Germany goes Twitter
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I was asked recently by one of my colleagues how “big” Twitter is in Germany and I said “We know it but it isn’t probably the best social network to approach people”. Later, I was told that Twitter is in the top 3 of Social Networks….I see. So it seems like a lot of things have changed since I left the country. The same goes for Facebook. With 39.88 million unique visitors in August 2012 it easily beats down well established German Networks like “Wer-kennt-wen” (3.08 million unique visitors) or the “VZ Netzwerke” (including StudiVZ, MeinVZ and SchülerVZ) with 2.85 million unique visitors during the same month.
With 2,98 million unique visitors Twitter ranks at #6 out of the 10 most popular social networks in Germany. I read an article where it also states that Germans do not tweet, they just read.
Why?
Looking back a couple of years ago, the TV bombarded us with celebrities like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, tweeting about every single step they took or even about every single glass of water they drank.
I don’t want to say that this scared people off but maybe the idea of spreading useless information around didn’t appeal so much to Germans and they probably did not care about a network like that. Also potentially seeing all those people tweeting on an almost hourly basis was simply too much.
Just the thought about when to do this was a challenge!
While driving your Mercedes to the office? While working hard for 10 hours and then drive back home? Or when enjoying yourself with a Weissbier, Bratwurst and Sauerkraut once you got home?
I think this just didn’t work out for most Germans.
It’s actually quite sad that Twitter started out with in an image like that.
As far as I see it Twitter is a great way to get information about everything, everyone and from everywhere. It seems like Germans recovered from all the ‘useless’ tweets and discovered the joy of Twitter.
It doesn’t matter if you are an active or a passive Twitter user.
Even Ryan Sarver (Director of Platform, Twitter) says that it’s ok just to read and not to tweet.
Let’s just take it as a permission to be lazy and just read what other people have to say.
It took Facebook longer than in most of the other countries to “get a foot into the door” and now…wow.
It might take a while but watch out Germany-Twitter will come for you.
