The Importance Of Being An Early Adopter

Back in the summer of 2006, a new and - to many - not that interesting service called Twttr was launched as a side project from Odeo. It was later renamed to Twitter, and it started gaining some serious traction somewhere in 2007.

At the time of Twitter’s humble beginnings, it didn’t seem very important to actively use the service. Most people I know sat on the sidelines and waited to see if this new thing is worth their time. Some, like Robert Scoble and Steve Rubel, were active on the service from the very beginning, following as many people as they could and updating their Twitter feed as often as possible (Scoble has over 11.000 updates at the moment).

And although many would see this as colossal waste of time, the fact is that these Twitter pioneers now exert a huge amount of influence through this new medium. Whenever Twitter is mentioned in mainstream media, Scoble gets a nod. Whenever he tweets, he gets loads and loads of replies, which turns almost every one of his tweets into an interesting conversation.

Of course, one can always argue that Robert was a very recognizable and popular Internet persona even before Twitter, but I believe that his persistence at using the service frequently and from the very beginning was paramount in his Twitter popularity. I believe anyone who has something to say can do it if they catch the bandwagon early enough.

However, if you’re late to the game and if you think you can still reach Scoble levels of popularity on Twitter, I’m afraid you’re wrong. I’ve been checking out Twitterholic, the unofficial top list of Twitter users, ranked by the number of their followers, and I noticed that - as in many other social networks - the big get bigger faster and faster. The small ones can never catch up.

Take a look at a graph I’ve created (using this handy application) using the stats of a couple of highly ranked users on Twitterholic, comparing them to those lower on the ladder. Nick Douglas, for example, has added around 1800 new followers in the past 60 days, while Leo Laporte has added over 20000 in that same period.

Of course, there are exceptions to the rule, but usually early adopters tend to exert greater and greater influence on the network over time. Which means it’s like a little social pyramid scheme: if you’re late, you’re screwed.

There’s a good side to this, of course. It means that if you catch new social networks early and stick with them, over time you too will become more and more influential. It means that if you’re willing to spend some time trying out new stuff, in the end you’ll get rewarded. Even better is the fact that it carries over to other social networks; I’m sure that Scoble is somewhere at the top as far as FriendFeed followers go, too, simply because the two services are so interconnected.

What’s the lesson here? Next time you see a promising new network forming, don’t wait for others to start using it before you hop in. Be a pioneer, actively use the service, share it with everyone, and in time, your voice will be heard by many.

And of course, don’t forget to follow the Mashable team’s rants, thus propelling us into Twitter stardom.

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