Iran has had its election. A dubious result at best, turnouts exceeded 100% in over 30 towns. While the Iranian government has tried to shutdown blogs and other social networks, Twitter has become the Medium of the Movement.

The Power of Twitter: mobilizing mass audiences

What can work for political movements can also work for the music industry. To put it another way, Twitter: it is an easy, simple, and effective way to mass distribute information.

Some of you are thinking, and I overheard others say “Twitter: It’s a FAD?” A mere annoyance, the thing that people who don’t have lives use and it will go away. Sorry to say, you’re wrong. Twitter is here to stay.

Twitter is a service that is one to many. You post and your followers listen. Its easy to follow, you don’t need to be a friend or invite someone, they can find you. This seems to work great for people to follow celebrities and bands, anyone people want to know more about. And compared to the average nine to fivers life, musicians lives are interesting. While you’re doing shit, the rest of us just watch, and live our lives.

Twitter allows you to create, unidirectional friendships. You can see Beyonce but she cant see you. Which I’m sure is the way Beyonce likes it. A recent study by Misiek Piskorski, from Harvard Business School, found that “the top 10% of prolific Twitter users accounted for over 90% of tweets”. Its a great way to promote an idea, a clothing line: looking at you Alyssa Milano, or a band. But without having to talk individually to each and every fan.

People can find out what you are doing without you having to tell them. Your fans can follow you without you bothering them, or email blasting them to death, or texting them till they throw up their hands and say “damn i wish I hadn’t joined that email list”.

I know that some of you may find it painful, that maybe this isn’t the way you dreamed of promoting yourself. Somehow the brilliance and quality of your music would be apparent to all who listened. Unfortunately our world is not that world. Peoples attention spans are fragmented, and broken. Television and the internet has reduced our collective capability to focus on an idea for a mere 15 seconds at a time.

People are picking up their phone, checking email, setting the phone back down again. Picking it back up. Ever nervous and interested in what is next and what is just around the corner. This is your audience. You need to connect with them on their level. They need to hear you before they will listen to you.

You’re not just making friends with Twitter, you are also selling an image of yourself. Your creating the brand of you. I know that idea for some is a little foreign, but this is the world we live in. And life helps those who see the reality around them and create opportunities from it.

Next week I’ll talk about: Okay now what, what the hell am I supposed to ‘Tweet’, anyway.

Some helpful hints: Use some software to post your ‘tweets’, yes it does sound lame, you’ll get used to it. If you have an iPhone there are some good apps, I use Twitterific and on the Apple Desktop Tweetie is a must have. There are others as well.

Happy Tweeting… god that does sound lame.