First of all, a Happy New Year to everybody reading this wonderful post!

As far I am concerned, Twitter is already pretty mainstream considering that CNN is using it and so are some of the TV channels here in India. The utility of Twitter was prominently displayed during the #Mumbai terror attacks and no doubt, it is only going to grow.

P.S.: Got a thumbs up on StumbleUpon. :-)

Best Wishes,
Shinil.
@shinils on Twitter – http://twitter.com/shinils

Interesting perspective. I agree that Facebook and MySpace are still stereotyped as social destinations for “kids.” It does make it a little harder to mainstream those concepts for business/grown-ups like us. And I agree that Twitter stands a better chance of going mainstream, as it does cross the most market segments/demographics.

Do I think Twitter will be so mainstream that everyone on the planet will use it? No, probably not. However, I do think that within the next year or so you’ll have to have lived under a rock not to have heard about it/know what Twitter is.

I think just about every parent out there knows about MySpace and Facebook, and more often than not, has a basic understanding of what those sites are. (Even if they don’t personally use them.) That is my idea of a concept going “mainstream.” I think Twitter will easily get to that level of mainstream.

I don’t know about the mainstream question though, what my non-tweeting friends often say is that they just don’t want to self-publish in that way. I think it will appeal to some mainstream figures as you’ve mentioned, but there’ll be a fair amount of people who just don’t want to update another profile about themselves – weird huh!

A substantial majority of people have access to the internet and many use it daily. Most of them have heard of iphones and facebook. Most have NOT heard of Twitter. I think that could change in 2009.

Will avid facebook users start using twitter instead of facebook? No. Will people who don’t use facebook start using twitter in large numbers enough numbers for it to be considered mainstream? Again I think not.

oh yeah.. and you can follow me as well… twitter.com/brodyharper

Not to mention, Twitter’s just a lot of fun. I have met so many interesting people I would have otherwise never had a chance to speak to, much less get to know.

Funny that you mention your Mum. I can’t use my parents as a gauge for mainstream. My father bought himself an iPhone as soon as they came out. He’s a tech junkie. He’s usually the one who tells me about something new or fun I should try out.