In 1990, if you told CompuServe executives their 600 thousand subscribers would amount to less than 2% of daily messages sent on a social media network, they would have laughed in your face. CompuServe dominated online service in the 1980’s and continued to be a major player in the 1990’s. As technology continued to improve and companies merged and subsequently closed, CompuServe’s popularity eventually faded away.
Fast forward to 2010, where Twitter is one of the dominating social media networks. The challenge of having your 140 character (or less) message retweeted by your favorite celebrity causes more anxiety than a deer dashing across the front of your vehicle. Adding ‘#’ to your one word tweet can become popular enough that millions of people type in the same thing and it becomes a trending topic.
People have never communicated in this type of fashion before. In 2009 Twitter went mainstream, but how long will the popularity of the network last?
Some people predict Twitter will last forever. But, weren’t those same predictions made about FriendFeed and MySpace? MySpace was the leading social networking website a few years ago. The creators of Facebook dreamed of having the same success MySpace was experiencing. Now, if Facebook was a country, it would be the third largest country in the world, while the MySpace craze dissipates.
If social media history repeats itself, Twitter will be struggling to compete with a social media powerhouse that is currently in development stage. Once someone develops the right network that will connect people in a better, more entertaining way, the social media world will slowly migrate leaving Twitter just as they did Myspace.
Whitepapers and blog posts will be full of statistics and case studies proclaiming this new network is the best solution for your business and experts will pop up everywhere.
Twitter has changed the social media landscape in ways no one could have ever imagined, and Twitter is taking a huge risk on March 12th when they launch their ad network. Will users become annoyed by advertisements splattered over what used to be a clean, user customized layout.
The imprint Twitter will leave on social media and social networking will be permanent, the fact is, something better is bound to come along and take it’s place.
Twitter processes 
Since Twitter went maintream, companies have been trying to implement a Twitter strategy capable of producing a return on their investment. Being an avid Twitter user since 2008, I have seen an astronomical amount of tweet spam and endless attempts at promoting a product or service, ignoring the fact that social media is about relationship building and creating value for your customers. Depending on your content, you either sink or swim in the Twittersphere. Here’s five tips to help you stay afloat.
Since the creation of search engines, having your website appear as the first search result has been the most sought out position on the internet. People have created meta tags, specific keywords, submitted their website to directories relevant to their business, etc. to hold that prime position. Now, Google’s new Caffeine will soon change all that. Google Caffeine’s real-time search feature will combine SEO with Social Media Marketing.
