Thursday, 22 January 2009
UK Twitter Use Up Tenfold
As with most online technologies and online services developed in the US, the UK tends to lack behind in the use of these technologies.
One such service that I’ve been using for a few months now is Twitter, a very useful micro-blogging tool that some of the top online personalities and brands are making use of in the US.
It’s especially effective at delivering lightning fast coverage of prominent news events, being used recently by witnesses to the horrific Mumbai terrorist attacks and even survivors of a plane crash in the US.
According to the technology news website Techcrunch UK/Ireland, traffic to Twitter from UK users has increased ten times over the past 12 months. With top UK celebrities such as Jonathan Ross, John Cleese and Stephen Fry leading the popularity contest of UK twitter users.
For businesses, this is interesting as it’s pushing Twitter closer and closer to the viability threshold as a tool for promoting services and products provided. Some prominent media services are already applying some business tactics successfully (not surprising as over 10% of traffic generated by twitter goes to news/media websites). Also, Dell US has generated a million dollars from twitter based promotions.
Despite these success stories, businesses haven’t quite cracked it yet, and I expect UK business to face the same challenges as their US counterparts. That being said, it’s certainly an interesting tool, and as most online services, its very nature and the way people use and interact with it will change as it gains more and more popularity.
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