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I find myself going back and forth on Twitter too, but mostly because of what will happen to the service as it approaches popular-mass; the beauty and grace of
by pxlpshr 18y ago
I find myself going back and forth on Twitter too, but mostly because of what will happen to the service as it approaches popular-mass; the beauty and grace of it is diluted to garbage and noise (which is then retweeted). However, I do believe Twitter is a rare startup and deserves its attention. I am in the camp that sees Twitter as a once-in-a-blue-moon event; a communication layer this thin and robust RARELY comes along (much less with this type of adoption rate and explosive growth). Posterous is great and all, but it has nothing on the communication-legos that is Twitter's API. For example, we're integrating Twitter into our exercise app which I think serves a purpose, as oppose to simply leveraging viral ads benefits.
What bothers me about 'social media' in general is that I'm reminded of unionized labor. There's no doubt that customers are extremely important, but there are problems when a mass audience assumes each individual to be the #1 priority and/or the customer is ALWAYS correct. This type of self importance is becoming a problem on the internet with millions looking for a unique identity and it's wearing on me, both as an observer and business owner who has to deal with armchair customers.
ps. I wish there was an auto-block for self-proclaimed 'social media' professionals; it's the new SEO.
- simonw 18y agoI don't think Twitter will be destroyed by mass uptake. I don't care if 100 million people are spouting rubbish on Twitter, I'll just follow the few hundred who aren't. Twitter Search will become less useful, but the obvious next step for that (albeit difficult to build) would be to let me search tweets just from people who I am following.
- pxlpshr 18y agoI both agree and disagree with you. I agree because as you mentioned, Twitter's unique structure in regard to following/followers helps minimize that type of noise. However, retweeting for example is not something you can block and that's where I see problems. Certainly I always have the right to unfollow or block, but it doesn't solve the problem if I want to continue following a tech entrepreneur who's side hobby may very well be celebrity gossip or American Idol. (god save us) Fortunately (Twitter's API is what separates them), clients like TweetDeck provide a secondary interface that's more adaptable to social changes through prioritization, customization, etc. If it wasn't for this, I would likely not be using Twitter... and any lifestream-competitor should give this a lot of consideration I think before trying to compete. edit man i can't write today, sorry for edits.. it's monday.
- bobbyi 18y ago> Posterous is great and all, but it has nothing on the communication-legos that is Twitter's API. Posterous's "api" is that it accepts posts via email. Is that really that much harder to integrate with than twiter's api?