How the classical archetype fits into the new age media... Correlation of the twitter group with the classical archetypes

1. Ancient Archetypes in Modern Media
Today is the age of personal media ownership. According to a recent news release
from Twitter (http://blog.twitter.com/2011/03/numbers.html) on an average
around 4 Billion tweets are sent out every month. From individual point of views,
re-tweets, status updates, what’s happening?, and direct messages….Twitter has
become the favourite platform for self-expression for many
Every Twitter account can be measured on the following parameters –
Popularity – The number of people following a twitter profile
Pursuit – The number of people whom a twitter profile is following..either
for information or interaction
Publishing – The volume of tweets (original) and re-tweets being done by
the profile
Basis the above 3 P’s mentioned, we can organize the twitter users into different
groups…and each group fit into the classical Archetype.
The Twitter grouping:
Popularity Pursuit Publishing
High High High
High High Low
High Low Low
High Low High
Low Low Low
Low Low High
Low High High
Low High Low
On the X- axis is broadly the values of Popularity/Pursuit (for ease of grouping have
grouped into 3 categories – less than 1, equal to 1, and greater than 1)
Y-axis represents the volume of tweets – High and Low

2. Creator: These are people who create something unique and have value. Since they
have huge following they can influence a huge number of people by what they say.
Usually, the publications, media houses, are the ideal examples that fall into this
type of archetype. @nytimes, @cnnbrk, @bbcnews
Ruler/Sage: These are people who exert a lot of control. They are usually successful
in their sphere of activity. CEO’s of companies, Thought leaders, Movie Stars,
Celebrities are ideal examples that fall into this type of archetype.
LadyGaga,@justinbieber, @BarackObama, @KimKardashian @kanyewest, etc
Caregiver: These are people who would love to help others. Either by way of
retweeting, or tweeting relevant information they often try and help other achieve
their goals. While the active caregiver goes ahead and spreads his network by
following more number of people (and expect reciprocal following) the inactive
caregiver is happy with the small universe he follows or being followed. Each of us
would have our own caregivers archetypes in our twitter network. The ideal profile
in my network is @Unseenntmktg

3. Regular: All he wants is to ‘fit in’. Being connected to others is his prime driving
force. He also loves to see that others also connect to him. Most of the people here
have reciprocal connections – You follow me, I follow you. A bulk of the people you
find on Twitter would fall in this category
Explorer: An Explorer archetype is a person who keeps following people. What
drives him is journeying the world by following others. While he mostly re-tweets
about others experiences, He also shares the happenings around him. But he
mainly wants to enrich himself by the experience of others
Outlaw: He believes in himself, and has a will to transform this world. While he
follows a lot number of people, the number of people following him is usually low.
The reason attributed to the same is that many would not like to be associated with
a rebel in a public platform. However, there are some Outlaw archetypes who
achieve cult status and thus would fall in the Ruler/Sage archetype mentioned
earlier.
The reason for understanding the twitter archetypes is that it can give you some
insight into specific characteristics of a specific twitter group…through which one
can understand the motivations and behavior. While most of the archetype might
resonate, there could be exceptions..
So which archetype are you??
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Santosh
Associate Vice President
Twitter: @santosheg
Email:santosh.eg@mrmworldwide.com