Twitter fanatics are leading a new cultural revolution.

The rapid growth of Twitter has been a mixed blessing for the two-year-old company. As a communications tool, it has rapidly evolved from a curious “status” update to the leading discussion tool — the water cooler of the internet.

But with rapid growth comes excruciating growing pains. The enormous weight of millions the Twitter users routinely crushes the system. Many of Twitter’s early features, like tracking keywords across the network, have proven impossible to scale and have been taken off-line.

When Twitter goes down, the company often puts up an illustration of a whale being lifted by birds. The artwork is titled “Flight of a Dreamer” and is the work of Lu Yiying. Twitter allegedly bought rights to the illustration through iStockPhotos for US$10. And now Twitter fans have turned it into a cult phenomenon.

As Twitter’s troubles began to worsen in late May, the graphic began to appear regularly. So much so, that many users began to feel something of an affinity for the dreamer. The graphic was dubbed “The Fail Whale”, and has since sparked a massive following.

You can now buy Fail Whale t-shirts and coffee mugs. Artists are creating kinetic sculptures of the Fail Whale. And the original artist herself has fanned the flames of fandom with a girlfriend (and the official mascot of the fan club) of the Fail Whale, named Eve Whale.

But the days of the Fail Whale may be numbered. Twitter announced last week a US$15 million round of funding, which includes capital from Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezo’s fund Bezos Expeditions. Twitter says the money will be spent on Killing the problems that gave rise to the Fail Whale — infrastructure and reliability, which it will need if it ever hopes to become profitable.

So what does all this mean. It just goes to show that Twitter already has a culture [via ReadWriteWeb]

The Definition of Culture

According to Wikipedia, “culture” is defined as:

“[...]generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activities significance and importance. Cultures can be “understood as systems of symbols and meanings that even their creators contest, that lack fixed boundaries, that are constantly in flux, and that interact and compete with one another”.”

Essentially, culture is the way people within a certain group behave and interact with one another.

The Twitter Culture

Technology Enthusiasts
It’s no secret that those on Twitter interact and behave differently from other groups. For one, they might be online 24/7. That’s a huge difference in itself from the rest of the world. They’re normally heavy users of technology, especially web technology, and are on the bleeding edge of these things too. The majority of Twitter is comprised of tech related messages and innocent chatter. From web apps to software reviews, you’ll find links to them all on Twitter.

Sharing Is Caring
Never let it be said that Twitter users don’t care. They share their little hearts out every chance they get! Links from all over the web are shared on a minute by minute basis. On the same note, developers have taken advantage of all that information by aggregating the plethora of links that are shared across Twitter so that users can find the most popular links of the day or hour on Twitter. Not only do tweeters share links, but also reviews, beta invite codes, advice, stories, insults, and tons more. I’ve yet to see any credit card numbers or passwords being shared though it may be in the near future.

Vocal Advocates
Surprisingly, users of Twitter are very vocal about things. For example, take a look at the upcoming Presidential elections. I know more about the elections because of Twitter rather than because of the TV or newspapers where one would normally go to be updated on such things. Not only will they let you know what’s going on, but also how they feel about it. These are pretty passionate people too. They voice their opinions while also encouraging others to do the same. They’re always up for a tough albeit friendly debate. These are today and tomorrow’s advocates.

I’m Bored….Twitter!
Those on Twitter are also easily bored. I know that Twitter is only enhancing my ADHD, which in turn is helping me to become bored very easily. There’s so much to process on Twitter that when user streams slow down and the party ends they’re left wondering what to do next. If Twitter goes down, the world might as well have just stopped. Tweeters just don’t know what to do with themselves sometimes. They need constant entertainment because this is the very nature of Twitter and it’s what Twitter promotes.

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