Comments on: Before you breakup with Twitter…

By: What Happened to Twitter Tags & Groups etc? | Uncategorized | Fair or Unfair

Fri, 30 May 2008 01:03:46 +0000

[...] Om suggests those using it effectively for marketing at no charge should pay! That seems counter to common logic. Let the lurkers and [...]

By: What Happened to Twitter Tags & Groups etc? | stuart henshall

What Happened to Twitter Tags & Groups etc? | stuart henshall — Thu, 29 May 2008 00:50:00 +0000

[...] should we pay for it? Om suggests those using it effectively for marketing at no charge should pay! That seems counter to common logic. Let the lurkers and [...]

By: The Power of Community : Will the real BRAD BALDWIN please stand up?

The Power of Community : Will the real BRAD BALDWIN please stand up? — Thu, 22 May 2008 18:28:24 +0000

[...] comments today that he “signed the customer company pact,” basically telling Twitter he’d “be patient, understanding, and to show the company the same respect” that he’d want shown to [...]

By: Todd Sieling

Todd Sieling — Thu, 22 May 2008 16:58:34 +0000

The feeling of frustration and being at a breaking point seems to me more like a feedback loop within Twitter conversations that makes things seem much worse than they are. Would we notice downtime as much if we didn’t see others talking about it? Would we remember it if we didn’t get reminded about it by those same conversations?

I guess I’m saying Twitter can be a lens onto its own problems, and as such produce distortions. That the application works so well is the reason we notice it so much when it doesn’t

By: Janet Fouts

Janet Fouts — Thu, 22 May 2008 16:53:22 +0000

I’m not bailing yet. I agree the fact that everybody has a fit when it goes down shows how much we have grown to depend on it.

I use FriendFeed because of the other services it connects to, but it’s not as user friendly as Twitter. I’ll be patient instead.

I don’t agree at all about adding characters to the posts. Brevity is good.

By: Janie Graziani

Janie Graziani — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:09:06 +0000

Not ready to leave Twitter yet. Frustration is everywhere…we need to relax. I get more frustrated when my own company — which asked me to handle social media — blocks my access to it. Had that problem yesterday, but I’m back on now.

By: Brenda Young

Brenda Young — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:02:46 +0000

Hi Jeremiah,
I think your points are well-taken. The two-way conversations and the ability to publicize our ire far and wide is something new for both companies and consumers. This is a new dimension to consider in the diffusion of innovation. Imagine what would have happened if consumers had this type of instant ‘megaphone’ available when automobiles, or electricity, or even the printing press were in their early build-out.
Other new technologies and services have had the ‘luxury’ of experiencing their growing pains with individuals. If you’re old enough to remember having a LAN go down or a networked printer going belly-up or the inconsistent early access to the Internet, or early cellular and Wi-Fi networks, you know what I mean. With social networking, we are once again experiencing the growing pains of a new technology, but this time we can experience it—and complain about it—together.
So, for Twitter, and any other company or organization or governmental entity, the message is to first acknowledge that there is a problem and that you are working on it, and let people know where you are with a resolution to the problem. If you have a solution, let people know when it is available, if not, provide frequent updates. No company has a perfect product and, over time, many things can happen. However, any company or organization can have effective leadership that creates and manages the resources within its organization to provide a reasonable and timely response to any given situation.

By: jeremiah_owyang

jeremiah_owyang — Thu, 22 May 2008 13:56:25 +0000

Lynn

You are so right, the fact that it frustrates us so, demonstrates the addiction.

By: Webomatica

Webomatica — Thu, 22 May 2008 13:52:08 +0000

The recent Twitter downtimes have made me realize I don’t “need” the service, and in my case FriendFeed is a viable substitute. I don’t have any interest in signing a customer / corporate pact – if a company can’t deliver what it promises (even if it’s free) I walk in a heartbeat. That’s the customer’s best way of letting a company know they’re not doing something right.

By: Tabz

Tabz — Thu, 22 May 2008 13:46:40 +0000

I agree… I’ve been with twitter over a year now, and I just go “oh Twitter you’re down again…”

I don’t expect to pull out any time soon. It’s way too valuable to do so.

By: Rob P

Rob P — Thu, 22 May 2008 13:46:40 +0000

While I agree that the outages at Twitter are frustrating, I don’t believe that a mass boycot, as some are calling for, is the answer. The use of Twitter has exploded, and if it is to survive as a viable social networking tool, then the community should look for solutions instead of railing against these ‘growth spurts’. Because, as I see it, that’s what this is all about. The community expects this service to be up and running perfectly at all times, when in reality, Twitter itself is trying to keep up with the massive growth of it’s been experiencing. No service is perfect, so patience and perhaps a little willingness to help improve Twitter is needed instead of a boycott.

By: Sonny Gill

Sonny Gill — Thu, 22 May 2008 13:44:17 +0000

Nicely said Lynn. I fully agree that we should exude a little more patience. Yes, we panic when we can’t update or hang on a loading screen, but hopefully they’re on the right track now (along with the rumored increase in funding).

By: Lynn Crymble

Lynn Crymble — Thu, 22 May 2008 13:26:06 +0000

The fact that we get frustrated when there is downtime is a testament to how great a tool it is.

I think at the very least, Twitter deserves more than a little patience.

I’m in for the long haul because it’s a great idea that is very nicely executed and loyalty is still something we should value.

By: RosePena

RosePena — Thu, 22 May 2008 12:39:42 +0000

In the past I have worked on/in/with communities limited to special interest groups and avoided blogging and broader based communications.

Twitter has gotten me excited about connecting and I have been re-energized. I’ve learned so much and met some very interesting people. I’ve now become quite active and widely connected in Social Media very quickly. I’m disappointed and suffer the “separation anxiety” too that others are expressing,when Twitter is down. I admit, I’ve become addicted.

I appreciate the service, this article and am willing to be patient. Yes, I’m also willng to pay if necessary. I like Friend Feed and other apps a lot, but I LOVE Twitter. Kinda thought it was cute yesterday when istwitterdown.com said “of course.”

Hoping others will be patient and remain loyal to Twitter Folks.

By: What happens when you can’t keep up with your popularity? -- Hoover’s Business Insight Zone

Thu, 22 May 2008 12:36:46 +0000

[...] Jeremiah Owyang: Before you break up with Twitter . . . [...]

By: Michelle / chelpixie

Michelle / chelpixie — Thu, 22 May 2008 12:29:37 +0000

We’ve come to expect transparency from people in web 2.0 and quite a number of people, whether they are due it or not, expect transparency from Twitter.

I can see they are having issues. I feel sorry for the guys, they want to make things work. I’d like them to work their issues out while communicating to their users. No, we didn’t pay them millions of dollars to report to us, but the value of your social network decreases if you don’t have the people. People will go away if they don’t feel valued.

Twitter can bury their heads in the sand, but then they can’t listen to or respond to the conversation going on around them. Twitter has made conversations happen for companies like Jetblue, Southwest and Zappos. It astounds me that they aren’t using what they’ve built and believe in (and what really really works) to converse with their users when the issues occur.

For all that, I’m not leaving Twitter, just a little frustrated, interested in what other people are thinking during downtimes, and I’m changing how I’m using Twitter.

By: Jim Spencer

Jim Spencer — Thu, 22 May 2008 12:26:30 +0000

Better up-time and more characters would be a significant improvement.

I am puzzled by the individuals that suggest that they can architect Twitter better than Twitter did. I know these individuals don’t have millions of dollars and Twitter does now.

It seems Twitter doesn’t know exactly what is wrong, so I am puzzled by suggestions that people outside the company do. Any thoughts on this?

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 22 May 2008 12:25:56 +0000

How long can they survive before either they charge by the Tweet or advertising descends on the site…?

By: Rob Diana

Rob Diana — Thu, 22 May 2008 12:24:42 +0000

I totally agree. I just wrote a post last night on whether we are asking too much from ourselves and our services. The barriers to movement are not that low, but they are low enough due to the APIs that you can move easily enough.

By: Tim (@Twalk) Walker

Tim (@Twalk) Walker — Thu, 22 May 2008 12:22:45 +0000

Good advice, Jeremiah. The good news, from Twitter’s perspective, seems to be two-fold:

1. They’re open (at least somewhat) about the problems.

2. They’ve built up a head of steam.

Yes, users could migrate, but replicating the best parts of the Twitter experience — esp. the human networks of friends / co-conspirators that are already in place — would be a chore, if not downright impossible.

Outages like these can cool the ardor a little bit, and they probably scare away uncommitted users, but for those of us who use Twitter heavily, we’re in it for the long haul — so long as Twitter gets *better* over time.