The Types of People on Twitter - LaChapelle Communications LLC

Inc. published online a guide to the types of people on Twitter, titled “8 Types of People that Belong on Twitter.” I attended a PRSA Leadership Rally this past summer, and discovered during the Keynote Address by Matthew Harrington, President and CEO of Edelman, U.S., that the younguns (can’t remember if this was high school or college students) told Harrington that “only thirty-year-olds are on Twitter!.” I can’t speak to the truth in the demographics of that, but Inc.’s article breaks up all of us Twitters into eight groups as follows:

The Personality – These are celebrities and others who are a brand unto themselves ala Oprah Winfrey and Ashton Kutcher.
The Guide – This group is made up of experts on a certain topic who are assigned to seek out and respond to questions related to the topic of their expertise.
The Brand Watchdog – Self-explanatory, really, but these are people working for a company; they respond personally and proactively to messages relating to their company or product.
The Customer Support Rep – A customer support rep who answers customers’ complaints, issues, and/or questions via phone calls, e-mails, as well as through Twitter.
The Publisher – Just as it sounds, this grouping is made up of those who feed info related to their topic of expertise and/or influence. They are usually relevant and consistent (or should be) with their tweets, though they may not be out first with the information.
The Promotion Channel – Spammers and e-commerce sites, along with contests, Twitter-only discount codes, and free giveaways make up this group.
The Conversationalist – Those who actively engage with their followers, truly connecting with them by tweeting several times a day, often conversing directly (or targeted to) a few individual people.
The Curious – I think of these via the older term of lurkers, for those making up this group simply listen without tweeting.