Why Twitter is a Powerful Network

At first glance, it seems that Twitter does not appeal to the rational motives of its users.

18:51 27 January 2020

Indeed, when we subscribe to updates of a new person, publish another tweet, like and share others' posts in our feed, we rarely think about the motives for such actions. Indeed, why did you follow exactly this media character and not any other? Or for what reasons did you write this exact tweet? Coincidence?

But in fact, there are much fewer coincidences in using Twitter and in a unrestrained desire of some individuals to purchase Twitter followers than it seems at first glance. Some principles of psychology can explain a lot to us. The researchers found several patterns in the way we make a list of friends, why we distribute certain content, and read certain profiles.

Why we love Twitter: the opinion of psychologists

Decided to log in in favorite social network for 5 minutes and spend there several hours - sounds familiar to you? Besides, many users go to Twitter for a short time, but every half hour, they check for updates, count likes, and retweets, etc. Anyone who has a more or less developed social network account understands this instant desire to check updates.

Interestingly, the reason for the addiction to Twitter can be illustrated by an experiment on rats conducted by Dr. Marion Underwood, a clinical psychologist at the University of Texas.

The bottom line is the so-called "positive reinforcement" mechanism, which rewards the creature for certain actions. The experiment was as follows: there is a rat that pushes the lever from time to time. This action causes an unpredictable reward - you can unsuccessfully pull the lever ten times, and on the 11th, there will be a big bonus in the form of delicious food. Or it might not appear - no predictability is provided for the experimental rat here. Nevertheless, the rat pulls the lever again and again, because experience tells her: sooner or later, efforts will be rewarded with a great and tasty treat.

Notice the parallels with your behavior? Twitter offers its users exactly such unpredictable rewards in the form of likes, retweets, comments. They encourage you to check the news feed continually - this is enough to help users to regularly return to the social network, even if nothing new awaits them there. We continue to pull the lever, hoping for a great reward.

The concept applies to all people who check Twitter several times daily (this is also true for users of other social networks and email). Let's look at other scientific studies and statistics that can explain the different ways people interact on the Internet.

Why do we become subscribers? 15 factors influencing the growth of followers

What motivates us to follow someone on Twitter? Researchers at the Georgia and Michigan Institute of Technology examined factors affecting the number of followers by analyzing over 500 Twitter users and about half a million tweets over 15 months. Now you will know the results of one of the most thorough and extended studies of Twitter activity.

The main emphasis was made by scientists on the analysis of growth factors in the number of followers, in which the achievements of social sciences, linguistics, a computer model of communication, and network theory were used. In other words, not a single reason for the growth of followers would hide from inquisitive American scientists.

The identified factors were reduced to three categories: social behavior, message content, and social network structure. Let's consider each item in more detail.

The following factors were included in the category of "social behavior":

• Tweet volume
  
  
• The number of tweets per hour
  
  
• Interactions: answers, mentions, etc
  
  
• Broadcast level
  
  
• Reliability of the profile: how fully personal information is indicated
  
  
• Does the profile have a unique URL and geolocation?
  
  

Factors in the content of the message category:

• Positive/negative mood
  
  
• Informational content: use in the message URL, retweets, links to the source, etc
  
  
• The ratio of tweets that use personal pronouns
  
  
• The relevance of the topic
  
  
• The number of retweets for the message
  
  
• Use of hashtags
  
  
• TReDIX - Tweet Reading Difficulty Index (Tweet readability index, determined by the frequency of use of words consisting of more than six characters).
  
  

Factors in the category "social network structure":

• Mutual following: the user subscribes to people reading himself;
  
  
• Attention and status rating: the ratio of the total number of your subscribers to the number of users you are subscribed to;
• Network match: how similar is the audience you are reading to the one that is reading you.
  
  

Now that you've found out all these factors tell me which one is more important for Twitter's popularity? Studies show that network overlap is most important.

Having summarized the data written before here are little tips for quickly increasing the number of subscribers:

1. Avoid negative language and controversial content;
   
   
2. Do not talk only about yourself. Share useful information;
   
   
3. Increase the credibility of social evidence;
   
   
4. Stick to your theme;
   
   
5. Write well and do not abuse hashtags;
   
   
6. Live on Twitter with important industry events.
   
   
7. Why do zombies and social networks clog our minds?
   
   
8. Why We Share Content: A Guide to Creating Popular Tweets
   
   

Surely each of us has his idea of an ideal tweet. But researchers were too interested in this question to be guided by assumptions. The study analyzed more than 1.7 million pairs of tweets for differences in language between two posts with different levels of popularity and the number of retweets. Scientists have come to the following conclusions:

"The most popular posts can boast of informative content, compliance with language social norms, and with previous posts of the same feed. Moreover, their writing style is very similar to the headlines."

If you are waiting for the ideal tweet formula, you will be disappointed - the researchers have not found anything like it. But then the best practices have been identified that help in creating the most effective tweets:

• Feel free to ask followers for retweets
  
  
• The information content of the message increases its popularity
  
  
• Speak the language of your audience
  
  
• Address directly to people, and not to the entire audience
  
  
• The more natural the text is perceived, the better
  
  

A simple tip: get inspired by newspaper headlines and from your past successful tweets to get the message with maximum viral potential.

It was found that to reach the maximum number of readers, you will have to learn a few simple rules.

First of all, microbloggers are encouraged to publish as much positive information as possible, which can cheer up readers. Most Twitter users perceive the platform primarily as a source of news, so bloggers who want to succeed are encouraged to post more links to interesting news items. In moderation, retweets containing up-to-date information are welcome.

The study proved that it is difficult for people who describe their way of life and the food on Twitter to succeed in promoting microblogging.

Another secret of popularity is maintaining active communication with readers. Users who respond to comments find their audience much faster than those who are used to talking into space.

It is critically important to conduct your microblog competently and communicate in plain language. It is expressiveness of the written language that becomes one of the determining factors when users decide whether to subscribe to this person or not.