TwizShow: Twitter followers, yes, but real friends?

Having a large number of Twitter followers may be a self-esteem booster, but it is definitely a disadvantage in a new iPhone app created by local developer Mike Zornek of software company Clickable Bliss.

TwizShow, available for 99 cents at the iTunes app store, quizzes you about your followers with 80s-game-show-style animation, asking multiple-choice questions such as whose avatar is being displayed and who authored a particular tweet.

“I know a lot of users who play the game and they only follow 20, 30 or 40 people and you can tell because their scores are really high and they know their networks well,” said Zornek. “People with the lowest scores have the most followers and don’t know them. If you play the game like two or three times, you’ll definitely have a sense of how well you know your followers.”

But does this mean intensive Tweeters are isolated from friends in their non-virtual social lives?

“No, they’re definitely more social in real life,” said social media expert Sonny Ahuja. “I have seen that from my own networking events: people who are more socially friendly are usually the most active on Twitter.”

“If person has large Twitter followership and is in certain niche or industry, he gets the expert status. He becomes the go-to guy,” said Ahuja. “That helps you big-time with getting more sales, consulting jobs, speaking gigs– a whole new avenue opens for you.”

This status doesn’t apply solely to professionals. “Everybody’s an expert in something,” said Ahuja. “Even a 13-year-old kid could find something he is good at and promote that part of himself.”