9 comments

• 

  Darren

  1 year ago

  Interesting take, Paul. I haven't used the others in any major way, and recently posted on my confusion as to why Twitter is as popular as it is - Is Twitter the best web 2.0 concept ever devised?
  
  I look forward to the time when there is one central place where all conversation takes place, but considering the constantly changing and adapting web universe, chances are good we'll never see that day, as there will always be something new to try.
  
  After reading this, I might just try those other ones though.
  reply
• 

  Darren

  1 year ago

  Interesting take, Paul. I haven't used the others in any major way, and recently posted on my confusion as to why Twitter is as popular as it is - Is Twitter the best web 2.0 concept ever devised?
  
  I look forward to the time when there is one central place where all conversation takes place, but considering the constantly changing and adapting web universe, chances are good we'll never see that day, as there will always be something new to try.
  
  After reading this, I might just try those other ones though.
  reply
• 

  Glen

  1 year ago

  Hey Paul,
  
  Great post and I have to agree that Twitter has its shortcomings when it comes to conversation (and not to mention its outages) since yep, you're right, it isn't really designed for that purpose. It was designed to be a "What are you doing" tool, which is what I use it for mostly.
  
  There are great alternatives out there and many for that matter with even better features than Twitter. But to get people to change to use one of these alternatives as their main online presence tool is difficult. I am sure that people who have a huge influence and online presence like Jason Calacanis and Leo Laporte will have some influence to affect change since they have a huge number of followers, but in the end, I personally, don't want to monitor ANOTHER presence tool and I doubt that current Twitter'ers will change to another tool in one foul swoop very easily.
  
  Pity though, you've tried most of them and there are other tools that are far superior then Twitter.
  reply
• 

  Glen

  1 year ago

  Hey Paul,
  
  Great post and I have to agree that Twitter has its shortcomings when it comes to conversation (and not to mention its outages) since yep, you're right, it isn't really designed for that purpose. It was designed to be a "What are you doing" tool, which is what I use it for mostly.
  
  There are great alternatives out there and many for that matter with even better features than Twitter. But to get people to change to use one of these alternatives as their main online presence tool is difficult. I am sure that people who have a huge influence and online presence like Jason Calacanis and Leo Laporte will have some influence to affect change since they have a huge number of followers, but in the end, I personally, don't want to monitor ANOTHER presence tool and I doubt that current Twitter'ers will change to another tool in one foul swoop very easily.
  
  Pity though, you've tried most of them and there are other tools that are far superior then Twitter.
  reply
• 

  Darren Smith

  1 year ago

  Agreed that Twitter is not really a conversational tool ... I think that its real value is in the contribution its users make to giving every-one heads-up on interesting stuff (news, products, companies, experiences, whatever). These inform us, and give us direction in exploring the 'ether' ... particularly if we have been selective in who we follow.
  
  The BIG problem is I think a technical one ... and many users simply don't understand just how much traffic Twitter is generating as it grows, and connections grow with it. Check out http://twitter.scripting.com/spewage.html ... which gives a graphic illustration of the problem.
  
  ALL Twitter alternatives are going to have this problem, if the application is about getting ALL of your messages to ALL of your contacts/friends. Even Google struggles with this. Don't believe me ... check out http://www.splitbrain.org/projects/gbrain ... this Firefox addon was creating Twitter-like traffic problems, which impacted on Google's own services.
  
  Bottom line ... communication tools might come and go ... but REAL conversation still remains 1 on 1 ... if its '1 to many' it isn't really about conversation, is it! Is it?
  reply
• 

  Darren Smith

  1 year ago

  Agreed that Twitter is not really a conversational tool ... I think that its real value is in the contribution its users make to giving every-one heads-up on interesting stuff (news, products, companies, experiences, whatever). These inform us, and give us direction in exploring the 'ether' ... particularly if we have been selective in who we follow.
  
  The BIG problem is I think a technical one ... and many users simply don't understand just how much traffic Twitter is generating as it grows, and connections grow with it. Check out http://twitter.scripting.com/spewage.html ... which gives a graphic illustration of the problem.
  
  ALL Twitter alternatives are going to have this problem, if the application is about getting ALL of your messages to ALL of your contacts/friends. Even Google struggles with this. Don't believe me ... check out http://www.splitbrain.org/projects/gbrain ... this Firefox addon was creating Twitter-like traffic problems, which impacted on Google's own services.
  
  Bottom line ... communication tools might come and go ... but REAL conversation still remains 1 on 1 ... if its '1 to many' it isn't really about conversation, is it! Is it?
  reply
• 

  Paul

  12 months ago

  There is no denying that Twitter is immensely popular and a great number of people's networks are using Twitter. What I just don't understand is why this continues to be the case with Twitter's clear faults. Virtually every set of updates includes a complaint about Twitter's instability or some other failure and yet people cling to it.
  
  I don't buy the argument that people don't want to monitor yet another service or that everyone is using Twitter so why change? Twitter wasn't always around and probably won't always be around. People will move to a new service. Granted it is a fantastic service and provides a simple way to publish short posts and even engage each other in unthreaded and difficult to track conversations but Jaiku was there first and FriendFeed and Pulse can do pretty much the same thing. Given the incentive Twhirl would support Pulse too.
  
  Anyway, this rant is probably more akin to me shouting into a strong wind. It isn't going to change the wind's direction and nobody will really hear me anyway. Just thought I'd get it out there anyway. At some point in the future the trend will shift away from Twitter. It is the way Web services work. It is just a question of when and where it all goes.
  reply
• 

  Tina

  12 months ago

  I have never understood Twitter's popularity either in the face of all these other, more conversation-oriented services. I suppose it's because Twitter became popular in the States first, and gathered enough user mass that people are unwilling to leave it now even when other options present themselves?
  
  Or perhaps secretly, in their heart of hearts, people would rather yell about themselves in a crowded room than really listen to what anyone else is saying? ;)
  reply
• 

  Tina

  12 months ago

  I have never understood Twitter's popularity either in the face of all these other, more conversation-oriented services. I suppose it's because Twitter became popular in the States first, and gathered enough user mass that people are unwilling to leave it now even when other options present themselves?
  
  Or perhaps secretly, in their heart of hearts, people would rather yell about themselves in a crowded room than really listen to what anyone else is saying? ;)
  reply