DISQUS

Mark Frost · 1 year ago

The reason services like Pownce and Plurk "failed" is because they tried to be Twitter with little perks that normal users about like media-sharing and a scrolling timeline (which is annoying to me). Twitter is simplicity. Until a micro-messaging service is released that more simple, Twitter will be #1.

drewolanoff · 1 year ago

Great article. Facebook's status updates are definitely getting more usage these days, and more importantly by people who aren't "geeks". The idea of updating your status throughout the day isn't a new one. It's called AIM status' and if they had been smart enough to merely publish them to a page years and years ago, there would be no twitter hype.

Twitter does have the users, but so do Facebook. So can anyone else who has a neat enough and easy to use service.

Long live Twitter, but please please please fix some of this stuff!!!

MG Siegler · 1 year ago

Good point on AIM status Drew, used to love that -- when I still used AIM regularly, maybe that would have kept me using it.

drewolanoff · 1 year ago

I think they tried recently, buddystatus? or something. It died though, too late (as usual in AOL land). But this is behavior that's been going on forever. Someone's gonna get it right and own it, can't wait to see who. I guess Google was betting on Jaiku?

Ice · 1 year ago

I concur. FB's status is fast becoming the best and most used feature. It will probably receive more general acceptance than Twitter. Why would non-techie/social networking philes want to go to different services for the same basic status updates?

Ditto for IM Status. They've been around and a slight update can make them more useful.

I don't see Twitter coming up with a viable biz model anytime soon.
Unless they get bought out by a larger co., I just don't see them getting beyond their current user demographic.
Majority of the people will use FB/MS/AOL/Yahoo! status instead.

I do like the simplicity of Twitter as well, but I don't see it gaining wide acceptance.

Heather · 1 year ago

The competitor I hear about most via Twitter is FriendFeed. That's who I'm keeping my eye on.

drewolanoff · 1 year ago

I don't see the competition at all. Friendfeed is something entirely different. A search engine for people, and a conversation platform. Twitter is a short messaging platform that can exist on numerous platforms (mobile, web, apps, etc). I don't see that with Friendfeed at all.

Jay Cuthrell · 1 year ago

Agreed.

FF is a service the sparkles from time to time when they release a new feature or beta feature (real-time for example) but overall it is a very heavy experience compared to Twitter.

FB on the other hand continues to suck in people in my age bracket with their mobile app -- which is far heavier than Twitter alternatives for a status update.

Also, it's been almost a year since CSI incorporated Twitter into a storyline

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT5yCnEr8kQ

I can see someone taking the Twitter as plot device to another level in a major motion picture.... most likely as an homage to the air horn used by Raven Shaddock in "Streets of Fire" that brings all the gang rolling into town.... only more quietly.

MG Siegler · 1 year ago

I agree with Drew, I've written about it numerous times before. http://is.gd/lAZ

Michael Fidler · 1 year ago

If Twitter did see the need to partner with a larger Tech Company as Dave Winer suggested, which Company would be the best match? I was thinking of the Telco's as a logical partner, Any thoughts?

music2work2 · 1 year ago

Sure - the Telco's make sense but - people still sit more than they move - the interface is going to be more at a desk than at hand. I think if the VC's can hold their nerve - Twitter can survive by serving Tech and Telcos - Twitter is the new MS Word.

Love Jay's cultural perspective - I'd have Shia Lebeouf with a G1 in one hand and Natalie Portman in the other...

digitalshaman · 1 year ago

People still have AOL accts - case closed - they should seek a split with a SMS provider (cheap for any of the major telecoms; may lessen interest in the $100 bil SMS market (Sen Kohl started) - this is all about granularity of data - structured & unstructured with computational value needing to be matched against the expense/cost of scale - not "interestingness" - "willingness to pay"

officehax · 1 year ago

Wonderful article. Even though identi.ca itself has fallen off, the platform that it was built on is the exciting part. Anyone with a web site would be able to host a microblog, but still have the users messages connected to the main stream.

MG Siegler · 1 year ago

Thanks. You're right, the premise of Identi.ca is exciting, but that matters little if people don't use it. The truth is most users don't care about how it's working or if one service is more flexible, they just want to go where everyone else is, right now that's Twitter.

Dbz · 1 year ago

Interesting post! Twitter didnt seem to get as much airtime status and tv advertising as you say it did in the USA, I agree with the 1st users comment to about the facebook updation processed also.
Twitter needs some updates!

Ed · 1 year ago

Twitter will never fail.

There are millions of users yet to make it the center of their internets.

Ian Maffett · 1 year ago

As it's been duly noted here a couple of times, Twitter is simplistic - and that's what people like. Highly technical people who create a highly technical site will attract only highly technical uses. I use Pownce and I like it. I utilize many social network sites, I'll admit. I like Twitter more, however, as it's straight to the point. I think it's a definite win.

MG Siegler · 1 year ago

Agreed Ian. I've written on that before, there is something to be said for simplicity in a world that is increasingly more complicated.

caseyfern · 1 year ago

A strange call to action, for Twitter to do more, when a flurry of collateral services has sprung up all around it, doing the 'doing more' part. I stay because it is simple.

delbert norton · 1 year ago

congrats. you came up with a weekend helping of linkbait. i'm angry about even wasting time responding but the stupidity of your obvious & ill-considered post really cheesed me off. i'm not winer apologist but he offered sober reflections that are worth consideration. i don't know where you were during the browser wars era, but winer's right to go back in history to search for an analogy. i'm not sure whether twitter will survive or fail on its own, but it's clear that the company has yet to deal with issues. sounds like you're more outraged by the suggestion than by any false reasoning offered up by winer. dude, are you a secret investor in twitter? sure sounds that way. your writing reads like an apologist's apology for everything they do

MG Siegler · 1 year ago

that was quite a reply to a reply of a reply.

Leslie Bradshaw · 1 year ago

Hi there MG ~ Great piece and thanks for the mention.

I work with C-SPAN (not "CPSAN" -- understandable typo, I do it on occasion myself) and I wanted to make sure to share that not only has C-SPAN embraced Twitter from an organizational standpoint (http://twitter.com/cspan), but it has also found ways to tap into the APIs of which you speak, creating high-value experiences for folks during both the Conventions and Debates. They also regularly read tweets on air during these events.

http://dnc08.c-span.org/
http://rnc08.c-span.org/
http://debatehub.c-span.org/

Would love to discuss further if you are interested. All my info is below.

Thanks again,
Leslie


Leslie A. Bradshaw

Communications Manager
Public Affairs | New Media Strategies
E: lbradshaw@newmediastrategies.net
T: www.twitter.com/leslieann44
W: www.newmediastrategies.net

MG Siegler · 1 year ago

Thanks Leslie, definitely like what you guys are doing over at C-SPAN, sorry for the typo, I"ll fix :)

Q dub · 1 year ago

The biggest threat to Twitter is still status messaging in mainstream social networks and IM apps. Somebody find a way to log these things and aggregate them and you'll have a much more compelling product that Twitter.