This is the second in a series of blogs about Social Networking.

Generation Y people (those born between 1981 and 1992) usually are unfamiliar with Citizens Band or CB radios.  During the 1970’s CB radios were the rage, with sales growing from under 2 million units in 1974 to over 11 million units in 1976.  The phenomena sparked a language, movies, (Smokey and the Bandit), and even a number one best selling song, Convey by C.W. McCall.

In the mid-1970’s CB radios were a Marketer’s dream, as both practical and emotional appeals were applicable.  Gas shortages had occurred, people were spending more and more time in their cars, and safety is always an issue.  Appeals to cost saving, time saving, and safety found willing listeners.  Moreover, the product was cool, what with its own lingo and the thought of trying to outwit the police…virtually every male’s dream toy.

Yet by 1980 sales of CB’s had plummeted to under 500,000 units a year.  In the 1990s, there was a mild resurgence and today they are only sold in specialty electronic stores and at truck stops to a niche market.

What happened?

One of the primary causes was the usage pattern of CB’ers.  The traffic on the primary channels became a jumble of meaningless noise, often laced with vulgarities, as the each speaker tried to out-do the other in saying nothing.  In essence, any useful bits of information were hidden in a morass of inane comments…so users turned it off.  Car phones, then cell phones, and now GPS units provide the information and safety that was the promise of CB’s.

Today the consensus is that CB radios were a fad.

The question is: is twitter also a fad? And will it follow the pattern of CB radios with a metoric rise and then just as precipitous a fall? If this is the case, what is a Marketer to do?

As most are aware, the number of people joining twitter has exploded.  According to Nielsen Online, “Twitter.com was the fastest-growing Web brand in May 2009, increasing 1,448 percent year over- year, from 1.2 million unique visitors in May 2008 to 18.2 million in 2009.”  You cannot pick up a newspaper, magazine, or listen to the TV without seeing some reference to someone tweeting.  For example, a recent Boston Globe article focused on how enterprising restaurateurs are using twitter to promote their restaurants.

However, the Nielsen Online blog notes that length of time usage is flattening.  A study by Bill Heil and Mikolaj Piskorski available in Harvard Business Publishing suggests that the median number of lifetime tweets is one (1) and that the top 10% of prolific twitter users account for 90% of the traffic.

Hubspot’s June 2009 State of the Twittershpere Report states the “many of the accounts on Twitter aren’t actually using it all that much.”  They go on to point out that:  55.5% are not following anyone, 54.9% have never tweeted and that 52.7% have no followers.

Anecdotally, I find that many people are turned off by the volume of traffic that doesn’t help them in their daily work…they ask how often they need to know that so-and-so just left a meeting or is going home.  To me, this is the CB radio phenomena all over again.

The answer to first  question is yes, twitter is most likely a fad…not unlike the CB radio.  My recommendation to Marketers is to study and embrace twitter.  See how it can work for you in either reaching or responding to customers.  However, be prepared to shift, potentially rapidly, to the next wave of social media. Collecta and OneRiot are examples of real time news collection services drawing on social networks, which is a big draw for twitter.  Analogous to car phones and cell phones, other solutions will emerge to meet users’ needs, absent the “I just ate breakfast” tweet that you just read.

Would the Bandit tweet? Probably. Burt Reynolds’ character used the tools that were available to him at the time in order to achieve his goals.  If tweeting would help in transporting beer, then I am sure he would have used it.  This pragmatic approach is one that we all should follow regarding the rapidly changing social networking tools.  Study them, try them and if they work, use them. However, it is important to understand fully the implications, potential unintended consequences and risks of each of the tools.

Are you measuring the impact of tweeter and comparing it to its costs?  Are you expending too many resources on developing your Twitter presence at the expense of the tried and true techniques that will still deliver the leads you need now?

Only you can decide.

10-4

Next up:  Social Networks are not free marketing

RHM 7/1/2009