I was directed to an LA Times technology blog by a @jowyang tweet. He called attention to the fact the article explains why the rankings on Twitter have been shifting drastically. Twitter has been incorporating a new feature called “suggested user”. When an individual signs up on Twitter one of the first things they are presented with upon completion are suggested users. Twitter co-founder Evan Williams explained that, “The reason we created this feature is because lots of people sign up to Twitter but aren’t following anyone, so we’re trying to help get them started”. The feature has been live for over a month and has featured accounts like:

• The UK newspaper The Guardian. Within that time frame the Guardian has grown from 4,000 followers to 66,000 followers. Over the last 2 weeks the Guardian has been adding followers at an increase of 300% over the previous 2 weeks.
• TechCrunch, a startup and tech news blog network, went from 41,000 to 111,000 followers.
  
• The NY Times increased its base by 6x’s and is at 145,000 followers. All of this information is garnered from the LA Times post, you can read it here.

Reading this two different thoughts came to mind. One, Twitter users are upset. And they have every right to be. The time and effort put into building the relationships with your followers is no small feat. It is about being 1 part engaging, 1 part informative (or funny) and 2 parts creative. Some individuals put a lot of effort into building their presence and reputation. So for Twitter to create a a way for select individuals/companies to gain as many followers in a month, that people have been working on building (day and night) for a lot longer seems to unfair to the people who are not suggested. Rank (in followers) is equal to credibility something people work hard to attain. When an individual is ranked #5 two months ago, and 2 months later they are ranked 35th it can make a person be a little bit annoyed.

The second thought was more busniness related. Twitter should monetize this! People have been recognizing the phenomenon (it is 3rd on the list of social media platforms behind mySpace and Facebook) but have been asking two questions:

1. How can business use social media?
2. How can Twitter (like a lot of other social platforms) find a way to make money.

Within the LA Times post I see clear value add for being a suggested user. All the sites above are new sources, and at the end of the day they want people to get their news from them (not unlike any blogger or expert). Showing hard number on how the suggested user feature can do that for organizations looking to connect with an audience is what will get companies making space in their media budgets. If Evan Williams and Biz Stone are not thinking about this I think they should be. Mind you I don’t think the formula would work if it was as simple as $$$ == placement. Twitter hopefully understands it’s growing populace and will try to focus content that users will actually like.

I think it is just as important to find a better way to connect new users with engaging users. I would suggest that when users sign up, they fill out a small questionnaire about their likes and interests. Twitter can then use a list of criteria (keyword connections, bio, followers, engagement, retweets, etc) to offer up a list of users that would engage the new user. It would do a better job of connecting users to content of interest. Surfacing people based around similarities versus popularity would be a good way to target segments and keepthem engaged.

What do you think?

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Tags: LA Times, Social Media, twitter