"What are you doing?" - A Creative & Innovation Question

What makes a product or service creative and innovative? Being the first of its kind like Tivo? Being a household name like Coca-cola? Becoming synonymous with an entire product category like the iPod? I don't think there is one defining feature that makes something creative or innovative; I think it is a combination of these and many other things. One thing to note, however, is that technology and innovation seem to go hand in hand these days. As stated in 'The New, Faster Face of Innovation', technology is allowing innovation to occur in a faction of the time it took even a decade ago. Social networking and inter-connectivity make test marketing and gaining consumer insights so easy, products that would make years to hit the market in the past are introduced in months.

Speaking of social networking, one of the most creative and innovative services I have seen in recent times is Twitter. Who would have thought that a service where users talk about what they are doing at any given moment (despite how mundane or unimportant it may be) would have 6 million users by the end of 2008 in just 2 years of existence. I think it's safe to say that you have to be pretty creative and innovative to capture that large an audience in such a short time span.

I think what makes Twitter so appealing is its easy accessibility. Literally anyone with a computer and internet connection can use Twitter. You don't have to be young. You don't have to be computer savvy. You don't have to have a lot of friends. You don't even have to have anything important to say. All you have to do is be able to answer one simple question in 140 characters or less: "What are you doing?” That's all it takes to be a Twitter user. That's all it takes to have your voice to be heard through the far reaches of cyberspace. (By the way, you can follow me on Twitter @rlove_06.)

Another thing that makes Twitter so innovative is despite its humble beginning of friends communicating with friends, it has become a useful communication tool over a wide spectrum of disciplines. Friends use Twitter to keep us with each others happens. Business professionals use Twitter to update colleagues on the status of important projects and meetings. News stations use Twitter to inform viewers of breaking news stories. President Barack Obama used Twitter during the 2008 Presidential Election to inform voters on political issues and give updates of his location on the campaign trail. With internet capable phones and Twitter applications for the iPhone and other smart phones, the possibilities for Twitter's usefulness outside of simple social interaction are endless.

One of the most innovative use for Twitter is not even of there own doing! Recently, broadcasters from local affiliates like FOX and CBS to national networks like CNN have started "tell us what you think" initiatives for their stories, using Twitter as a medium of interaction between themselves and their viewers. Even though I say you don't have to have anything important to say to use Twitter, many individuals see opportunities such as this to voice their opinions topics and issues that are important to them. Just like that, Twitter can change from a social networking service to a political soapbox.

Going back to the first few questions I posed, Twitter is the first service of it's kind, quickly becoming a household name, and while it is far from synonymous with the social networking category (Myspace's continued popularity and Facebook's 200 million-and-growing users are leading that category) it is definitely making an impact. So to say that Twitter is creative and innovative doesn't even begin to describe how this service, started in 2006, is on its way to having an estimated 18 million users by the end of 2009.