Newburyport's Twitterati

Tweeting. Hashtags. Followers. Friending.

The onslaught of social media has created a new dialogue ... and a whole new national pastime. While some may still steer clear of Twitter, Facebook and other forms of online networking (Google +, anyone?) that can take hours from your day before you realize it, in Greater Newburyport, tweets come and go, fast and furious.

Twitter, a social media application, allows its millions of users to "follow" others and send "tweets" or short text messages (140 characters max) out to their network via computer or a mobile device.

The social media site has become so popular during the last several years, there are even websites that can help you learn how to use it, master its lingo or track the trends of other users. Tweetstats.com, for example, will chart a user's tweets by month, day or hour, and will tell which of their followers they "re-tweet" or forwards a tweet from or replies to most often.

The appeal of Twitter varies, as does the reason people turn to the "real-time information network," as it describes itself. Just ask some of the top five Twitter users in the Greater Newburyport area.

Amesbury's Fred LeBlanc, 29, a website developer, joined the site on a bet. Now, he has 1,020 followers and has built up a total of 14,492 tweets.

"I was pretty late to the game, I thought it was awful and distracting," he said. "I think I did it on a dare ... if I do it, you have to sign up for it."

Then, he says, it kind of just took off.

Twitter is the only social networking site he takes part in, LeBlanc said, because it offers more freedom than Facebook. You can follow someone, even if they don't follow you, and doesn't beg the question, are we friends or "Facebook friends?" he said.

"It's not as fake personal as Facebook," he said.

With an application always open on his desktop and Twitter accessible on his smartphone, LeBlanc said it's easy to send out a tweet when something is on his mind.

"I might check it every hour, it just depends," he said. "If I'm bored, I'll check it on my phone. If something comes into my head, I'll throw it up there."

When he commuted for work, it was easy to log on and see photos or updates while on the train, he said. Now that he works from home, he tends to post as a way to stay in touch with friends and family.

"I'm not one to reply to everyone or famous people," he said. "If I'm angry, I might post something, or if I have an idea that I wish someone heard, I'll put it up there. Now it's just the way I keep up with people."

For others, Twitter is a way to communicate with clients or to share information about their service, business or industry.

Josh Porter, 34, of Newburyport, joined to promote himself.

"I was working as an independent consultant and (interface) designer," he said. "I worked from home, so I didn't have office mates."

Today, he'll check his Twitter page about three or four times a day, Porter said. He's not on Facebook.

"I try to provide valuable content," he said.

His total number of followers — 17,266 — is due to his length on the network as much as anything else, Porter said. If you add a few hundred new followers each day, after several years, you'll find yourself at 10,000, he said.

By Twitter keeping the format simple and not changing the design, it helps it stay popular, Porter said.

"Five, six years in, it's still just a place to type 140 characters," he said.

PsychCentral, a psychology, mental health information and support website founded by Newburyport psychologist Dr. John Grohol, has 19,292 followers.

The group started its Twitter account in 2008 as a way to connect with its website visitors and blog readers.

"We get over 2 million people a month who visit our site, and so we thought this would be another great way to connect with people who are looking for answers to their mental health and psychology questions," Grohol said.

PsychCentral's Twitter account is updated throughout the day by associate editor Brandi-Ann Uyemura, who spends a few hours tending to social media.

"We use it primarily to let our followers know when we, or one of our bloggers, has published something new on our site, and to engage in a conversation to see what kinds of things are of interest to our followers, or to get their reaction to a story we've published and start a discussion about the topic," Grohol said.

Twitter's popularity can be attributed to its easy-to-use format, Grohol said. It has "a very simple learning curve," he added.

"But we shouldn't confuse 'popular' with effective, since most tweets are never read by most of one's followers," Grohol said. "So it's more of a hit-or-miss kind of technology, publishing something and hoping enough people read it in order to get a good conversation going, or at least to spark interest in the topic."

Statistics for Twitter can be misleading, said Newburyport City Councilor Ari Herzog. While tweets can be ranked, they aren't necessarily broken into tweets, replies or re-tweets, he said.

"Maybe 80 percent of tweets are replies," he said.

Herzog, 36, was among the early users of Twitter, joining the site in 2007 as part of a communication tool for a film club he belonged to in Somerville. After using it for a few months, he said, he gave it up.

"It was nothing like it is today," he said.

By 2008, as social media and blogging gained traction, Herzog was back on. At one point, he had more than 7,000 followers, until he deleted his contacts and started again. His 3,000 followers today are a mix of companies, celebrities, acquaintances and friends, Herzog said.

More users are joining Twitter or Facebook, he said, "because they see everyone else is doing it."

"It's not a reason to do it, but that's why it's popular," he added.

And social media will continue to evolve, Herzog said, and it's more integrated in our world.

"When it gets there, we won't have a choice but to be involved in it," he added. "It will be everywhere."

Already, some businesses are getting creative with Twitter, Herzog said, such as laundromats that will send out a tweet from a machine when it becomes available, or a do-it-yourself kit that has your houseplant announcing through Twitter that it needs to be watered.

"Where it's going is anyone's guess," Herzog said.

MOST FOLLOWERS

1 - John CenaWest Newbury1,343,602

2- PsychCentralNewburyport19,292

3 - Joshua PorterNewburyport17,266

4 - Vacation RentalsNewburyport5,078

5 - Ari Herzogyou know where3,198

MOST TWEETS

1 - PsychCentralNewburyport24,478

2 - Ari HerzogNewburyport16,770

3 - Fred LeblancAmesbury14,492

4 - Pamela LeavyAmesbury11,729

5 - Tyler JamesNewburyport13,976

Source: http://tweet.grader.com.

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