I've been spending more time on Twitter as of late and noticed how people are drawn to characters. Let me explain. The Chicago Tribune has 34K followers but the Colonel Tribune, described as a more gentlemanly version of @ChicagoTribune, has 800K. What's the difference between the two? Well the Colonel still links to news but does so with some commentary. His rants and raves have attracted the likes of other popular tweeters like Southwest and Zappos and has even spawned the FakeColonelTribune.I have to admit I'd rather take my news with a smidge of snarky then just take my news straight. It's tastier you could say.
What 3 lessons can we learn from the Colonel?
1. People want personality and opinions in the social space.
2. Don't be afraid of fun. There's enough dry news out there.
3. People like to talk to people, even if they are "characters."
