What 'Thug Life' Can Teach Us About Twitter (new Ad Age column)

This ought to stir the pot up a little:

This Ignored Demographic Shows What You Can Learn When You Look Beyond Social-Media Elites

While most in the social media bubble would have you believe that Twitter's output consists solely of links to "relevant articles," "breaking news stories," "unique insights" or retweets of all three (along with the occasional "what I'm having for dinner" tweet from the latest Asian-Fusion-locavore bistro) a look at Twitter's Trending Topics reveals otherwise.

While the aforementioned geek patter is certainly in there, it's generally dwarfed on the trending topics list by tweets about Disney Channel stars the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus (put out, one can safely assume, by middle-school-aged females) and tweets from another demographic, twenty-something African-Americans tweeting in what can best be described as ghetto slang. (READ THE REST OVER AT AD AGE)

UPDATE, 2.10.10: The article got picked up by Gawker, where it sits amidst snarky posts on American Idol and Gossip Girl. (All press is good press though, right?)