So, what kind of tweep are you?

Twitter Types - what kind of Tweep are you?

With more than 3 million people using Twitter, according to the Wikipedia, there are bound to be different types of tweeps out there. Tweeps, of course, are the inclusive Twitter term for "Peeps using Twitter."

So, what kind of tweep are you?

Collectors

Twitter collectors are those signing up followers left and right. When you look at their profiles, you'll see they generally have found more than 1,000 to follow. Often they will follow away to the tune of several thousand tweeps.

Why do they do this? It's interesting to me why they just keep taking on new names. How will one be able to keep up with so many 'friends'? I suspect keeping up with everyone is hardly the point to a Collector. To them their social status lies in how many followers they have amassed. And the best way to get followers is to follow people in the first place. Thus, Collectors follow everyone. They keep tabs on their "unfollows" and publicly complain about them.

Usually, when you receive an automated "Thank you for following me" message, chances are good you've just been collected. :-)

Friends

Friends are people on Twitter who enjoy getting to know others and tend to be selective in building their group. If one of these people follows you, chances are good there is a reason why. Either they know you, know of you, or like something they saw on your profile. They may have seen you tweeting with people they know and thought you were interesting. Friend Followers tend to stabilize within the low to mid-hundreds of people they choose to follow. They actively prune their lists (ie - "unfollow") of those who they don't really chat with. You can feel honored to be followed by one of these discriminating tweeps.

Bloggers

Both A List and Z List bloggers use Twitter to announce their latest posts, keep their nose in the blogging game and network with other bloggers. Bloggers will often tweet a constant stream of updates from live blogging conference events (Such as at the 08 Izeafest and Vegas BlogWorld Expo). Twitter is a hugely exciting development for bloggers to find each other and create a virtual society.

How can one tell an A List Blogger on Twitter? They are the ones with thousands of followers and only a select few people they follow back. If an A-Lister returns your follow, consider yourself lucky.

Marketers

These are people with a legitimate business, who use Twitter to spread the word. They often tweet about their services, or mention discounts, or even provide live customer service. ComCastCares is one of the best examples of a Twitter Marketer: you can get very fast, courteous service by replying to their Twitter account. Online companies like Zappos, Izea and ThinkGeek use their Twitter accounts to personalize their business on the web, providing "behind the scenes" glimpses of their corporate culture.

Scammers

Spam tweeps send you obviously commercial DMs (direct Twitter messages). They follow everyone they can get their hands on, regardless of receiving very few follows back. They generally get found and shut down by Twitter within days of their first post. Often a spam Twitter account can be easily identified by a nonsense twittername like r4yg%nm05.

What differentiates an acceptable Marketing Tweep from a Scammer is the quality of the participation they share in the Twittervese. Twitter is about connecting with others and sharing your experiences. Businesses can absolutely get in on the fun, but the hard sell has no place on Twitter.

News Outlets

I follow a handful of new organizations like GoogleNews. It's a handy way to review the headlines and find links to full stories elsewhere. I also follow Mark Meyhew, a hurricane twitterer. He tweets about his first hand experiences during hurricanes, and about the aftermath of their cleanups. This man made a name and career for himself through Twitter, becoming one of the world's first true Twitter Journalists.

Entertainers

Faux personalities are one of the things I enjoy most about Twitter. Darth Vader always has something pithy to say. I follow the crews of Serenity and Battlestar Galactica. I follow Buffy and her vampire-fighting friends. I even followed FakeSarahPalin before the elections. Too funny.

Robert Scoble and his Ilk

The Scoblerizer is a mystery. He seems to follow the world. He tweets all day long, to the point of annoyance. Like a spider pulling on strings from the center of a gigantic web, he's plugged in to the entire Internet community.

People like Robert Scoble follow as many people as Twitter permits. And he doesn't seem to care about collecting followers in return, or whether people unfollow him. Why? What is he doing with all this information? Does he even have an offline life? Feel free to ponder all this. And then tweet him about it. :-)

Source from here.

Happy Tweeting Tweep! ;)