Comments on: The Tools Twitter Needs To Survive http://brandsavant.com/the-tools-twitter-needs-to-survive/ Gaining Insight From Social Media Data Fri, 18 May 2012 11:13:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Simon http://brandsavant.com/the-tools-twitter-needs-to-survive/comment-page-1/#comment-363 Simon Tue, 23 Mar 2010 20:45:07 +0000 http://brandsavant.com/?p=487#comment-363 Good post, and a good point from Tom as well. I largely agree with the sentiment of "Stop making tools for social media enthusiasts–and start making tools that make real peoples’ lives easier or better" but is the former not a way of finding a sustainable business model as it is pandering to the already-converted-but-willing-to-jump-ship-to-the-next-shiny-thing? (I'm also presuming your data includes 3rd party apps/services, and not just twitter.com) Good post, and a good point from Tom as well. I largely agree with the sentiment of “Stop making tools for social media enthusiasts–and start making tools that make real peoples’ lives easier or better” but is the former not a way of finding a sustainable business model as it is pandering to the already-converted-but-willing-to-jump-ship-to-the-next-shiny-thing?

(I’m also presuming your data includes 3rd party apps/services, and not just twitter.com)

]]> By: Tom Ewing http://brandsavant.com/the-tools-twitter-needs-to-survive/comment-page-1/#comment-362 Tom Ewing Tue, 23 Mar 2010 01:23:52 +0000 http://brandsavant.com/?p=487#comment-362 Totally agree about the servers and salaries - if Twitter is a natural niche product it may have overreached itself already. I think the "crossing the chasm" thing is partly a case of locating the chasm - a lot of web services crash because they don't even get to the early adopters (using the innovators -> early adopters -> early majority -> etc. diffusion model). Twitter's position on the very lip of the chasm - a Top 50 site but not Top 10 - is a little more unusual, though. Totally agree about the servers and salaries – if Twitter is a natural niche product it may have overreached itself already. I think the “crossing the chasm” thing is partly a case of locating the chasm – a lot of web services crash because they don’t even get to the early adopters (using the innovators -> early adopters -> early majority -> etc. diffusion model). Twitter’s position on the very lip of the chasm – a Top 50 site but not Top 10 – is a little more unusual, though.

]]> By: Tom Webster http://brandsavant.com/the-tools-twitter-needs-to-survive/comment-page-1/#comment-361 Tom Webster Tue, 23 Mar 2010 00:49:57 +0000 http://brandsavant.com/?p=487#comment-361 I waited for some time before posting this particular thought, Tom, until I had solid evidence--data--that the bloom was off the Twitter rose. I can think of a gazillion examples where an inability to cross the chasm for web services has led to fairly rapid failure--Myspace is not a good example of this because it DID cross the chasm and thus built up such a large user base that its decline is bound to be gradual. Myspace isn't in trouble because it became mainstream, it's in trouble because it failed to innovate. But Twitter has nowhere near the "installed" base that Myspace does, even today. If the relatively small base that Twitter has begins to cleave off into other location/microblogging apps, there is no MySpace or AOL-sized userbase to use as cushion. But, you make an excellent point about the expectations around Twitter--maybe it is destined to be a niche product, and that ain't all bad. Rolex, BMW and even Apple succeed quite nicely occupying those under 10% niches. I guess my point addressed those expectations more than anything. But, in lieu of revenue, it is those expectations that keep the servers on and the salaries paid at Twitter HQ. I waited for some time before posting this particular thought, Tom, until I had solid evidence–data–that the bloom was off the Twitter rose. I can think of a gazillion examples where an inability to cross the chasm for web services has led to fairly rapid failure–Myspace is not a good example of this because it DID cross the chasm and thus built up such a large user base that its decline is bound to be gradual. Myspace isn’t in trouble because it became mainstream, it’s in trouble because it failed to innovate.

But Twitter has nowhere near the “installed” base that Myspace does, even today. If the relatively small base that Twitter has begins to cleave off into other location/microblogging apps, there is no MySpace or AOL-sized userbase to use as cushion.

But, you make an excellent point about the expectations around Twitter–maybe it is destined to be a niche product, and that ain’t all bad. Rolex, BMW and even Apple succeed quite nicely occupying those under 10% niches. I guess my point addressed those expectations more than anything. But, in lieu of revenue, it is those expectations that keep the servers on and the salaries paid at Twitter HQ.

]]> By: ShowcaseJase http://brandsavant.com/the-tools-twitter-needs-to-survive/comment-page-1/#comment-360 ShowcaseJase Tue, 23 Mar 2010 00:37:09 +0000 http://brandsavant.com/?p=487#comment-360 If Facebook allows Twitter-style news feeds of mainstream news and following recommendations of people who aren't your friends, then it will have adopted the best features of Twitter IMO. If Facebook allows Twitter-style news feeds of mainstream news and following recommendations of people who aren’t your friends, then it will have adopted the best features of Twitter IMO.

]]> By: Tom Ewing http://brandsavant.com/the-tools-twitter-needs-to-survive/comment-page-1/#comment-359 Tom Ewing Tue, 23 Mar 2010 00:22:20 +0000 http://brandsavant.com/?p=487#comment-359 "History also tells us that technology products and services that don’t cross that chasm simply go away, because early adopters move on." This certainly applies to technology products, but I'm not sure it does in *quite* the same way to web services. I can't offhand think of too many web services where a failure to cross the chasm has meant rapid decline - Friendster maybe? MySpace looks likely to go down in history as the great failure of this era of the social web, and it CERTAINLY crossed over. On the other hand, blogging as an activity never crossed the chasm, and I've never been convinced by any of the 'death of blogs' posts I've seen - it looks set to remain a potent minority activity. It strikes me that Twitter's main problem isn't Foursquare, it's Facebook: or rather it's the expectations created by Facebook's success - that a social web service ought to be a universal rather than a niche product, even a wide niche product. Of course the people behind Twitter haven't exactly worked to downplay these expectations! But Twitter may simply have found its natural level - the kind of intense microblogging it encourages, like full on blogging, will be useful to a limited number. That's disappointing for people who expected it to take over the world, but it means its relationship with the top of the bell curve is a little different. I completely agree Twitter needs to be clearer about its benefits but I'm not convinced it ought to be chasing after an audience that it'll probably never reach. And actually, from Ev Williams' recent "information network not social network" positioning I wonder if they're not starting to accept this too. “History also tells us that technology products and services that don’t cross that chasm simply go away, because early adopters move on.”

This certainly applies to technology products, but I’m not sure it does in *quite* the same way to web services. I can’t offhand think of too many web services where a failure to cross the chasm has meant rapid decline – Friendster maybe? MySpace looks likely to go down in history as the great failure of this era of the social web, and it CERTAINLY crossed over. On the other hand, blogging as an activity never crossed the chasm, and I’ve never been convinced by any of the ‘death of blogs’ posts I’ve seen – it looks set to remain a potent minority activity.

It strikes me that Twitter’s main problem isn’t Foursquare, it’s Facebook: or rather it’s the expectations created by Facebook’s success – that a social web service ought to be a universal rather than a niche product, even a wide niche product. Of course the people behind Twitter haven’t exactly worked to downplay these expectations! But Twitter may simply have found its natural level – the kind of intense microblogging it encourages, like full on blogging, will be useful to a limited number. That’s disappointing for people who expected it to take over the world, but it means its relationship with the top of the bell curve is a little different. I completely agree Twitter needs to be clearer about its benefits but I’m not convinced it ought to be chasing after an audience that it’ll probably never reach. And actually, from Ev Williams’ recent “information network not social network” positioning I wonder if they’re not starting to accept this too.

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