Why Twitter is Here to Stay
I love it when authors try to get in on the Twitter debate. They almost exclusively tie in Twitter’s rapid growth with their take on it’s eventual downfall or shortcomings, yet in the end, encourage you to follow their Twitter account! (Example)
I think the thing most authors miss is that Twitter is a conversational platform, not a social media network like Facebook. (Note it’s not a communication tool, but rather a conversational tool!)
Twitter’s longevity is sustainable for two reasons:
First it’s stupid easy to use. Anyone who can type can instantly use it.
Second, there is no advertising on Twitter. This sets it apart from 99% of the other social platforms out there.
The whole reason Myspace is a derelict graveyard of information is the advertising platform was woefully invasive to the web user. They also allowed users to customize their page theme CSS and didn’t control how ads were displayed on those themes, resulting in seizure-inducing experiences for 99.9% of the users! I think most new social platforms understand the failings of their predecessors and architect their offering as to avoid making the mistakes of those previous.
The thing about Twitter that gives it a very sustainable competitive advantage over the other major social platforms out there is quite simply, simplicity. You can build any custom client, such as TwitterFox, TwitterBerry, and TweetDeck, and customize the Twitter experience to your own specific needs. It’s funny, but each time Facebook changes it’s layout, there are the inevitable 4,000,000 users who join a new “the new Facebook layout stinks” group. Facebook never seems to find a happy medium.
Twitter on the other hand completely avoids these hassles by following the golden rule of IT: KISS. (Keep it simple stupid!)
Popularity: 2% [?]
I was thinking about the advertising platform thing the other day, wondering if Twitter would open one up. I was also reading another blog article the other day with the guy pulling his hair out cause of all the lack of bells and whistles on Twitter. I thought that it was brilliant of Twitter for the reason you listed (KISS) and because it promotes the geeks to get out there and do Twitter’s work for them with their API. The difference is facebook offers all the apps within facebook, and while fun, can get overwhelming. It’s much more fun when you have to go searching for it. But that could just be me.