Twitter: Strike Two
I don't use Twitter.
I signed up for it once, long ago, and never did anything with it.
Meanwhile, judging by the number of "you are ___'s newest Twitter contact" messages I receive every day, more and more of my friends are getting on the Twitter bandwagon.
Why?
Strike One
I SEE NO NEED TO ALERT THE WORLD TO MY EVERY ACTIVITY.
It seems to me that Twitter is for people who believe the world is breathlessly wondering what they're doing at all times.
I don't even wonder that about my girlfriend, much less the entirety of my buddy list.
Thus, I see Twitter as a useless indulgence, despite its potential as a marketing tool -- in essence, a necessary evil at best.
Strike Two
TWITTER'S WEBSITE IS THE SLOWEST-RESPONDING SITE IN HISTORY.
The speed with which they process my mouseclicks -- or, in most cases, don't -- makes MySpace look like the smoothest-running web app ever launched.
I entered my account today to update my preferences, and perhaps take a stab at embedding it into my blog -- just to see if it was worth the fuss -- and the "submit" button never led to a new page.
It just sat there, half-loaded, for the better part of three minutes. Which, in web parlance, is an eternity.
IF YOUR SITE IS A SOCIAL NETWORKING SITE, THE #1 THING IT NEEDS TO BE IS FAST.
Strike Three?
I haven't found a reason to completely write Twitter off my radar yet, but I haven't found a reason to rally around it, either.
To all of you out there who use Twitter: why? And what part of the equation am I missing?
I signed up for it once, long ago, and never did anything with it.
Meanwhile, judging by the number of "you are ___'s newest Twitter contact" messages I receive every day, more and more of my friends are getting on the Twitter bandwagon.
Why?
Strike One
I SEE NO NEED TO ALERT THE WORLD TO MY EVERY ACTIVITY.
It seems to me that Twitter is for people who believe the world is breathlessly wondering what they're doing at all times.
I don't even wonder that about my girlfriend, much less the entirety of my buddy list.
Thus, I see Twitter as a useless indulgence, despite its potential as a marketing tool -- in essence, a necessary evil at best.
Strike Two
TWITTER'S WEBSITE IS THE SLOWEST-RESPONDING SITE IN HISTORY.
The speed with which they process my mouseclicks -- or, in most cases, don't -- makes MySpace look like the smoothest-running web app ever launched.
I entered my account today to update my preferences, and perhaps take a stab at embedding it into my blog -- just to see if it was worth the fuss -- and the "submit" button never led to a new page.
It just sat there, half-loaded, for the better part of three minutes. Which, in web parlance, is an eternity.
IF YOUR SITE IS A SOCIAL NETWORKING SITE, THE #1 THING IT NEEDS TO BE IS FAST.
Strike Three?
I haven't found a reason to completely write Twitter off my radar yet, but I haven't found a reason to rally around it, either.
To all of you out there who use Twitter: why? And what part of the equation am I missing?
Labels: social networking, twitter, web design
posted by Justin Kownacki at
11:58 AM
2 Comments:
I don't use Twitter and don't ever plan to, but I can see its appeal.
First of all, I don't think any of us here are type of people who would find this technology compelling. We're too old, too busy, and can't text at blazing speeds on our cell phones.
However, I think my cousins in China would love this thing since they already text each other for mundane reasons (do people really care what/when you're eating?) at all times (when they wake up, commute, school, work, etc). In fact, I think Twitter would do much better if they went for a more international base rather than being US-centric.
By
Jia, at 3:25 PM
I use Twitter fairly extensively as a marketing tool. It helps me stay in touch with a crack focus group that's almost always on and can respond to changing market conditions quickly. Plus, when I'm not using it in a business capacity, it's just a web-based chat room.
By
Christopher, at 11:02 PM
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