It’s not yet clear exactly what effect Oprah had on Twitter by featuring the service (and its first million-follower user, Ashton Kutcher) on her show on Friday. Twitter co-founder Biz Stone tells me he’s going to try and get some numbers as to just how many people signed up thanks to Oprah, sometime next week. But, Twitter Search already reveals that it’s a massive amount.
When anything gains mainstream popularity, there are always some early adopters who will start denouncing it. Some do this out of spite, some out of odd principle, some because they think they’re too cool to do something that a lot of other people do. But, I’m here to tell you that there’s another way.
Instead of being a jackass and pouting about the “good old days of Twitter,” just visit herebeforeoprah.com. The simple service asks the question, “was _______ here before oprah?” Simply fill in the blank with your Twitter name and if you adopted early enough, you’ll get confirmation of your Twitter street cred. For example, I’m very pleased to get a response, “@parislemon was here before @oprah.”
I understand why some of you are upset about Oprah “ruining” Twitter, I really do. I put in countless hours/days/months of mindless 140 character messages just like the rest of you. But suck it up, and get your revenge by letting Oprah know that despite her gaining over 300,000 followers in a day, you beat her to the service.
Man… I’m glad I started twittering last week, before the whole service was ruined by @opera. I’m already pining for the good old days.
Hahaha very funny stuff. Going to follow you now.
LMAO… wish someone would follow us.. http://twitter....m/tweetjunction
what the heck is a twitter?
& what the crap is an Oprah?!? And WHY am I cutting in line?!?!
B-]
I’mma gonna follow you too.
lol i was there before oprah
If you read TechCrunch regularly, you were probably on Twitter way before Oprah.
hookk was here before oprah
Tweeted and hookked it.
http://hookk.com
It is true. Reading techcrunch would make you ahead of others using services that may or may not hit the mainstream.
i was here before http://herebeforeoprah.com. thinking of registering http://herebefo...herebeforeoprah. com
Who cares? The great thing about social networking like Facebook and Twitter is that you only have to follow/friend people who are interesting to you.
I don’t follow Ashton Kutcher. I don’t follow Oprah. If others do, it doesn’t effect me.
In fact, the only effect I’ve seen in the past week from the celebrity-Twitter users is some of the people I follow (who don’t even FOLLOW @aplusk or @oprah) bitching about them being on twitter.
Let the Ashton Kutchers and Britney Spears of the world be on Twitter. If you don’t follow you, the effect is minimal at best. I’d suggest people stop bitching about it — unless you can come up with some way where it actually effects you.
I pretty much agree.
I think the only difference is if twitter is mainstream, it means that they will have to handle the added load and the added noise to all search results (especially because where there are “masses of people” there will be “masses of spam” beyond just the noise of “oh, my cat is so cute today…”). If they can’t handle it and build ways to filter out this load, then the usefulness of twitter as a tool for quick sharing of news/ideas and tracking trends becomes debatable.
I’m not a big twitter user, but every time I take some time on it, I’m always positively impressed with the amount of good content that is possible to extract from it. It will be sad to lose it (I’m sure content will move elsewhere, but we will have to endure another period of fragmentation)
Spam will increase. remember all the Myspace spam around 05 and 06? Those guys who did it all didn’t disappear. They’re always on the look out for the next big thing to spam. FB was tougher because of it’s structure. Twitter is a different story.
I wonder how the news sites will get affected by twitter. I am thinking they will suffer in a huge way. New generation sites are popping up that challenge the tyranny of the bury brigade and other such non democratic devices.
Hookk is one of them. It kinda interfaces between news reactions and twitter and has an intuitive submit process for the hookks. Refreshingly different way to discuss news right there on the page.
http://hookk.com
Your bitching about the bitching is worse than the bitching, bitch.
Watch that first step as you get off that high horse.
You bitching about my bitching about the bitching…
No worries, I had my horse lowered and added curb feelers… so I will be fine. Low and slow…
indeed twitter has a ’shield’ against the oprah effect because you choose who you follow. however, inevitably, the post-oprah masses will pollute the system via small leaks that get retweeted and accumulate due to their sheer number. i expect to have the first link to an oprah-related video, blog post etc. tweeted to me within the week
oh, and yes, i was there before oprah, too! FTW!
This service doesn’t work. I joined today and it says I was here before Oprah.
Interesting. Maybe it just wants you to feel better about it?
Definately.
At the end of the day, does it really matter if someone signed up after Oprah or before? Doesn’t mean a person has to change how they were using the service “back in the day.”
I was there before Oprah too, though didn’t start using it much until recently.
Life goes on, people.
It does appear to matter to people who have no lives.
People got to have something to complain about and they love playing following the leader games. I think it’s lame but then I’m commenting about it so I guess that makes me lame too.
I have been conducting a Twitter usage survey this afternoon. The running results are shown at
https://tweetbr...nswers/to/41278
It’s obvious that most professionals use Twitter for business purposes.
So far there are very few truly biz oriented Twitter apps such as TweetBrain that cater serious biz Twitter users. You guys should try to dig out serious Twitter applications for your core readership.
Really people are start getting tired of Oprah or other celebrity using Twitter on TC.
spam
Before you know the precise definition of “spam” in this context, don’t use it. Spam in electronic communication always means messages that are “push” to you. She published her opinions, justified her opinions with evidences that she has, and gave her real address etc. She didn’t “push” any messages to you. Also, have you heard about statistic sampling? Her survey is still running. My friend, be careful about your comments in public. They represents you!
yeah I get sick of people whining about ‘noise and spam’ in these streams of communication, if someone wants to chat about their cat it is meaningful to them, don’t follow if you hate cats!
Well it worked for me, because I just used it and it confirmed that I WAS here before Oprah.
Then again, it just may say that about everyone! LOL so it will be right at least half the time for as long as it takes P.O. (Post Oprah) followers to overtake the total user base that existed P.O. (Pre-Oprah) hahaha
or A.O. for ‘ante oprah’. i was born A.O.
Can we be done with Twitter, please?
That’s a good idea for one of these sites. Canwebedonewithtwitterplease.com
I’m sure it will be promptly covered by TC. =)
only to slam it…
Looks like she didn’t care to snag…
http://www.myspace.com/oprah
Cripes. That chick’s page is a perfect example of why I have never, and will never, use MySpace.
Should’nt you be super poking, or figuring out the all important question of who your top friends are punk?
Nice addition of twitter username btw
Thanks for the write-up!
There was never an intention to be snarky or mean, it’s just some stupid fun we knocked together in an hour.
Our point is, Twitter was here as a vibrant and fun community before Oprah, and it’s mainstream acceptance won’t change it.
It’s a key example of what Seth Godin calls permission based communication. If I don’t want to hear from Oprah, or Ashton, or P.Diddy I don’t have to subscribe, they have to earn our attention and keep it.
you lost all credibility by spouting seth godin
How does one turn off email comment notification?
At the bottom of the email notification there should be a link prefaced by “To manage your subscriptions or to block all notifications from this site, click the link below:” Just click on the link and follow the instructions.
thanks!
The question I have is….. what’s next for TC (and others)?
With Twitter going mainstream, over exposure will hit, and the tech blog sites will have to find something else to discuss. Is there anything on deck? I think its 40 years of wandering in the wilderness (1 month in internet time) for TC and others.
There is always something else to discuss Ryan. Don’t worry.
Sure. Still, its funny how the angst has already begun with valley folk who carried twitter’s torch. Twitter has left home for the “big city”, and its early proponents are finally realizing that it wasn’t invited to the big party.
Twitter’s (user) culture is undergoing a sudden shift. It will be interesting to watch as it burns through Hollywood and middle america, and how that impacts the company and its base (short and long term), considering the BO (before-oprah users are not very compatible with AO (after-oprah) users.
Before you discount this issue, remember that Twitter is a business, and so its all about the customer. Twitter’s “customer” is changing dramatically right now, and the customer definition will direct where Twitter goes.
You forgot to mention some other common reasons why people do not like Twitter. How about the fact that it’s a chat camouflaging as a social network. This is almost analogous to someone doing a milli vanilli cover and calling it the best music of this decade.
Can you name one radical difference between twitter and say IRC, which has been around since the 80’s? I would even say AOL’s AIM is not much different than twitter. It’s really a chat system with a bunch of celebrities endorsing it. What a hit.
It’s a chat packaged differently. Like the old War of the Worlds re-made for today…
Absolutely agree. Before Twitter, people used to post their status or thoughts in away messages or AIM profiles. Twitter simply collects this data in aggregate, makes it public, and keeps a record of it (though there is some value in the search data and networking opportunities).
Twitter and Facebook have captured a lot of the activity that used to take place in chatrooms, forums, and IM, some for the better (ease of accessing near-live information) and some for the worse (disjointed, non-specific community format). However I think the untold story is how much people still rely on IM and email, especially for business. For most people Twitter, Facebook and the like serve as distractions, not serious conversation tools.
This is what Twitter is: A tool for actual celebs to be exposed 100 % of their time, and a place for WANNABE celebs, who wish their “friends” cared for them 100 % of the time…
The fact of the matter is basically that if I really care what another person is doing, I will give them a call and have meaningful interaction with them, or better still invest time to see them in person!
But I can understand why Twitter is popular in todays culture, which is why I also know it is a fad that is in fifth gear towards crash and burn, hitting the wall once celebs, “have been there, done that”, and the sheep mindlessly follow.
Twitter is for Sheep (Twits?)
Now to some actual interaction with my friends and family. Sunday morning, FA Cup on TV, beers with mates, life is good (Twitter sucks).
Hey there is a good one (!?)
LifeIsGoodTwitterSucks.com
Give me a break!
/Ulrik.
Finally, some analysis of Twitter from the TechCrunch web site that is accurate.
DeadpoolTwitterAndOprah.com
out of morbid curiosity, do you have some sort of degenerate disease that prevents you from doing multiple things in the same concept?
Does twittering someone make them exclusively unable for you to hang out with them in the future for a certain period of time? Can you in fact text one of your friends on Friday at 2PM while you’re in a boring meeting at work AND still meet up with them in person at a bar later and not have made that 2PM conversation irrelevant by some reverse time travel communication osmosis?
Have you ever been in a situation where a phone call isn’t appropriate? Are you one of those awesome super important people who wears their bluetooth headset everywhere and talks to people in places where nobody wants to hear it? Guess what? You’re VERBALLY TWEETING. Except the people around you at the grocery can’t un-follow you or avoid you. At least the people using twitter can keep quiet and the people who don’t want to listen don’t have to do it.
But yes, you’re having a meaningful conversation in public, which is so much more important than using text.
I’ve never understood this kind of mentality where one form of communication is somehow more meaningful than another, but to each his own I guess. Just realize that when you’re in the grocery store talking on your phone to someone, most people hate you for it even though that convo is soooo much more valuable to you as a human being than text on a screen or a cellphone.
I am not vertablly Tweeting anything. Twitter is self-porno.
I am beyond tired of the celebrities on Twitter OD. TechCrunch is starting to take over the “T” in TMZ.
Your Right, I’m getting tired of TC…… there needs to be a cap on twitter news.
Its ridiculous.
Well, let them ruin their reputation. I think they are cashing in …
I thought the little here before Oprah site was a nice tongue in cheek way to let people know they were being bizarre about the whole thing.
Also, I still can’t believe you started writing here. I had to put TC back in my feeds. Grumble. 
how exactly did oprah ruin everything on twitter?
I should say that whatever the effect of having @aplusk & @oprah has, its maybe Jack, Biz and Evans idea to offer Twitter up-for-sale to Oprah for some outrageous sum. As such, they will even through into the deal, either domain O-Twitter.com or maybe TwitterO.com Hows that for empire building???
I was there before Oprah, but I don’t have time to twit anymore.
I’m confused with the people who bemoan when apps become “mainstream”. Isn’t that the whole point? Don’t all entrepreneurs want their applications in use by everyone? or are we supposed to be starving artists for only those that “get it”?
I’m done with all the twittering news and will be filtering all my RSS feeds to delete anything regarding it, in fact, I’ll just delete the keywords “social networking”.
Old news everyone, its time to move on, except so-called “web-workers” (people who stay home in pajamas and try to make a living by blogging) who have deluded themselves into thinking they are early adopters.
How come Twitter didn’t care when I joined?
Like I have said before, twitter should have cared as much about me joining, it has just as much relevance
was oprah here before oprah?
i think i broke the universe
I think it was worth a chuckle, but people won’t care at all after a couple weeks. FTR-I was on Twitter WAY before Oprah.
This caught up so quickly that it showed up as #1 in http://www.boilingpage.com, the best real-time webpage search engine I know of, that shows the hottest pages on the web.
That’s the power of OPRAH. Man I am so glad I signed up for twitter. I think I am becoming a little adicted to it – maybe, but boy I love. I am telling everyone I know about it.
Bobby
Christian Business Ethics
as far as i’m concerned, the whole deal is just to advertise @oprah even more. dang, i said it.
It’s just a deal.
sheep
Anyone else notice that Oprah’s Twitter.com page hauls around a 500kB+ background image? Ouch that’s going to be hurting twitter.com’s bandwidth if they’re capped
When I saw people posting about herebeforeoprah earlier today I never imagined it actually getting posted about here on TC, but there it is. Wow.
And I fail at putting in the entire URL to my site in my comments…lol
Twitter is a success story. Who’s mad to hear something good lately about tech?
a good one MG
Thx Loic. I knew the true believers would be into this
pls don’t encourage him MG
i been on twitter for 2 years now. *flexes*
BRING IT OPRAH, i am following here though.
What is Twitter ?
Opera has tremendous influence unfortunately, but she spotlights such insignificant things. Who cares about Kutcher, Orman, Dr. Phil and the rest of the overhyped media losers, not to mention her stupid bookclub and her weight. What a waste.
What is Twitter? It’s what a woman does to pleasure herself, besides bitching and blaming others.
get ready: more whales then birds. it’s gonna get real crowded and over capacity in here!
get ready: more whales then birds. it’s gonna get real crowded and over capacity in here!
Get ready! more whales then birds.
it’s gonna get real crowded and over capacity in here!
‘…some because they think they’re too cool to do something that a lot of other people do.’
Hell yeah! I want to be too cool for school…
All this is doing is creating more hype for Twitter and boosting Oprah’s ego! The coming of age for the service, mainstream adoption, the real-time web is real!
I love all the attention but the one aspect I find annoying is the radio presenters constantly pushing their Twitter profiles. Just play the music and challenge opinion on air as I can’t follow your Twitter stream while driving!
if you track the inflection points of “social networks” over the last 7 years (friendster ‘02, myspace ‘05, facebook ‘07, twitter ‘09) a common theme starts to materialize that I don’t think many people either see, or at least are willing to admit. the very fact of them being “social” is what makes them so popular, so able to hit hockey stick growth, but that is also what makes them so very transient.
user value derived from “coolness” and “its what my friends are doing” is hugely valuable if you are one of the few to create the site that actually sticks with general public and becomes dinner talk in everyday america homes. but again, its transient, and few have actually able to exit successfully from the hype.
the only american “social” site that hockey-sticked and actually successfully exited was myspace (excluding bebo – they never had the super secret crazy hype here in the US) . friendster blew it, facebook had a home run to the moon but shot for pluto – 15B down to 2B now, myspace sold for what people said was too little but now say was too much, and now twitter is faced with a similar dillema.
Once you are on Oprah as the hottest new thing, the clock is ticking. Sell it guys, sell it soon and sell it big.
test
really enjoying your write-ups. good reason to read tc more regularly again.
incidentally, my old id/email seems to be censored out now since i called michael arrington’s post salivating over tesla arrogant and juvenile. posted three comments since then, none of which made it through. thanks for proving my point michael.
Yes, but where you there before Ashton?
Funny!
Doesn’t this website say EVERYONE was here before Oprah? I just started testing new names, then making up fake names and they all came back before Oprah. (oprah was the one that did not pass this test)
I just noticed the same thing.
Are you alows this slow to catch on? That’ the whole point of the website.
Go to Mashable and see what they have to say. Far more sensible. Better written too.
I have read countless posts about how foolish it was that Oprah gave Ashton Kutcher the title of King of Twitter and the death of of Twitter by celebrity awareness.
I think, however, that anyone feeling this way has really missed the important aspects of what is happening.
If you’re interested, read my thoughts on why Oprah and Kutcher have helped Twitter cross the chasm. Feel free to leave comments on the blog:
http://johnfmoo...ssed-the-chasm/
John
http://twitter.com/JohnFMoore