TWITTER FEVER: 5 Red Hot Twitter Trends to Track: "
In the past, we’ve walked you through Twitter related trends to keep on your radar. We’ve talked about real-time search engines, verified accounts, Twitter giveaways, sponsored tweets, Twitter chat, Twitter payment systems, petitions geared towards the 140 character types, video sharing, OAuth concerns, and big brand missteps on the service.
But Twitter, by its nature, can be very ephemeral. Just like styles that are in one minute and out the next, so too do Twitter trends evolve over time. That’s why we have a whole new batch of Twitter trends that are currently red hot.
We’ll show you why your Twitter thermometer should be set to map geolocation, prepared for yet another Twitter app to shut its doors, unsurprised to find the demand for content analysis growing, poised for another shocking Twitter policy, and ready to see Twitter on the big screen.
1. Location-Aware Tweets
Just a few weeks ago Twitter announced an upcoming set of features and APIs that will make the service location-aware. Once you opt-in, your longitude and latitude will be associated with your tweets.
Location-aware tweets are a monumental development for Twitter and could position it as THE location-based social network, because each tweet will be like a check-in at your location. The volume of data around locations, places, and tweets will be incredibly powerful.
We’ve identified 5 Twitter geolocation features that we want, most of which we think will shape the way Twitter data is aggregated forever. The wait for location-aware tweets shouldn’t be much longer as the developer preview is already out in the wild. In the meantime, you can check out GeoMeme, Schmap.com, and Tweetmondo, for a preview of Twitter apps already toying with Twitter and location.
2. Twitter Apps Folding
Just because Twitter applications are relatively easy to build doesn’t mean they’re simple to monetize. In fact, we’ve seen a deluge of Twitter apps invade the Twittersphere, making our Twitter-holic lives easier with iPhone apps, apps to manage multiple accounts, and a myriad of desktop apps. Let’s face it, Twitter apps are practically in excess.
Sure Tweetdeck was able to raise money, but most Twitter apps won’t find the same fate. Case in point, a very successful Twitter app developer and maker of 11 apps — two of which are extremely popular — is ready to close up shop. The apps are currently for sale, and their destiny has yet to be determined.
Another good case study is Tr.im. The URL shortener owes its very existence to the need for tiny URLs in tweets, and yet found it impossible to monetize. So Tr.im decided to shut down, slam Twitter in the process, and saw a huge panic over the potential for lost links. Bit.ly offered to swoop in to the rescue, but Tr.im wasn’t having it. They eventually decided to open up shop again, and ultimately went open source with Nambu renouncing ownership.
If successful and functional Twitter apps are having a hard time making a mint, we’re pretty sure the lesser known and less useful ones aren’t doing so well either. You can expect more of these sad tales in the months ahead.
3. Twitter Content Analysis
As Twitter matures, so too does the audience who uses it. Now more than ever social brands need to demonstrate more than just Twitter ROI, which means they’re going to be demanding more than quantitative data.
Now that we’ve figured out how to follow trending topics and chart the rise of follower counts, we all want more. We want to find the influencers on Twitter, get down and dirty with sentiment analysis, and really understand what the Twittersphere is saying in their tweets.
Enterprise level Twitter analysis tools are certainly out there. There’s Techrigy, Omniture, and Neilsen products, however most of them have tacked Twitter analytics on as an after-the-fact tweet stats measurement extra. But Twitter is no longer the afterthought, it’s hit prime time status.
We’ve already talked about the different qualitative Twitter content and sentiment analysis tools on the market, and we love that Twitter behavioral and sentiment analysis, along with opinion tracking, is here. But now that these tools have arrived, you can expect heightened competition between toolsets to arise, and even more demand from consumers and professionals hoping to understand what’s being said on Twitter.
4. Twitter Policies
If the relationship between sports and social media has taught us anything, it’s that Twitter is feared. The medium can be used to share bite size news to a public audience practically in real-time, and that can be scary for all types of businesses.
The Marines can’t tweet on the military’s network, the Associated Press has a super strict social media policy that prohibits employees from tweeting their political views, and the Wall Street Journal tells their staff that “business and pleasure should not be mixed” on Twitter.
Twitter has also already forced the hand of ESPN, the NFL, the SEC, and the US Open, all of whom have created social media policies with brazen Twitter clauses. It’s just the beginning. Especially since we know that there’s already been a 20% increase in companies blocking social media sites.
There’s nothing wrong with having Twitter policies, in fact, we have some great tips to keep in mind should you be writing a social media policy for your company. But hopefully we’ll see reason prevail as it pertains to Twitter guidelines in the future. For now, though, you can expect Twitter to be enemy number one in many social media policies.
5. A Twitter Star is Born
Once upon a time Twitter was for the tech set, the geeks, and the IRL socially inept. Today Twitter is mainstream, and definitely in demand when it comes to mobile phone accessibility.
Want a little proof? Just turn on your TV. Twitter is making the rounds in some major ad campaigns. In fact, Twitter is fast becoming the overbooked celebrity who has a cameo in everything, and it’s not about to change any time soon.
For starters, there’s the Sprint Now Network spot with the cutesy Twitter stats, Best Buy’s been pimping their Twelpforce in adverts, and Twitter even makes a very brief appearance in a SoBe Lifewater commercial.
But our all time favorite happens to be the Verizon ad with the Twittering dad. Yep, Verizon gets Twitter (we tweet that we’re sitting on the patio too), and they get that updating Twitter is becoming important to more mobile phone customers, especially since Apple’s iPhone has a gazillion Twitter apps, and is currently only available to AT&T customers.
Of course commercial work is just the beginning really. You can take our word for it that Twitter will move on to bigger and better cameos on the small and big screens. It’s just their celebrity destiny.
More Twitter resources from Mashable:
- 6 Gorgeous Twitter Visualizations
- 10 Most Extraordinary Twitter Updates
- HOW TO: Find a Job on Twitter
- HOW TO: Do Good on Twitter
- 10 Ways to Find People on Twitter
Thermometer image courtesy of iStockphoto, jimd_stock; warning sign photo from hugosimmelink, on Flickr.
Reviews: Flickr, Twitter, iStockphoto
Tags: advertising, behavioral analysis, geolocation, Lists, twitter, twitter policies, twitter trends
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