Comments on: Ears Plugged

By: Ideas for Social Media Types (from a Small Business Owner) — Mark Hayward

Ideas for Social Media Types (from a Small Business Owner) — Mark Hayward — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:40:47 +0000

[...] Constantly remind us that social media is not only about promotion! With the current economic situation and the fierce competition to bring in customers, we need to be reminded that successful social media starts and ends with connecting, learning, engaging, and listening. [...]

By: A Tale of Two Twitters | danny brown

A Tale of Two Twitters | danny brown — Sun, 17 May 2009 00:36:05 +0000

[...] are sharing their views, some calmly and sensibly, others not so much. It’s a touchy subject and one that’s causing a lot of heat in the [...]

By: Sonny Gill

Sonny Gill — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:33:05 +0000

I’m definitely hopeful on the changes they’re making now after listening to the community. I don’t think the platform belongs to us, the early adopters, never thought that. But I do think that Twitter has a huge opportunity with those loyal core users. Will they take advantage of that opportunity? Guess only time will tell!

Thanks for the discussion, man.

By: Danny Brown

Danny Brown — Thu, 14 May 2009 04:42:23 +0000

You’re right, Sonny, we do have a say – everyone does, from early adopters to recent users. And it’s that “say” that Twitter has listened to and made adjustments accordingly.

It’s everyone’s platform to use. I wouldn’t say it ‘belonged” to the early adopters that helped it grow, or that they’re the core community. They may be the more active users, but every single person using Twitter is part of the wider community.

Just because someone was “there first” doesn’t make something that person’s property. It just makes them more experienced than newer users – yet that changes quickly as we all know.

By: Sonny Gill

Sonny Gill — Thu, 14 May 2009 03:30:51 +0000

Appreciate all the great comments here – thanks guys!

@Danny – That’s one thing I disagree with that’s been mentioned – “it’s their tool to tailor as they wish.” Their platform was built around the community. That community consists of core users that are the evangelists, the techies who helped boost this platform into the mainstream. Those core users are the ones who made sense for businesses and brands to get on Twitter and implement it within their strategies.

The platform may be free but I strongly disagree that because we don’t pay, we don’t have a say. They still have a responsibility to us, their community, and should (and seemingly have) listen to us. In the long run, we’re the ones who will help them sustain.

By: Danny Brown

Danny Brown — Thu, 14 May 2009 03:16:03 +0000

This is a weird one for me. See, I can see why so many users are upset, but at the end of the day, I think there’s also a lot of overreaction.

The @ feature was always an unofficial innovation that users came up with, and yes, it worked pretty well. Yet it can be confusing if you don’t know what it is. And with Twitter attracting many more users, they need to make it as simple as possible to use for the majority.

They could have handled the transition better, or made suggestions and went with the popular vote.

They didn’t – but they did listen. Mistake made, lesson learned, let’s move on.

And remember, it is still their tool to tailor as they wish.

By: Gavin Heaton

Gavin Heaton — Thu, 14 May 2009 00:40:17 +0000

I am always amazed that so many Web 2.0 companies don’t “get” the way that the consumer expectations have shifted. It is not like Twitter would not have access to a willing (and vocal) group of loyal users that they could ask. It seems that many companies are willing to build their businesses based on the openness and power of social networks, yet drive their business decision making using old-style processes and non-collaborative systems.

I guess we just expect more – but as shown by the stampede to FriendFeed, we are impatient with those companies that don’t include us in their thinking / communications.

By: Angela Connor

Angela Connor — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:33:26 +0000

Following conversations is crucial to the twitter experience. If I wanted to operate inside my own cocoon, I’d spend more time on Facebook. Huge mistake. I hope to see it change. This is probably great news for Friendfeed, as many are heading that way in droves.
Angela Connor | @communitygirl

By: Stuart Foster

Stuart Foster — Wed, 13 May 2009 14:50:23 +0000

So mad about this. It’s pretty much a huge bunch of bs. Half the interesting people I’ve met/found simply by clicking through a conversation they were having with someone I already knew. If they keep doing stuff like this…Fonzie has already jumped the shark.

By: Justin Kownacki

Justin Kownacki — Wed, 13 May 2009 14:27:49 +0000

@Sonny – Right, the mainstream wouldn’t pay for Twitter; we (the longtime users) probably would. That’s why I think they may be scaling back the functions *we* want, so they can charge us to re-add them later. Anyone using Twitter for business is making money off the service, yet the service isn’t making money off us, so they have to find a way to leverage that relationship.

@Roger – Twitter may be able to charge for branding, but if they charge for search, someone will develop a 3rd-party app that does it for free. Also, if they were smart (which is debatable), they would offer a subscription discount to anyone who’s been on the service since the beginning (and, therefore, helped it succeed). Maybe a sliding scale that depends on how early you joined — x% off per month pre-Oprah?