Questions and thoughts raised by #NewTwitter
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Twitter, the non-social network social network has announced a new web interface.
Some initial observations and questions:
- Why does the introductory video take nearly 90 seconds to get to the demonstration? That is nearly three times the length of a television commercial. For a company that originated with brevity in mind… wow.
- This appears to be a simple effort to move people to Twitter as a product (not a platform that you use other means to access it) in order to control the eyeballs and eventually, add advertising and other means of monetization.
- How many people use the web interface currently? I doubt this re-design will have the same backlash a site like Facebook expects. Not enough people use the web interface, they’ve moved to third-party apps and this is a push to get Twitter-proper back in control.
- Will Tweetie for Mac ever be updated now? Or is this Twitter’s approach to become the product *and* the platform on desktop computers?
- How can designers like TweetyGotBack get back into a competitive position of designing wallpapers with a huge stockpile of existing themes? No matter what they do, they step on the toes that helped get them where they are today.
- Is there even enough room for wallpapers (with your contact information in the gutter) to even exist on this new design? I surely hope not. Who visits a twitter profile only to go and type in another URL pertaining to how to find you (use the website link in your profile). Social media experts…
And with that said, I don’t know why I use Twitter. Alex and I were chatting and I’ve come to the realization I get nearly no value from it. Perhaps that speaks to the people I follow. It’s not that they aren’t great people, I just don’t like their online personalities. Instead of the typical nerd values you expect to see from the people you know in person (quiet, smart, witty, polite) you get the vices (self-importance, loud, benign). I’m the first to admit I look at my profile and realize, I don’t think I would follow me.