Twitter is leading the social media revolution – while I hate to use these buzzwords, it's true. Twittter is setting a standard for how we communicate and interact online so Domainers are a going to be impacted whether they like it or not. As the Internet continues to grow there are a few game-changers that will affect how we all use this information medium – Twitter is one of them.
So what makes Twitter so special? The answer is simple – Twitter is simple. Easier to configure than even the most basic blog software Twitter allows users to create simple updates that can easily propigate to other users. This is the key to Twitter – unlike a traditional website or blog – Twitter makes it automatic to follow other Twitter users.
By making it this easy to interact and communicate – Twitter is creating a global media revolution that is only in its very early stages. This December was the month where more people in the US read their news online than through newspapers. Tools like Twitter and YouTube make it amazingly easy for absolutely anyone to share news quickly and easily online. While automated tools exist for making blogs these are far more complicated than the average person would be comfortable with. Twitter, on the other hand, can be used by anyone regardless of computer experience.
In some cases Twitter shows some similarities to social networking tools like FaceBook and MySpace but these too require a bit more tech savvy users. Twitter is one of the first web sites so simple that absolutely anyone can maintain and grow their Twitter site.
At this point you might be thinking, "okay, I knew all of that – what does this have to do with domaining?"
So here's the tie-in. If Twitter grows to be the main way we communicate online then being well-positioned within Twitter could be a key to success. Domainers should think of Twitter as a way to promote their own websites and allow others easy access to updates and new features. Twitter is already becomming a way for companies to communicate with their customers and for domainers to grow their business.
Just think – you have a website for people interested in antique cars. You build a high-quality mini-site complete with a user forum and newsletter. You can now go on Twitter and make the nickname, "antique_car_lover" and begin creating your site. Put information about your website on your Twitter page and then start looking for users with similar interests.
Once you start to follow other antique car enthusiasts you begin to build a social network. You can now communicate with these people and in some cases, some of these people will read your updates and decide to "follow" you. The simplicity of following someone makes it easy to take-in a lot of information very quickly – you can easily process information from 50 differen Twitter sites much faster than 50 blogs.
That's the simplicity I'm talking about – information delivered quickly by everyone. It's not the 10,000 word blog post that will define our world but the 100-200 character text update live from the source. Obivously this will evolve into video once all our cellphones can reliably record, send and receiver video – but that's getting a bit ahead of ourselves.
For now focus on using Twitter in conjunction with your domains to help build targeted traffic and example of knowledge in the community. At the end of the day the Internet is, and always will be, an information medium. Make your information available to everyone – embrace the Twitter revolution and get ready for Web 3.0 – it might just be a bit sooner than we think!
You can check-out my Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/domainflipper
As always, happy flipping!
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