3 ms·

Pownce's failure had very little to do with it being "Twitter-like". It failed because it didn't solve a problem that real people had. Launching a product tha

by teej 17y ago

Pownce's failure had very little to do with it being "Twitter-like". It failed because it didn't solve a problem that real people had. Launching a product that is similar to popular incumbents isn't a negative feature. In many cases, it can help your unique selling point. Mint: Quicken but online and great UI. Hacker News: Digg for startups. Digg: Slashdot by the people.

RyanMcGreal 17y ago
>Pownce's failure had very little to do with it being "Twitter-like". It failed because it didn't solve a problem that real people had. What problem does Twitter solve? (Not a rhetorical question)
- unalone 17y ago
  It gives them a way to quickly communicate feelings, and to see what other people are saying quickly. Because it's so short, you can follow a lot of news without being overwhelmed.
  - sjs 17y ago
    Async communication is key to twitter. It's also cool that you can tweet by any method anyone has ever thought of, from almost any device that can send any sort of data whatsoever. The API has helped them greatly. I'm sure that someone, somewhere has a computer that transcribes short voice messages that can be left by phone. If not they will by the time I hit "reply" ... there should be a rule #34 for twitter. * e-mail * sms (key for reaching mobile people w/o smartphones) * web browsers * native apps / widgets And then services like twitpic built around twitter.
- elblanco 17y ago
  The problem of people sharing the inanity of their day to as many people as possible. And the problem of people who want to read about the inane things that people do every day.
apgwoz 17y ago
> Pownce's failure had very little to do with it being "Twitter-like". It failed because it didn't solve a problem that real people had. Tell that to Facebook, whom basically added all the features Pownce had (event invites, sharing files, etc) after realizing it was a great idea.

by teej 17y ago

RyanMcGreal 17y ago

>Pownce's failure had very little to do with it being "Twitter-like". It failed because it didn't solve a problem that real people had. What problem does Twitter solve? (Not a rhetorical question)

unalone 17y ago
It gives them a way to quickly communicate feelings, and to see what other people are saying quickly. Because it's so short, you can follow a lot of news without being overwhelmed.
- sjs 17y ago
  Async communication is key to twitter. It's also cool that you can tweet by any method anyone has ever thought of, from almost any device that can send any sort of data whatsoever. The API has helped them greatly. I'm sure that someone, somewhere has a computer that transcribes short voice messages that can be left by phone. If not they will by the time I hit "reply" ... there should be a rule #34 for twitter. * e-mail * sms (key for reaching mobile people w/o smartphones) * web browsers * native apps / widgets And then services like twitpic built around twitter.
elblanco 17y ago
The problem of people sharing the inanity of their day to as many people as possible. And the problem of people who want to read about the inane things that people do every day.

apgwoz 17y ago

> Pownce's failure had very little to do with it being "Twitter-like". It failed because it didn't solve a problem that real people had. Tell that to Facebook, whom basically added all the features Pownce had (event invites, sharing files, etc) after realizing it was a great idea.