Young Tweeters

Twitter has become a definitive service for the online community. While there is no doubt Twitter’s main demographic is 20 – 35, there has been a surge in the number of young visitors, and whether it is to catch up on the latest tech, sport, news or celebrity talk, I wanted to find out why. So I asked them.

Tommy Collison is the self-proclaimed “Irelands youngest blogger”, but he is also one of the most personal too. He writes on his blog TrustTommy.com daily and at 14 years of age he became an award-winning blogger at the Irish Blog Awards. He tweets about his non-chocolate diet, his drumming and toasters.

Kevin Coleman is Irelands newest young blogger, and at 16 years of age, he set up KevinColeman.ie a blog about sport, social networks and all things funny. He’s an extremely popolar tweeter with just over 500 followers.

Why did you join Twitter? How did you find about the service?

TOMMY: I joined Twitter because my brothers, who were in the US working on a start-up company, were on it we used it to stay connected, and to keep in touch in a quick and inexpensive manner

KEVIN: I didn’t join Twitter for any particular reason, I saw it mentioned on a Liverpool forum so I decided to join up and see what it was like, and I haven’t looked back.

How do you use Twitter?

TOMMY: I use Twitter to keep in touch with people in other countries or people I just don’t meet very often. I use search sometimes, more on my iPhone, to find people, or mentions of things, or following a hash tag (#ddire). I follow people who I think are interesting or who are similar to me. I tweet about basically what I’m up to and but also I ask questions, like what time Dragon’s Den starts and within literally a minute, I have my answer

KEVIN: I mainly use the web version of Twitter, much more then any apps available. However I do like to roam between clients such as TwitterFox, TweetDeck and now Seesmic Desktop. When I’m out and about or away from the computer it’s Dabr.co.uk on the mobile phone. I tweet about everything and anything; what I’m up to, what I’m thinking, and links to articles and stuff on the net. I like to follow Irish tweeters, and obviously people who interest me. I try to avoid following big celebrities, I just don’t see the point in following a person that doesn’t interest you and adds nothing to the feed but only a big name.

Why do you think more young people don’t tweet?

TOMMY: It takes a certain type of person to use twitter, one who is ok putting up the intricacies and the minutiae of their daily lives up on some random website you also need to know people on it as in, 75% of the fun of twitter is reading other’s updates. Also, Twitter isn’t mainstream yet. When it gains popularity, people will come.

KEVIN: I don’t think the Twitter phenomenon has hit younger audiences yet generally. In schools especially, if words get out like Bebo did back in the day, and a majority of the students sign up it’ll spread like wildfire. But at the moment I feel it’s well behind Bebo in terms of occupying young Irish people.

Do many of your close friends/relatives tweet?

TOMMY: Yes, my entire family is on twitter. We all use it to stay connected when we’re not together.

KEVIN: In one word, no.

Finally, do you see Twitter as a fad that will run its course and end, or has it got potential to be something more?

TOMMY: It will grow into something big, yeah. I also, unfortunately, see it becoming quite commercial.

KEVIN: It’s certainly got potential to live and thrive for many years to come. The reasons are there to see now. It’s an amazingly simple way to connect and live online, and especially with it’s real time search capabilities.

Lots of gratitude goes out to those guys for a fantastic interview. So you see kids, you dont need to miss out on what might be the internets greatest company since Google.