Twitter – Eleventh Graders Respond

It is Best Tweets First, according to two groups of 11th graders I recently spoke with.  These high school students simply do not want to read through a "bunch of boring stuff". Even more so, they simply do not want to waste their time.  Time is a commodity that most students fear will be taken from them already.    Looking at the reverse-chronological tweet stream actually was the only thing they liked.  Keep it live, but add the Best Tweets First. 

 I explained to these  astute groups of students that Twitter had received the kiss of death  ( #RIPTwitter ) hashtag this week from some unhappy followers. Followers were upset for Twitter suggesting this bold move to make their timeline look more like Facebook's.  Students didn't seem moved by the information.  I even explained that shares for Twitter were going for $20 a pop, still they seemed unmoved.  

I was surprised to find that a number of students already had:

•  Both LinkedIn and Twitter accounts
• Two didn't  own a Facebook account
• The number one hated applications were Yick Yack, and dreaded After School Application. Facebook was up there on the most hated list, but not the most hated    
• Most students agreed that Snap Chat and Instagram were the most popular applications on campus.  
• When I asked them about the new applications like "Peach", they noted they had never heard of it.  

Forcing the issue a little more, what I learned was that depending on which circle you move in socially - each group generally will have it's own preferred application.  Or they actually were using the group and block features to maintain some level of privacy. 

Twitter has its followers and I doubt most of them will move

 Users  get comfortable in their social environments, and even take up nesting in their own line communities.  Unless significant changes take place in the Twitter environment, these nester's aren't moving anytime soon.   When I asked the two groups of eleventh grade students if it mattered to them if  Twitter were to be purchased and incorporated into a larger social network like Facebook, most agreed it wouldn't be a big deal.  Students did note that  they haven't deleted  their Facebook accounts because their families are on it, but they prefer Twitter because their families aren't on it.  

CNBC posted this article on Prioritized Tweets reflecting what some Twitter Followers were expressing.  While Mashable was predicting  a pretty easy transition with very little fireworks for the change occurring.     

Here is how to turn on the new Twitter time line.  

Love it or hate it, the new time line is here.  When your eleventh grader isn't to worried about the Twitters time line change, that says something about the branding of a product.  Twitter has done a good job keeping it real, the youth agree.