Twitter Shock and Awe

I have a confession to make. I’m one of those people who is immediately skeptical of things that get really popular, really fast. I’m not exactly sure why that is, but it’s a characteristic that’s been with me for a while. Want proof? I didn’t get a cell phone until 2003, I’ve been on Facebook for less than a year, and I’ve never read a book in either the Harry Potter or Twilight series.

Sometimes my hesitation to bandwagon jump proves beneficial, as it has prevented me from, say, having to unload a box full of pogs on eBay. Other times, however, it simply delays me from getting in on the ground floor of something special.

Case in point, Twitter. Now I’m sure I’m not the only person who raised an eyebrow or two at a communications tool that limits you to 140 characters, but I was recently shocked and awed by its ability to foster valuable conversations in near-real time.

The other day, my girlfriend and I were watching TV when a new commercial for Diet Coke came on. The commercial itself was unremarkable, but the music playing in it was incredibly catchy. It was so catchy, in fact, that it immediately spurred my girlfriend to load up Google in search of the song title and artist’s name.

Within seconds, she knew the song was called “Sweet Disposition” and the artist’s name was The Temper Trap. “That was fast,” I said. She showed me how she found what she was looking for so quickly. Right there on the first page of Google search results was a window that was updating in real time with relevant tweets:

“Just saw the new Diet Coke commercial. Anyone know what song was in it?”

“Who knows the name of the awesome tune in the Diet Coke ad?”

And so on. Clearly, she wasn’t the only person who enjoyed the song. And then the answer tweets started rolling in:

“I’m pretty sure that was The Temper Trap. Song’s called Sweet Disposition.”

“Just heard Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap in Diet Coke commercial=more food for my iPod!”

And so on. Random groups of people were all having the same thought, at the same time, and thanks to Twitter (and Google, which aggregated the thoughts), they were able to converse and quickly exchange meaningful information. I was blown away.

On the surface, it may not seem all that groundbreaking. So a bunch of people were interested in a song from a Diet Coke commercial, big deal. But think about it a little longer and you realize that millions of other conversations are happening right now, about millions of other things unrelated to soda and music. And I’m willing to bet at least a few of those have something to do with your company/industry/business. Question is, are you participating?