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(cc) Brian Solis,www.briansolis.com- Twitter, @briansolis
 
Twitter Flutters into Mainstream Culture: The New Competition for Attention Starts with You
 
By Brian Solis, blogger at PR 2.0 and principal of FutureWorksPR, Co- Author Putting the Public Back in Public Relationsand Now Is Gone
 SourceFollowing thesolo media vs. traditional mediarace that led Twitter into both relevance andirrelevance, the result is that the carefully guarded community and its unique culture are nowpermanently altered – for better or for worse.According to estimates sourced by Engadget Editor-in-Chief Ryan Block, Twitter grew by 1.2million users simply as a result of the “Oprah-effect.”TechCrunch's MG Siegler alsoexploredthe process for estimating Twitter’s path into themainstream.
 
(cc) Brian Solis,www.briansolis.com- Twitter, @briansolis
 
What does 1.2 million new users mean for Twitter?
 So, how many new users really joined Twitter as a result of the celebrity-fueled popularitycontest?I’m not sure the answer truly matters. If we explore it from a sociological perspective, I believethat the culture of Twitter has been introduced to a significant event that may indeed shiftinteraction and behavior overall.Going into the race, estimates pegged the active userbase anywhere between 5 - 8 million. Nowpost race and the Oprah-effect, over 1 million people were introduced to the service guided by a“follow me” mentality. This “overnight” expansion represents a potential 10-12% saturation ratio.These new users will participate and build communities around them based on their interpretation of the network as framed by those whom they follow. Remember, we aremeasured by our last 20 tweets or updates within each social network. Take a look for yourself,www.twitter.com/insertusernameIt is what it is. The real question is, what do you want to get out of these connections?In the end, we are still responsible for creating our own experience within the community andthat is one of the true advantages and rewards of Twitter. We foster and cultivate individualecosystems that bind us contextually.
 Competing for Attention
 Perhaps what is most interesting and prevalent is the behavior transformation in contentconsumption that is taking place in “Twitter time” and it's establishing anew world authority. For many of us, we’re migrating away from destinations and potentially RSS readers as well as our 
 
(cc) Brian Solis,www.briansolis.com- Twitter, @briansolis
primary source of news, relevant information, pleasant distractions, and trending topics. We’requickly focusing on Twitter, Facebook News Feeds, FriendFeed and the statusphere as our highly curated and personalized attention dashboards.As content publishers, producers, and creators, we need to acknowledge, understand, andembrace this critical disruption.Let’s take a look at Twitter as an example. Before the April’s madness of follower contests,Comscorereportedthat Twitter had experienced a new record of 9.3 million visitors in March,which represented a 131% jump.As you can see, the growth curve is practically vertical. And, we’re sure to see yet another surgein growth when April numbers are released.However, Comscore is also observing what I believe to represent the hope and potentialfuturefor traditional media.
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