Has Twitter Jumped the Shark?

Oprah is using Twitter (in all caps unfortunately). So is Ashton Kutcher and his 1 Million followers. Now that Twitter has gone mainstream, is it in danger of jumping the shark?

I don't think so. According to Social Media theory, the more users there are, the greater the benefit to all. I agree with this theory to a point. And that point starts with Facebook. Do I really need to know at any given moment what my ex-boyfriend from 6th grade is doing? All those updates are really starting to clog my Facebook feed. But I digress. A fundamental difference between Facebook and Twitter is that I can easily unfollow someone (without hurt feelings) who is posting too often. This power makes it less annoying to me. I have over 600 followers on Twitter (most of whom I follow in return) and I hope the number keeps growing. On Facebook, I have around 70 friends and I hope that number doesn't grow exponentially.

From a business perspective, the recent spike in number of Twitterers should be welcomed. More people means more potential customers. TechCrunch estimated the Oprah effect to be almost 1.2 Million new users. Obviously they need to need to be part of your target market, but Twitter is growing so quickly that some of those new users are bound to be. More people also means a higher likelihood that your message will be passed along to others (AKA viral marketing or Buzz marketing). So perhaps all you business Twitterers out there, should send Oprah a thank you tweet. Just remember to turn your Caps Lock function off.