“Do you use Twitter?”

The statement do you use Twitter pesters people because what you are stating  is “I use Twitter do you?”   The feeling that you are most likely feeling from just reading word Twitter, is what I would like to classify as the Twitter Stigma.

You hear about Twitter all the time is very commonly joked about and discussed, but very rarely will you hear about people mentioning that they use it.

So what is keeping people from using this software? The Twitter stigma stems through what Geoffrey A. Moore calls the software gap. - Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A. Moore If you look to the graph on the right you can see 4 differnt portions of this Graph.

Twitter is currently in the early market stage a simple push and the sensation will become more common place for your average user.  If Twitter wants to be a household product instead of a household name something still needs to occur.   One solution is something called diffusion of innovation or word of mouth marketing.  Steve Knox claims that word of mouth is the strongest way to pass a message. When a friend or family member mentions that they like or dislike something their message goes a long way to influencing your decision. What someone else tells you goes a lot further television, radio, print, and even internet advertising can do.

What Steve has help shape while working at Tremor is the concept of  trend-setters and trend-spreaders.

Trend-setters are clearly what make up Twitter’s user base. These people who’s “personal equity is about being different”. A Trend-setters don’t spread the message at all. A trend-setter will discourage others to join in to stay different. Messages are passed along really by Trend-spreaders. A trend-spreader has a “social networks that are five six times larger than normal person. Have a deep propensity to talk about new ideas within their social network”. -Steve Knox Listen to Steve Knox keynote adress at Duke free on ItuneU These trend spreaders are the ones who enjoy letting other people know what is new and up and coming.

If Twitter wants to be more than a product for simply the elite computer user.  They need to reach out to build something these Trend-spreaders can grab onto.  The image of  Twitter will change from elitist to the common product once it’s functional in a way that the average user can jump into.  For Facebook it was the photos and friends, Myspace webpage building, and yahoo had it’s revamp with it’s news and celebrity gossip.  It is still yet to be seen if Twitter will shape its product to become a website for the typical web consumer.