Twitter users, who ARE these people ?
Sep 1, 2009 Social Netoworking
Twitter users, who ARE these people ?Lets get the answer out of the way, I don’t know do you ?
I imagine that some writers experience the beginning of any post very much in a manner I do. At the beginning you think the article is expressing a particular idea and as you go along putting together the words that make up the paragraph, the article morphs into a direction of its own. I started off this paragraph thinking Iwas going to write about my observation on how Twitter is used. However it started morphing with each grammar and spell checking iteration. Anyway on with the post …
Being a black person I grow more curious each day about what it is that my fellow black Twitterers actually tweet about. This question is surprisingly a little more complicated than it sounds because in this country a bulls eye on a ‘black profile’ is ermm, black art actually; remember the “Black Diamond“ ? Now I am no researcher but if anecdotal evidence is anything to go by, I have Identified at least three categories.
Early Adopter Uber Black Geek
These are the guys who started talking about Twitter probably in 2007, @Notomodungwa, @FigoMago, @lebogang_nkoane and @Rafiq spring to mind. There is a lot more, but as i write this , it is pastmidnight and the missus is not impressed with me so i will move swiftly along.
They most likely have a coding background and if you go through their stuff, you’ll probably find an old 14.4 dial-up modems they are too reluctant to throw away or donate to their nearest museum. They are leaders in their spheres of influence and continue to be trail blazers. Their updates are very interesting if you are in the technology space they so keenly represent. I am proud of you guys.
The Technology-Shy-But-I-wanna-Try Type
I think these are the people that we all want to see on Twitter. They are probably familiar with the concept of a social network thanks to the overwhelming popularity of facebook and dare is say it Mxit *duck*. However these users are probably the ones that are hardest to convert to Twitter as there is an expectation of a facebook-esque user experience. They have probably heard of it from Oprah and some may even have heard from radio stations such as 702. They are growing steadily in numbers however their updates aren’t nearly as informative ; at least not to me as a geek. The steady growth in numbers is probably attributed to the third category…
The Industry-Socialite Type
At least that is what I call them. These are the celebrity A list Type. Probably the single most significant group of people probably responsible for the widest adoption of twitter by the black masses in the country. Yes I know, you guys are modest and I love you all for the modesty but there is such a thing as a celebrity culture growing in this country and I think it is formidable. I say this because these are the people discussing ways in which you Twitter; be it through Blackberry or iPhone. I think these are the guys driving sales for these popular platforms.
The personalities are too many to mention (I did mention the missus), however I do want to mention a few; @GlenandUnathi, @SizweDhlomo, @MelBala, @PabiMoloi, @Amunishn, @Anele, @UyandaM, @DavidKau1, @DjFreshSA, @Bonang, @KhayaDlanga whom I am ye to figure out …. The list goes on. Their updates are also not nearly as informative for the high profile personalities they represent. Their updates closely resemble the days of Internet Relay Chat (IRC) of the mid 90’s and I still cannot figure out for the life of me why I follow them, I’m certain they can’t figure it out too 
What is the point of it all ?
Well the business model behind Twitter is yet to be clearly defined, however, once research organisations such as Quancast begin asking this very same question, it isn’t hard to figure out that who ever these people are, advertisers will want to speak to them.
Twitter users, who ARE these people ?