Comments on: Is Twitter Heading Down The Myspace Road?

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 02:35:42 +0000

My thought process is still going on all this. I definitely know it’s not the same as Myspace, but was mostly referring to it losing it’s “cool”.

There are so many tools popping up and I believe Twitter is still here and is definitely still my favorite but the aggressive sales/marketing/follower “crap” could drive new users away. Right?

Thanks for hanging with my thoughts on all this!!!

By: James D Kirk

James D Kirk — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:52:48 +0000

Of course, this entire post and comments thread could just as easily be re-purposed for the FriendFeed service/application. I’ve been spending time moving back and forth between FF and Twitter (via TweetDeck) of late. While they are different, overlaps allow them to not be mutually exclusive.

Of course, this entire thread having been said, who has the time to spend cultivating community with these tools and services anyway?

By: thefencepost

thefencepost — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:21:05 +0000

I would say that twitter is a completely different animal. I have actually made connections (in person) and have met people I never would have without being on twitter. I don’t follow or have followers in the thousands, but I do love tweetdeck for grouping locals/favorites to converse with.

My biggest problem of late with twitter is people only tryng to promote their business and not actually contributing anything else. IE: you follow me, I follow you back, you DM your website to me saying you can get me 100′s of sales leads, I then unfollow you, the end. Also, those who link to their website with every tweet.

Anyway, myspace it is not. Getting out of control, maybe. But I still love my twitter.

Keith

By: Pedro Sanchez, Jr.

Pedro Sanchez, Jr. — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 19:27:47 +0000

Great Post Jason.

One of the reason’s I like twitter is because you can actually talk to your followers. now the tough thing is actually knowing who really is following you to follow you or just for the numbers.

It could get out of hand quick. I would also agree using tweetdeck, its great!.

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 19:05:17 +0000

Gillian- I think you started where most of us did… wanted to see what people were saying- then we jump in the conversation, all 26,845 of them!

Thanks for the comments!

By: Gillian

Gillian — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 16:27:12 +0000

I totally agree with this assessment. I signed up on twitter because my local radio djs were always talking about it and how funny Bart Millard’s tweets were. At first I actually was automatically clicking follow to follow every single person who was following me. I quickly learned my error when one tweeter took up two whole pages, and every other conversation was virtually impossible to follow quickly. I now only follow the artists that I really care about, and a couple of folks I met on the journey. Hopefully this will take a turn for the better soon, and egos will take a back seat.

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:47:08 +0000

Cheryl- very much agreed. There is value in local connections and the #chs area. For me, only being here a little more than a year it’s been great meeting people that have the same interests while still keeping in close contact with friends and partners in Nashville.

Curious to see how Twitter continues to evolve and how different it will be in just a few months (maybe weeks!).

Thanks for the comment!

By: Cheryl Smithem

Cheryl Smithem — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:42:10 +0000

Jason-There is escalating competition on Twitter for followers. Lately, there are so many who are following me who are of the get rich quick style of marketing, that I’ll never follow them back. Then there are those who are just using Mr. Tweet and Twitter Grader and focusing on how those things help them achieve an arbitrary ‘score’. I like the connection that comes from following you, Simon, Lyn, Andra, Dan, Jared, Heather and all the other #CHS group. There is context to our convo. That’s what makes it a convo.

Well said.

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:41:09 +0000

Jared-

Agreed to a point… but I think I’m more focused on those who love numbers which seems to be an increasing group of folks these day. The follow-back “rules” are what are silly… granted you don’t have to follow them back I do get that. It just seems that it is more important to have followers than to have quality of conversation.

Totally agree we have better control over who we follow and who we don’t- but I have a weak spot for wanting to connect with everyone (which I could never do).

Then again, it could be the people that I have chosen to follow?!

Thanks for the comment- great points!

By: Jarad Johnson

Jarad Johnson — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:29:07 +0000

I think the HUGE difference between the undeniable faults in MySpace and Twitter is that you don’t HAVE to follow everyone back on Twitter.

Let’s say you have 5,000 followers. On Myspace that would kill you to keep up with, but on Twitter you have the discretion to follow them back or not. So even the “elites” of the Twitter world can still keep up with their own followings with 20,000+ followers.

The option for individual users to not be bombarded with friends requests and instead opt in and out of who they follow, in my opinion, will save Twitter from going down the road you described above.

Agree or disagree?