I’ve been thinking about Twittographics (Twitter demographics) for a few days. In fact, ever since I read a few blog posts about the metrics that define the style of Twitter user you are, including this one by Louis Gray.

Twitter being such a versatile tool (or rather such a simple tool that it can be put to such versatile use), there are no doubt going to be many different perspectives about Twitter demographics and how they are defined.

Here’s my viewpoint.

There are 4 variables or parameters to watch.

Following
Followers
Tweets
@ messages

Following

On Twitter, people are following other people. There may be many reasons for following someone. Broadly, they may be classified into 2 groups:

1. Curiosity: You want to see what they’re up to, doing, sharing, and learn from them.

2. Selfishness: By you following THEM, the chances are they will follow YOU back! In fact, there is a certain sub-set of Twitizens who believe it is Twittiquette to follow anyone who is following you. (I do not subscribe to this school of thought, by the way, and even recently slashed my Twitter following for reasons explained in this blog post)

And there’s a sub-group who abuse Reason #2. You’d fall into it by UN-following someone AFTER they have followed you, just so that you can repeat and grow your following!

So obviously, since FOLLOWING is a variable that is completely under the control of every Twitter user, it is purely a reflection of HOW the person uses Twitter.

And for what purpose.

That - and that alone - should determine and influence Following.

But how about ‘Followers’?

Followers

As a veteran of email list publishing, I like Twitter primarily because it offers ‘fast feedback loops’ about your ‘performance’ as a Twitterer.

I once shared my philosophy about tweeting:

“You tweet FOR your ‘Followers’, not AT them!”

Which I translate to mean that your Twitter posts should be geared more at your audience’s (’followers’) needs, wants, expectations and interests than being solely about yourself… that is, a) if you want many followers, and b) are not already a famous celebrity!

On Twitter, people can follow you at the click of a button.

They can UN-follow you just as easily, with another click on REMOVE.

What encourages one and discourages the other is the VALUE your tweets provide them.

And so, in a very real sense, your ‘follower’ count is a more accurate reflection of how interesting, instructive, entertaining, funny, outrageous or remarkable your Twittering is.

Forget this cardinal rule and you’ll soon be tweeting into the ether with no one the wiser (someone somewhere used the apt phrase for this - Twitterbation!)

Tweets

Twitter posts are called ‘tweets’.

And Twitter users tweet for many different reasons.

#1 - Search Engine Ranking: Twitter posts get indexed on Search Engines - often quickly, often high. Don’t trust me - Google ‘drmani’ (no quotes) and see!

#2 - Link lobbing: Works like a charm as long as the links add value to your followers, and are not merely attempts at driving traffic to your site/blog

#3 - Communication and relationship building: Involves extensive use of @ messages. Twitter is wonderful at this, beats the socks off email! We’ll get into this later.

#4 - Announcements. Like notifications about a new blog post or updates to a site or a sale, launch, discount or special offer. This style of tweeting can even be automated, and delivered through RSS feed integration.

#5 - Pitching: Tweets are also (ab)used for constantly delivering marketing pitches. I personally feel this is a poor use of such a versatile platform, but hey - different strokes for different folks, right?!

#6 - Ego boosts. These tweets are characterized by name dropping, and vanity tweeting (the “See how smart I am!” or “Don’t you simply envy me?” kind)

#7 - Wasting time. Stuff you do while you can’t do anything else. Like while waiting for plane, or stuck in traffic. Drivel delivered at spinal level. Stuff that makes me go: “Who the #$@%# CARES?!” Still, it’s a big world

Unfortunately, though, most first-time Twitter watchers see this last kind of post and wonder whatever could be special about Twitter as a service!

Poor them, if they let this make them decide to leave without exploring further, right?

@ Messages

I mentioned ‘communication and relationship building’ in the list above.

@ messages are one of the 2 ways to communicate directly with individuals on Twitter, like calling out their name across a crowded room.

For instance, if you want to get my attention on Twitter, you would post a message @drmani

Such one-on-one communication also allows network building and relationship nurturing even on an apparently over-cluttered community.

(The other option, of course, is Direct Messaging, which is private)

Twitter users with a high proportion of @ tweets are obviously socializing - engaging in conversation, debate or argument with individuals, or calling out and addressing them directly, as opposed to ‘broadcasting’ to their entire group of ‘followers’.

Defining Twitizens - The Role of Twittographics

Given the diversity of combinations when you mix and match the different possibilities, even within these limited 4 variables, it’s obvious that defining the type of Twitizen you are based on Twittographics is going to be a tough, uncertain and error-prone task.

Take the measure of ‘tweets per follower‘ as an example. A ratio of less than 1.0 would no doubt define a user as a ‘listener’.

But it’s harder to say definitely that a ratio of 2.0 to 5.0 makes a ‘conversationalist’ (unless we know for sure what fraction of tweets are @ messages) or that a ratio of more than 5.0 characterizes a ‘megaphone’ (since most, or even all of the tweets could be one-on-one communications with followers).

Another fallacy of using such a metric as ‘updates per follower’ to define a Twitter user lies in the fact that if you have more followers, you are naturally going to drop back on the ratio - unless you spend hours daily tweeting!

For instance, I have over 800 followers. To maintain a ‘tweets per follower’ ratio of 1.0, I’ll have to tweet 800+ times! And what happens if my ‘followers’ number increases much further? Who has that much time, right? Not me, for sure.

So then, will I become a ‘listener’? Not really, because I only follow 40 people or less on Twitter!

I use Twitter to engage and network with people, do it quickly and informally, and keep frequently churning my ‘following’ list depending on what catches my fancy at the moment. Over 80% of all my tweets are @ messages, indicating this style of Twitter usage.

And by having @ messages open from anyone, I can participate in conversations with anyone who sends an @drmani tweet.

So tweet frequency has little sanctity as a Twittographic metric to define the kind of Twitter user you are.

Just like any 2-way communication tool or service, Twitter following is a reflection of implicit promise and perceived value. When the ‘match’ is right, frequency becomes simply a side issue!