Twittered on and off over recent months, I am usually left with a feeling of overkill given the time required to participate and the high frequency of tweets. It is useful for the odd message where conventional means fail; otherwise, I'm happy enough knowing about it, observing from the outside.

And 'Twitterland' has downsides that make it questionnable whether the 'non-twitterati' will have time or desire to participate after the current buzz dies down. It is limited to 140 characters, there are no pictures or videos to upload into memorable albums, no groups to set up, no games to play and most of all it requires regular participation to get something from it.

Of course, now that some $35m investment has been secured, maybe Twitter will develop as FB did (which itself started out as fairly single-minded and non graphic).

My hunch is that 'Twitter' will continue to be the rage for social media enthusiasts. For the 'non-twitterati', one social network may be enough, so don't expect a mass migration to Twitter any time soon.