As many of you have felt by now through an increased number of Twitter followers—this past Tuesday was in fact "Twitter Tuesday". What caused it?
Influence Ripples
Jeremiah Owyang is both connector, maven and salesman all rolled into one. His invitation to have people add him to Twitter only to have him add them back set off a Ripple effect magnified by Techmeme, other bloggers, Facebook, Utterz and yes—Twitter itself. There was most likely a flurry of e-mails happening behind the scene as well. Owyang himself is a large ripple, but it was the combination of both larger and smaller ripples that made many of us feel the effect. The overlaps of the ripples were numerous, significant and obvious to anyone who participated in this. The way these ripples spread is both fierce and fragmented:
These concepts may seem abstract to "non participants". But to those of us who actively participate, we see them happening on a fairly regular basis. Owyang prefers to use a "fabric + threads" metaphor to explain the dynamics in the space—however you choose to explain the intricate spread of interaction enabled through social networks, it's obvious that a movement is afoot regardless of what tools we choose to adopt. Businesses, marketers, designers, must understand these dynamics if they hope to exert influence themselves. That's the bottom line.
