Twitter is simple in features – but Twitter Users are a diverse crowd. And often they misunderstand each other.
Misunderstandings lead to complaints, complaints lead to fights, and fights lead to more misunderstandings. Let me be your mediator and explain the different groups to you.
Valuable Types Of Twitter Users
1. The Listener
The Listener is a Twitter User, who follows (topics, people, friends or celebrities) – but doesn’t feel the need to be followed. That doesn’t mean he is worthless, though. Listeners are the accounts that are in the game for information, and whenever they find a piece of information they suck it up. They follow a few friends and a lot of accounts they feel give them the information they need – yet you shouldn’t expect interaction from them. The best you can hope for is a click on the Retweet button from time to time.
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The value they bring
Listeners actually bring a lot of value to Twitter, though it often goes unnoticed. They are the ones who are most interested in the content that is provided. They suck up the information, and although it seems that all you get is a random retweet – in fact, you collect readers.
2. The Facebook Runaway
You meet them on every social network these days – yet on Twitter, they can be particularly annoying. The Facebook Runaways! They simply don’t get that Twitter is different and has a different social structure than Facebook. They are here because they “don’t want Facebook spying” on them, or “don’t believe in Facebook’s censorship”.
The problem is: They want to use Twitter like they have used or would use Facebook. They follow their friends and a few brands (those they would “like” on Facebook). They get annoyed when someone follows them (Seriously – I had Twitter users send me insults for following them). They don’t like being answered to by people they don’t know, and they actually prefer talking to Paris Hilton’s social media manager instead of a real person they do not know.
The value they bring
As annoying as this type of Twitter users can be – be patient. These are intelligent people too (sometimes), and over time, they will convert to regular Twitter users. They will get comfortable with the way social interactions are made on Twitter, and while they are not willing to interact with _you_ at first, they are interacting with their friends and acquaintances. Twitter still needs growth – and once these people get comfortable with the regular chit-chat on Twitter, who knows, they might enjoy the openness.
3. The Interactor
Interactors are the complete opposite of the Listeners. They talk a lot on Twitter, send you questions, talk about random things (either business or even personal) with seemingly random people. They are here not to take part in conversations – they create conversations. They turn Twitter into the global party it is.
The value they bring
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This is easy – they bring value because they are the spark for conversations that spread like wildfire. Without them Twitter would be a boring place, they make it fun. If you want to target on Twitter – these might not be the Twitter users who will constantly click on the content you post, but if they do and like it, you have engaged the ones that have the power to make you trending (if you are very lucky).
4. The Entertainer
This group is somewhat similar to the Interactors – but there is a difference: The Interactor interacts because he likes interacting, the entertainer needs an audience. And while the entertainer is also very keen to talk to you, he also is very keen to post content (and often even to create content).
If this sounds like the entertainer is an egocentric version of the Interactor, that is because he is.
The value they bring
Imagine a college party. There are people talking to each other, people who have talked to every single guest at the party. And then there is always, at least, one guy or girl everyone remembers: He/she talks slightly louder than everyone else, he cracks jokes, tells everyone stories of his life; if a girl gives him her number she knows she has only a 10% chance of ever getting a call.
Not everyone likes him, and everyone agrees that he is over the top and sometimes annoying. But although many wouldn’t admit it, without him, the party wouldn’t be a party at all.
This is the effect the Entertainer has on Twitter.
5. The Seeder (Marketer Type A)
Seeders treat Twitter like an information stream, and (as marketers), they see their role as presenting themselves as sources for as much information as possible. Many of them tweet content as often as every 15 – 20 minutes, and while this may seem strange to newcomers – if they do it well you might not even notice.
Many from this group tweet primarily on autopilot – recurring queues of Tweets, heavy usage of Buffer. Often they measure their tweets and topics on how they perform within their audience and they almost definitely grow their audience actively.
And that’s ok, because:
The value they bring
Many people use Twitter as a stream of information – and this is who the Seeder is after. Information is king on Twitter and if you manage to implement yourself in the content stream with your sources of content (without becoming a spammer) – you are a winner.
Look at your Twitter stream: What would it be without the valuable information? A lot of this information is spread and passed on to other Twitter users by Marketers. Do you really mind (as long as the information is truly relevant)?
6. The Ambassador (Marketer Type B)
Ambassadors promote products they believe in. They build an audience that trusts them – and has good reason to trust them. Because they never promote things they don’t like or use themselves. Or if they do they say: This might be interesting, but I haven’t tried it yet.
These people might be Entertainers, Interactors or Seeders as well – yet when they promote a product you can be sure that they are convinced it is worth it.
The value they bring
In a world where new products appear every day, Ambassadors are not only valuable; they are needed desperately – how else would you find the product you need?
7. The Newbie
New account, no profile picture, no idea of how to find his or her way around the network, sometimes scary behavior. Like a teenager on his first college party. Often imitating the behavior of others. You get the picture.
The value they bring
Just like the Facebook Runaways, these will hopefully “get it” in the future. They need our help and support and shouldn’t be seen as outsiders – don’t we all want Twitter to grow?
8. Inactive Accounts
A lot of people sign up for Twitter but often don’t stay active. These become inactive accounts – no tweet for weeks and month, no messages, no activity.
The value they bring
Believe it or not – many people don’t get Twitter from the start. But that doesn’t mean that they will never get it. My account was inactive for 2 years before I figured how I could get value out of it.
So – stay calm and wait. While these might not provide value now, they also don’t do damage.
9. The Regular Twitter Users
A lot of people just use Twitter without thinking about what they do. They are a bit of everything above. And that’s ok.
Bonus Section: 2 Types Of Twitter Users That Are Useless
Isn’t it a bit harsh to call someone useless? Well, maybe – but before you decide on your verdict about my behavior, read on and decide for yourself whether you have a better way to describe these Twitter user types.
1. The Spammer (Marketer Type C)
These are similar to Seeders in the way that they post often, and they try to induce their message into the stream of information – it’s just that their messages are useless. No real information, repetition to excess.
And since they don’t provide value, their messages simply don’t work – and since they do notice this they get even more annoying by mentioning random Twitter handles, trying to raise attention by insulting people, direct messages with links to porn sites…
And while a good marketer knows his audience and knows how to grow his audience by targeting the right people/accounts, these idiots simply don’t. They often have Twitter accounts with over 100k followers – which they probably bought for little money.
Value? None. Annoyment factor: 5/10
2. The Troll
If Spammers are annoying, Trolls are sneaky little bastards that do real damage in the virtual world. All other types of Twitter users are actually reflections of social groups in the real world – Trolls are not.
They insult people (for no apparent reason or at least not legitimate reasons). They come up with surprisingly well-developed plans to create fights between certain groups, they bully people, they lie, they scheme, they hack accounts and use them for their purpose, …
These people often appear to be different in real life – sometimes even respectable, but in the anonymity of the social web, they show their real personalities.
These types hide in every society on the planet – sometimes they come out when a political system drifts into a dictatorship, racism or other unfavorable directions. They are not simply not nice people – they strive when you give them an audience, they become dangerous when you give them power, and they prosper when you give them the opportunity to believe they are better than others with their narcissistic belief system.
In reality, they are simply cowards striving for attention. Don’t give it to them.
Don’t feed the §$!§$” troll!
Final Words
Do you agree with my list? Do you think I forgot some important group? Which type of Twitter user are you (don’t say, Troll!)? Happy to hear your comments.
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