ideaLaunch Blog

In case you haven’t heard (or noticed), Twitter announced today that it changed its prompt question from “What are you doing?” to “What’s Happening?” The question has been shortened by only 2 characters, but represents a big shift in the way people, companies and organizations are using Twitter.

You didn’t even know there was a question there, did you? Don’t feel bad. I didn’t notice it either. But it’s still kind of a big deal.

“What are you doing?” has been the question to which users are meant to respond in 140-character snippets since Twitter started. “What are you doing?” inspires responses like “heading to class,” or “developing content marketing strategy,” or “getting my nails done, then maybe drinks with the girls.” The new question is a sign that the people over at Twitter (the Twitterati?), are seeing that users have now taken control of the social networking tool and are making it work in ways that benefit them. Businesses use Twitter to advertise to millions of potential customers for free, offering promotions, deals and other incentives. Bloggers use Twitter to share ideas and increase traffic to their sites. Companies use Twitter to advertise for jobs, to reach out to new markets and network with similar companies through tweeting and retweeting industry buzz. 

“Having a cup of tea, then heading to bed”—ha, that is so yesterday. Well, not really. People are still using Twitter the same way they used it yesterday, but this seemingly small change signals the huge shift in social media that has taken place in such a small amount of time. “What’s happening?” seems cool, hip, current, but yet remains vague enough so that it fits with whatever a particular user is tweeting about.

The social media revolution is in full swing, and the Twittrati have noticed.

photo courtesy of http://www.thewwwblog.com/retweet-guide.html

Tags: content marketing, social media, Twitter

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 4:57 pm and is filed under Twitter, content marketing, social media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.