A Million Hooked on Twitter, But Will SXSW Mojo Return?

Howard Reingold put up an interesting list of reasons why he’s hooked on Twitter. My friend David Weinberger, another a-lister, then added a few more. I’ll add one they forgot: because it makes people feel important, that they’re part of something cool, the latest fad.

Microblogging-phenom Twitter took off like a rocket last year at the SXSW conference because the a-listers grabbed onto it, and then everybody who wanted to be like the a-listers, or see what they were talking about, jumped on.

The Twitter hype resulting from last year’s SXSW was almost deafening. I know many people tried it and later dropped it — but, as that same post says, people have discovered, after all the hype, that it’s actually a pretty cool way of staying in touch with your own circle of friends. (Include me in that camp — follow me on Twitter here.) And here’s the key: you can do it without having to answer. You got it — it’s a lurker’s dream come true!

But what will happen with Twitter at this year’s SXSW?  Here’s a post that makes a case for Twitter hitting a million users by March, or possibly even sooner, before SXSW even gets underway. That’s a whole lot more than a-listers, folks. Twitter’s come a heck of a long way.

But will it still be "the thing to do" at this year’s event?  Will all the cool kids still be using it so heavily?  Or will some new, even-more-cool tool overshadow it?  The beat goes on. I’ve already gotten one email pitch from some company saying they think they can be the Twitter of this year’s SXSW.  I say good luck. 

Twitter, whether it has SXSW mojo this year or not, seems to be crossing into mainstream use.  Now if they can only figure out a way to make money, huh?