One of the natural byproducts of Twitter’s constant downtime, is that users are changing how they spend their time on the site. Many are simply spending less time there, and more time on other sites such as Plurk and Friendfeed. But I’m also noticing that the site is becoming less social.
Earlier this year, I would normally use Twitter during the morning to share links as I went through my feeds. If I found something interesting, I’d share it with my followers. Then at night, I would get on Twitter and use it as a time to interact with others and join in on conversations.
But as constant downtimes have plagued Twitter, I’m finding that the conversations and interaction have all but disappeared. I think this is partly due to many people simply spending time on other sites. But I think the bigger reason is, many people don’t want to try to use Twitter as a place to converse, if the site is going to go down just as an interesting conversation gets started.
Case in point, this morning I spent some time sharing links from my feeds. Then I decided that I wanted to ask my Twitter followers a question, in order to get their feedback. As I was typing out the tweet (in Twhirl), the dreaded ‘limit exceeded’ warning flashed up. So my attempt at sparking a conversation had been nixed before I could even write the tweet.
Then, as I sat in a Twitter-induced timeout, I started looking at the tweets that had been coming through my Twitterstream. At least half were simply people sharing links. Most of the remaining ones were the ‘what are you doing now?’ type of updates. Very few people appeared to actually be engaged in conversation, or even making the attempt.
And that’s a shame, because when Twitter is working, it holds so much promise as a true ’social’ media tool. But for now, it seems that many of us are having to use Twitter to broadcast one-way messages and links. The conversations appear to have moved elsewhere, and unless Twitter can start spending that VC money to fix its problems, its users may follow.
I still see plenty of conversations going on among the people I follow.
I think there’s another factor, which is that Twitter has gotten so much press that the would-be spammers are showing up in larger numbers; since a month or so ago, the majority of my follow emails have been clear linkbait.
John you’re exactly right, and more spammers means a diluted experience for everyone.
Good point on the linkbait, I’ve noticed the same trend.
I would also add that Twitter is listed as a “micro blogging” site, and blogging is broadcast media that accepts conversation IMO.
Yeah, I asked a few questions recently and was never answered
I’m also seeing many broadcast-push style or what [I'm] doing, which get ba boring.
Mack I think the answer is an emphatic yes. Its inevitable.
I posted about what is media recently after similar observations.
mediahunter.typepad.com/media_hunter/2008/06/what-is-media-i.html#more
Mack, I’m liking Plurk so much more because it easily facilitates conversation. Now that more of my Twitter friends are showing up there, I’m having a great time.
But, each has its place in the ever-changing world of the Web 2.0 I suppose. Time will tell.
I’m glad this conversation came up. I’ve been seeing so much about Twitter lately, but can’t figure out exactly how people are using this tool in a professional realm. I don’t get the whole microblogging thing at all. I can see how people would want to use it as a way to broadcast that their new content available elsewhere, as there’s not much content that can fit into a “tweet.”
I don’t understand why twitter is better or more useful than a regular blog– can anyone enlighten me?
Several prominent people frequently post 6 or 7 tweets in a row, dominating my results page with content that was barely worthy of a single posting. I’ve quit following many of them because the few golden nuggets they occasionally posted weren’t worth wading through all the junk.
I know this might be a minority opinion, but – in general I have found that when well-known bloggers start doing more tweeting than blogging, the overall quality of their content plummets.
There is value to developing a thought and exploring an idea in more depth than is possible in 140 characters. A lot of twittering is “look at this!” “look at this!” and I think it’s pretty tedious. I’d rather see these folks – many of whom are very smart people – write a blog post that says, “Look at this – here’s what I think about it – here’s why it’s relevant – here are the issues it raises,” followed by reader comments.
Twitter can be a distraction machine, and I feel like I’ve watched people whose stuff I used to enjoy reading become so distracted that their writing became less valuable.
In general (there are exceptions) – the more people someone follows, the less interesting they get. My experience, your mileage may vary.
At the risk of sounding boring … Another Emphatic yes!!
I’ve read quite a few posts along the lines of this one in the last week or so. I also wrote one – and was glad to see others agreed with me that Twitter had become “less talk, less fun” if you will. I too have been plurking more because of the “Read this” “Vote for me” type posts that are on the rise. Too many “experts” not enough real knowledge being shared.
As twitter gets more mainstream coverage and “the public” start adopting it more maybe that balance will swing again -time till indeed tell.
I recently reduced my follow count massively because so many of the people i initially followed and offered much became link machines that seemed to never answer me or most of their followers. And already i’m thinking on reducing it again. Seriously twitter peeps – i follow you to share – i follow your RSS feeds to learn.
Anyone wants to follow and send me lots of look at how smart i am links – i’m @ahsimpson
Twitter is versatile. For me personally, I have three accounts I manage with twhirl. I keep my main account rather exclusive, so I can follow those I truly want to. I have another so that I can follow blogs, software developers, political figures, etc. The last account I maintain for my church, posting an occasionally update regarding an upcoming event.
I don’t think there’s a problem here. Just people using their twitter in different ways.
Twitter has definitely went up the rank in page ranking. If twitter was heading into the broadcast media world then its fine. It’s usefulness and popularity is only growing.