

I like Twitter, but it has a big problem - webwatch
http://www.16thletter.com/2008/04/11/i-like-twitter-but-it-has-a-big-problem/

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ilamont
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 ...

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dmoney
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.

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russw
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.

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fiaz
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.

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mchang16
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.

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fiaz
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.

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dkokelley
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.

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TrevorJ
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 :-) )

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

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ajkirwin
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. :)

