4 ms·

I like Twitter, but it has a big problem

23 points by webwatch 19y ago

ilamont 19y ago
The reasons she lists are why it will be extremely difficult to get Twitter to go mainstream. In the meantime, social networks and IM clients are adding or expand similar functionality, which make it even more difficult for Twitter to expand. The lack of revenue doesn't help things, either ...
sammyo 19y ago
s/twitter/email/g and you have an early 90's commentary.
russw 19y ago
I think twitter has a play and here's why.....It seems that the immediacy of data is as important if not more than quality or even context. Follow a twit around a live event and its amazing the shift. Take a normal tech conference, 3 years ago we would go see a few of the blogs that night or the next day. Heck I remember when The TWICE daily @ CES was relevant. Then came liveblogging events, this was cool because it created a feedback loop and discussion. Now with Twitter, the data flow is sudden, coming from all angles. It changes how you experience and event. Once location specific soc-nets develop and more prominent bloggers leverage twitter as an extension of themselves the mainstream will adopt. Maybe not in the way it has w/ facebook etc...but its too interesting for it not to.
fiaz 19y ago
Twitter's nebulous nature lends to inherent value for many groups of people. It can be so many things to so many different people. If you want to narrow down the selling proposition, then declaring it a new mode of communication would fit the bill pretty well.
- mchang16 19y ago
  The only issue with using "new mode of communication" to try to convince someone to use a service is that a new way of communicating appeals to people who are on the edge, but won't appeal to a widespread audience who might say "I don't need a new mode of communication, my current ones are working just fine." It is a good point that twitter is revolutionizing gatherings of large groups of people (like at tradeshows and conferences) - maybe that is the way that it will get widespread adoption. Twittering at ballgames or concerts with lots of consumers? It's a possibility.
  - fiaz 19y ago
    Resistance to "new things" is always the signature of something interesting. (I don't need a "word processor", my type writer is just fine; or I don't need a "copying machine", the world runs on carbon copy; or the best -- we don't need a "telephone", the telegraph is far superior!). There is power in the chaotic nature of Twitter. I believe that a higher level of organization is about to emerge soon from the bedrock of what it currently is.
dmoney 19y ago
Twitter is easy to explain: "It's a site for blogging, but posts are limited to 140 characters." A good way to sell it is that it's fun: you can post that "chicken is yummy" without having to write an essay about it. The language of it is easy to learn: @ means at. Maybe people sign up and leave, but I don't think these reasons explain that.
ajkirwin 19y ago
I have to disagree with many of these points. For a lot of people I know, twitter's purpose is manifold. For some, it's for pushing out ideas and commentary on their work and the occasional bit of inter-office banter for all to see. And for others, they talk about their lives, interacting with friends in a way that is, for some, even more accessible than anything else. And yes, there will be issues of 'twittetiquette' or other, stranger and more unwieldly terms. All new forms of communication have this. From Usenet's posting guidelines.. to people trying to avoid the use of acronyms on IRC.. So-called 'Grammar Nazis' on so many forums. And then, on the flipside, for many kids today, you're seen as strange if you aren't heavy on the acronymns, abbreviations and emoticons. In short, Twitter is what you want to do with it. It's a blank slate where you create what you want, at upto 140 characters at a time. And you may notice that prove my point, each of the little mini-paragraphs above.. are all under 140 characters. :)
dkokelley 19y ago
Hmm. Let's say Twitter is like IM meets blogs. Unfortunately for me, only a handful of my friends use IM regularly (at least the ones I talk to with it) and none of them blog (and let's not even talk about the ones who call me to fix their printers). Twitter is irrelevant to me because I won't see my friend's posts and they won't see mine. That's too bad, because I really liked the concept.
TrevorJ 19y ago
I kind of like that certain people won't ever 'get' it. (I was one of them for along time, much like the blogger here :-) )

23 points by webwatch 19y ago

The reasons she lists are why it will be extremely difficult to get Twitter to go mainstream. In the meantime, social networks and IM clients are adding or expand similar functionality, which make it even more difficult for Twitter to expand. The lack of revenue doesn't help things, either ...

sammyo 19y ago

s/twitter/email/g and you have an early 90's commentary.

russw 19y ago

I think twitter has a play and here's why.....It seems that the immediacy of data is as important if not more than quality or even context. Follow a twit around a live event and its amazing the shift. Take a normal tech conference, 3 years ago we would go see a few of the blogs that night or the next day. Heck I remember when The TWICE daily @ CES was relevant. Then came liveblogging events, this was cool because it created a feedback loop and discussion. Now with Twitter, the data flow is sudden, coming from all angles. It changes how you experience and event. Once location specific soc-nets develop and more prominent bloggers leverage twitter as an extension of themselves the mainstream will adopt. Maybe not in the way it has w/ facebook etc...but its too interesting for it not to.

fiaz 19y ago

Twitter's nebulous nature lends to inherent value for many groups of people. It can be so many things to so many different people. If you want to narrow down the selling proposition, then declaring it a new mode of communication would fit the bill pretty well.

mchang16 19y ago
The only issue with using "new mode of communication" to try to convince someone to use a service is that a new way of communicating appeals to people who are on the edge, but won't appeal to a widespread audience who might say "I don't need a new mode of communication, my current ones are working just fine." It is a good point that twitter is revolutionizing gatherings of large groups of people (like at tradeshows and conferences) - maybe that is the way that it will get widespread adoption. Twittering at ballgames or concerts with lots of consumers? It's a possibility.
- fiaz 19y ago
  Resistance to "new things" is always the signature of something interesting. (I don't need a "word processor", my type writer is just fine; or I don't need a "copying machine", the world runs on carbon copy; or the best -- we don't need a "telephone", the telegraph is far superior!). There is power in the chaotic nature of Twitter. I believe that a higher level of organization is about to emerge soon from the bedrock of what it currently is.

dmoney 19y ago

Twitter is easy to explain: "It's a site for blogging, but posts are limited to 140 characters." A good way to sell it is that it's fun: you can post that "chicken is yummy" without having to write an essay about it. The language of it is easy to learn: @ means at. Maybe people sign up and leave, but I don't think these reasons explain that.

ajkirwin 19y ago

I have to disagree with many of these points. For a lot of people I know, twitter's purpose is manifold. For some, it's for pushing out ideas and commentary on their work and the occasional bit of inter-office banter for all to see. And for others, they talk about their lives, interacting with friends in a way that is, for some, even more accessible than anything else. And yes, there will be issues of 'twittetiquette' or other, stranger and more unwieldly terms. All new forms of communication have this. From Usenet's posting guidelines.. to people trying to avoid the use of acronyms on IRC.. So-called 'Grammar Nazis' on so many forums. And then, on the flipside, for many kids today, you're seen as strange if you aren't heavy on the acronymns, abbreviations and emoticons. In short, Twitter is what you want to do with it. It's a blank slate where you create what you want, at upto 140 characters at a time. And you may notice that prove my point, each of the little mini-paragraphs above.. are all under 140 characters. :)

dkokelley 19y ago

Hmm. Let's say Twitter is like IM meets blogs. Unfortunately for me, only a handful of my friends use IM regularly (at least the ones I talk to with it) and none of them blog (and let's not even talk about the ones who call me to fix their printers). Twitter is irrelevant to me because I won't see my friend's posts and they won't see mine. That's too bad, because I really liked the concept.

TrevorJ 19y ago

I kind of like that certain people won't ever 'get' it. (I was one of them for along time, much like the blogger here :-) )