Twitter is a micro-blogging website. Many people use it to share status updates of no more than 140 characters (ideal for hand-held devices). Their status up-dates are called "tweets" of course. They use Twitter for everyday base-touching and sharing ideas.
Here is the Twitter location I set up today.
You can get news fast on Twitter. Ad Age helpfully tweets what's happening now in advertising.
Many public figures are tweeting. Mitch Kapor, the Silicon Valley venture capitalist, regularly posts interesting items. Shaquille O'Neal uses Twitter to extend his brand image with posts about what's happening and philosophical perspectives.
About 20 people tweet as though they are the characters in the Mad Men series on AMC. I am guessing these are advertising people who enjoy this show about advertising agency life in the 1960s. They are extending the lives of the show's characters in their interactions with each other.
People even tweet as though they are legendary advertising leaders. You'll find Bill Bernbach, David Ogilvy, Rosser Reeves, and Raymond Rubicam tweeting away. It appears Rosser and Raymond are having a cordial debate about the most effective advertising.
This points to a fundamental insight. The most valuable commodity in the world is attention. Advertising is all about getting attention.
You can read more about this in Richard Lanham's book The Economics of Attention: Style and Substance in the Age of Information. He is an emeritus Professor at UCLA. I think he has done an excellent job of explaining what is happening to the economy. He points the way to what advertising is becoming, and why what we do is so important for everyone.
You can find me on both Twitter and FaceBook. Happy to connect there. It's all about advertising after all.
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