Comments on: Goodbye, Twitter http://www.technotaste.com/blog/goodbye-twitter/ Social Psychology, Anthropology, Technology, Gluttony - by Judd Antin Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:57:50 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Twitter Data: The Flood Continues Unabated | TechnoTaste http://www.technotaste.com/blog/goodbye-twitter/comment-page-1/#comment-141719 Twitter Data: The Flood Continues Unabated | TechnoTaste Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:57:06 +0000 http://www.technotaste.com/blog/?p=629#comment-141719 [...] users, this despite a recent push of new features and new languages. In September I predicted the demise of Twitter, and this seems to be the first stage. 2009 was definitely their year – arguably no [...] [...] users, this despite a recent push of new features and new languages. In September I predicted the demise of Twitter, and this seems to be the first stage. 2009 was definitely their year – arguably no [...]

]]> By: jantin http://www.technotaste.com/blog/goodbye-twitter/comment-page-1/#comment-133339 jantin Fri, 04 Sep 2009 03:32:42 +0000 http://www.technotaste.com/blog/?p=629#comment-133339 I'd be interested to see that data. Geoff Cook's data (referenced above) is interesting because he finds that, as a percentage of users, more teens tweet than use Facebook. But Facebook is so much bigger than Twitter, that it's still a very small number of teens (relatively speaking) who Tweet. It wouldn't surprise me if teens catch on to the fad like everyone else, even if it's short-lived. I'd be interested to see that data. Geoff Cook's data (referenced above) is interesting because he finds that, as a percentage of users, more teens tweet than use Facebook. But Facebook is so much bigger than Twitter, that it's still a very small number of teens (relatively speaking) who Tweet. It wouldn't surprise me if teens catch on to the fad like everyone else, even if it's short-lived.

]]> By: Hugh Briss http://www.technotaste.com/blog/goodbye-twitter/comment-page-1/#comment-133253 Hugh Briss Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:07:13 +0000 http://www.technotaste.com/blog/?p=629#comment-133253 And yet stats released yesterday show that teens are beginning to flock to Twitter. And yet stats released yesterday show that teens are beginning to flock to Twitter.

]]> By: jantin http://www.technotaste.com/blog/goodbye-twitter/comment-page-1/#comment-133249 jantin Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:27:09 +0000 http://www.technotaste.com/blog/?p=629#comment-133249 Joe, I think we have to separate the future of micro-blogging from the future of Twitter. I completely agree with you that micro-blogging is here to stay for the good reasons that you mentioned. But Twitter is neither the first nor the only service to offer micro-blogging. Facebook, you could argue, just does it better, and embeds micro-blogging in a world of other uses and services that will give it power and longevity. As to the question of "active users", that's an interesting one. There's been some data from Twitter analytics companies revealing (for example) that over half of the people who make a Twitter account never come back after the first week. I'm sure that's true of some people who make Facebook or MySpace accounts too, but nowhere close to 50%. Every research lab has been studying Twitter this summer, so I think we'll get a raft of interesting data in the next 6 months. Joe,

I think we have to separate the future of micro-blogging from the future of Twitter. I completely agree with you that micro-blogging is here to stay for the good reasons that you mentioned.

But Twitter is neither the first nor the only service to offer micro-blogging. Facebook, you could argue, just does it better, and embeds micro-blogging in a world of other uses and services that will give it power and longevity.

As to the question of "active users", that's an interesting one. There's been some data from Twitter analytics companies revealing (for example) that over half of the people who make a Twitter account never come back after the first week. I'm sure that's true of some people who make Facebook or MySpace accounts too, but nowhere close to 50%.

Every research lab has been studying Twitter this summer, so I think we'll get a raft of interesting data in the next 6 months.

]]> By: joe http://www.technotaste.com/blog/goodbye-twitter/comment-page-1/#comment-133133 joe Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:51:59 +0000 http://www.technotaste.com/blog/?p=629#comment-133133 I actually will predict the opposite, that twitter will have more active users in 2011 than now (if we can measure it). Why? Because Twitter is essentially low-barrier blogging. Many people that can't bring themselves to blog, tweet. Also, there are very interesting audience effects... when I was studying blogging for only a brief time, I always wanted to do qualitative study of blog readers... but how the hell does one sample them? Well, Twitter solved that in a ungraceful way: list them (of course, people can read twitter feeds and not "follow" the person and people can "block" people from following). I think this changes the dynamic considerably from blogging and might exacerbate flame-wars and also tend to nip them in the bud. For example, I know a certain person follows me that wears the collar on his polo shirts up (it's the latest fashion apparently). I had to think hard before tweeting that I thought this was stupid... I wouldn't have done that with my blog because I have only limited information on who reads that (which permits me not to care!). I actually will predict the opposite, that twitter will have more active users in 2011 than now (if we can measure it).

Why? Because Twitter is essentially low-barrier blogging. Many people that can't bring themselves to blog, tweet. Also, there are very interesting audience effects… when I was studying blogging for only a brief time, I always wanted to do qualitative study of blog readers… but how the hell does one sample them? Well, Twitter solved that in a ungraceful way: list them (of course, people can read twitter feeds and not "follow" the person and people can "block" people from following). I think this changes the dynamic considerably from blogging and might exacerbate flame-wars and also tend to nip them in the bud.

For example, I know a certain person follows me that wears the collar on his polo shirts up (it's the latest fashion apparently). I had to think hard before tweeting that I thought this was stupid… I wouldn't have done that with my blog because I have only limited information on who reads that (which permits me not to care!).

]]> By: joe http://www.technotaste.com/blog/goodbye-twitter/comment-page-1/#comment-133132 joe Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:46:37 +0000 http://www.technotaste.com/blog/?p=629#comment-133132 can you measure "active users" now? then? can you measure "active users" now? then?

]]> By: jantin http://www.technotaste.com/blog/goodbye-twitter/comment-page-1/#comment-133129 jantin Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:02:31 +0000 http://www.technotaste.com/blog/?p=629#comment-133129 That's a good point - Twitter's stubborn attitude will have as much to do with its demise as anything. But even if they decide to open up, I just don't think the value proposition is there. It's too one dimensional, even when there will be lots of uses for that dimension. Twitter may very well live on as a general message bus, but that puts it more in league with Ning and Google App Engine than it does with Facebook, MySpace, etc. That's a good point – Twitter's stubborn attitude will have as much to do with its demise as anything. But even if they decide to open up, I just don't think the value proposition is there. It's too one dimensional, even when there will be lots of uses for that dimension. Twitter may very well live on as a general message bus, but that puts it more in league with Ning and Google App Engine than it does with Facebook, MySpace, etc.

]]> By: Nathan D http://www.technotaste.com/blog/goodbye-twitter/comment-page-1/#comment-133035 Nathan D Wed, 02 Sep 2009 01:25:40 +0000 http://www.technotaste.com/blog/?p=629#comment-133035 Twitter is certainly working on creating an ecosystem -- though, they have stubbornly refused to be the general-purpose message bus that most developers would like them to be. If your prediction comes true it will largely be due to Twitter's own myopic attempt to keep the family jewels behind the glass case -- if the firehose were opened up to the world a whole set of products and companies would flourish. Twitter is certainly working on creating an ecosystem — though, they have stubbornly refused to be the general-purpose message bus that most developers would like them to be. If your prediction comes true it will largely be due to Twitter's own myopic attempt to keep the family jewels behind the glass case — if the firehose were opened up to the world a whole set of products and companies would flourish.

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