Faces of TwitterEleven personalities I’ve observed so far

The Absentee

As the name would suggest, the absentee is often searched for, but hasn’t joined the Twitter community.

The Expert

Leaders in their industry who consistently add value and answer questions.

The NarcissistUsers who think Twitter is a popularity contest. Shameless self-promoters who’s only goal is to be talked about, and gain followers at any cost.

The ContributorContributors aren’t yet experts, but have developed a following they’re loyal to. They talk about things they believe their followers will find interesting. Contributors participate in networking activities to help the community build valuable links.

The DabblerDabblers know about Twitter, and are somewhat interested. They either don’t have the time, or don’t see the value in frequent participation.

The PusherPushers see Twitter as another avenue to get a message out to the public. They’ll rarely look at other users tweets, or engage in a conversation. They push their message to the community, and thats about it.

The VoyeurVoyeurs might not even be a part of Twitter; they might be observing key people without ever signing up. Voyeurs extract value without adding any; but also without adding garbage.

The Parrot

Parrots re-tweet a lot, they hear something interesting and forward the message. They’ll rarely add their own information.

The PoserI’ve only observed this with brand accounts. Where an account manager or creative director poses as the brand itself, tweeting their own life-story as if the brand was living it.

The Conversationist

Conversationists use Twitter as a public instant messaging service, engaging other users in conversations. They use @replies a lot. Conversations are often more valuable than a single tweet.

The Treasure Hunter

Treasure Hunters see Twitter as a place where they can make money. You can often tell when a Treasure Hunter is posing as an alternate personality, when they link a majority of their tweets back to their service, product, or idea.

ConclusionI’m certain these are not the only personalities that exist on Twitter. I’ve only been participating in the community for about a month now. These are just the personalities that I’ve observed.

It’s duly noted that many users adopt multiple personalities or blended personalities.

I don’t think any of the personalities are necessarily better or worse than others. They’re all different, and fill different needs.

Final StatementIt seems to me, that everyone gets the following they deserve on Twitter.

If a user tweets about irrelevant things, his following will likely pay little attention to him; if a user consistently tweets about engaging, relevant information his following will likely click every link he posts.

If you set out to get a massive following, you’ll likely succeed, but might fail at creating a truly engaged audience.