When will Twitter reach the outer bands of where it could possibly have the greatest impact on brands and people? Currently the Twitter circles of influence are skewed towards the Twitterati-light blue. These were the early adopters and thusly have 5 figure amounts of followers. The next band-green or the elitists, are folks that in some cases, have as well, thousands of followers and mutually follow thousands of others.
This is not as large a group as you might think but their influence can be felt amongst the next layer of heavy Twitter power users-red. These folks also have a lot of followers but generally its on a more 1:1 ratio i.e a thousand followers and following a thousand. Your next group-the blue band, are mostly listeners or followers and may tweet from time to time, but it’s not as heavy a group of active tweeters as the people above them. After this group is the yellow band- these are the people who know they have to be doing something on Twitter so they may get an account, but either barely use it or never activate it. This group also consists of brand squatters and hijackers
Your last 2 groups have the biggest potential for marketers and yet have little if any Twitter presence. The outside band is the largest and has the largest potential since this is essentially all of your brands. these brands are waiting for someone to show them how they can use Twitter to market and sell their products. What they don’t know is that there are only 6 degrees of separation that separate them from listening and participating in conversations with some of the top minds in marketing, PR and social media, on the many ways that Twitter can improve, enhance and market their brands.
My only questions are these? Who is at fault? The brands and their owners for not listening, or taking the time to listen or learning how to listen via Twitter? Or, now thnk about this carefully. Are we, as marketers and communicators, not taking the time to venture outside our industry specific cocoons of Twitter followers, to talk with people who may be listening but not talking? Look at the people you follow and the people that follow you (if you’re on Twitter) How many are clients or potential clients? Jeremiah Owyang from Forrester adds his 2 cents to why brands fail on Twitter which may lend some insight as to why we all are coming up short right now.
Maybe we all need to read up on how to listen. There are lots of lessons on the art of listening. the bottom line is there is a lot of black and white out there.
Direct Marketing Observations 
Thanks for referencing my post about listening in social media (two ears, one mouth).
I really enjoyed your take on the bands of influence. I guess each of us could ask, “What’s your Twitter color?” The answer would show how we use Twitter.
Best take-away is your reference to the outside band as having the the largest potential and that “these brands are waiting for someone to show them how they can use Twitter to market and sell their products.” I think Zappos, JetBlue and WholeFoods are doing a great job in this arena. It will be exciting to watch how more brands utilize this space.
Appreciate your insight!
I make a point not to follow that many people. However, the ones that I do follow are some of the biggest names on the net. I like responding to their needs of help and request of input. As a result I have gained a few very large clients! Twitter quality is far more important than Twitter quantity!