Extendance: Social Communication Links

Just this week, for example, Twitter redesigned their homepage to put a focus on news, trends, and cross-cultural sharing. None of these were likely envisioned as uses of Twitter originally, but sharing news and non-trivial information is how many people have begun to use the service.

General society can learn about culture as a whole from the bands’ followers – from how group think works, to how messages spread and how economies will arise within groups.

how the minority drives the majority until the majority embraces the minority.

ndeed, 24% use Facebook compared to 10% for Twitter and 11% for email.

But as the mainstream audience catches on to these niche/sub-cultural groups, there are lessons to be learned. Most abundantly (and perhaps, lucratively, too) is how brands (both large and small, personal or corporate) should be using these sites.

Last week, I was having a conversation with someone in the PR field and he said that his client was asking if they should spend time and money learning about Twitter if the next big thing (whatever it may be) is right around the corner. My friend had no idea what to say. My response, though, was simple: yes. If the client put the time in to learn about how blogs could be useful to its brand, they wouldn’t be asking about Twitter (or other social networks), because they would have the fundamentals in place and could explore on their own or with a guided hand. They would understand that community propels brands in multiple directions and users are their best salespeople.

User generated content, whether through blogs or microblogs or status updates or whatever, is what shapes a community, and which in turn, shape society.