There had been a “noticeable increase” in visits to Twitter since the micro-blogging platform started receiving more widespread mainstream media attention, according to Hitwise. “Over the last 12 months traffic to Twitter.com has increased 27-fold,” says Robin Goad, a research director at Hitwise. “If the people accessing their Twitter accounts via mobile phones and third-party applications such as Twitterrific, Twitterfeed and Tweetdeck were included, the numbers would be even higher.”
One of the main reasons for Twitter’s success is the ecosystem of sites and applications that have built up around it. TwitPic, a website that allows users to quickly and easily post their photos to Twitter, is a good example of this. TwitPic famously hosted some of the first pictures of last year’s Mumbai terrorist attacks. During the attacks, eyewitnesses sent around 80 tweets every five seconds as the tragedy unfolded. Twitter users on the ground helped in compiling a list of the dead and injured as well as sending out vital information such as emergency phone numbers and the location of hospitals that needed blood donations. Recently, during the February fires in Australia, the Country Fire Authority also used Twitter to send out regular alerts and updates regarding the Victorian bushfires. The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, used his Twitter account to send out information on the fires, how to donate money and blood, and where to seek emergency help. Other high-profile users include Obama and the Isreali goverment who used their Twitter account for press conferences through Twitter during the Gaza crisis..
Uses for non-for-profits will be covered in subsequent posts, in the meantime, for more on microblogging and its uses: check out the Twitter in plain English video above.
