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Twitter’s swan song

by tdhurst · 17 comments

Say it jumped the shark, say it plateaued, say it’s winding down, but the party of knowledge and sharing that used to be Twitter is no more.

I hate to say this and argued with him about it at the time, but Carlos Miceli is right.

Twitter used to be about people sharing stories, getting answers and strengthening ties, regardless of physical distance.

But now it’s mostly a broadcasting tool. It exists to send out links to the masses, to tell (not share) the world what you’re doing and to engage with those you find interesting. Twitter never used to have lurkers, but as its popularity increased, so did they. With so many people trying so hard to be clever, and usually failing, Twitter has become a utility.

Just as SXSW is more about the camaraderie and the parties ((Totally jealous, btw)), Twitter is about the comfort of being, not the uncomfortable doing.

Yes, I realize this may be partly my fault. Perhaps I’m boring. Perhaps I’ve forgotten how to talk to people. Perhaps I’m expecting too much. All I know is that 70% of my tweets are replies and I’m not getting a damn thing out of it anymore.

No, I don’t think Twitter is going to die, it’s just shifted from a place to learn to a place to communicate. Our goal was to get everyone in the world on Twitter, forgetting that most people really don’t have much of anything to say.

I could even be way behind on this. Perhaps the people are just busy or have already moved on and I’ve been clinging on like Rose in Titanic while I watched everyone around me sink away.

It’s time to head out on my own. It’s time to forget about the people that are retarding innovation. Time to get something done.

Hope to see you along the way.

(Remember what I said earlier about it becoming a communication utility? The Twitter that was is gone. Good luck, fellas.)

Tagged as: twitter, utility

  • http://twitter.com/DMurrow Dave Murrow

    Tyler, good post, echoing very similar thoughts I've had recently. My Twitter engagement has dropped dramatically in recent months, and I wondered if it was my own failings to be 'interesting', or if I was going nuts seeing everyone Twitter simply 'broadcasting' and I didn't need to hear all the noise. I still like its use, but indeed, it is less of being “about people sharing stories, getting answers and strengthening ties” and more of a utility. Thanks for sharing.

    PS – Love your 1 footnote on SXSW. Ha!
    PPS – would love to get involved in Scottsdale Camp, but already have plans to be away that weekend.

  • http://tdhurst.com tdhurst

    Maybe it's our fault that this happened. The early adopters became too popular?

    Would love to have you help choose speakers/topics for the event and even help promote it! Would be happy to trade a speaker sponsorship for help like that.

  • http://www.spellwight.com spellwight

    Funny this comes from you, the most prolific self-promoter I know. For instance, links to this post have already popped up twice on my tweetdeck and because I already follow your RSS feed it's in my Google Reader. I'm pretty sure before the day is over it'll pop up a few more times.

    You're on my short list on tweetdeck; the one I actually pay attention to. I'm pretty selective about the links I share on twitter. I figure if people are really interested in what I say, they'll find my blog.

  • http://tdhurst.com tdhurst

    Sure, but wouldn't you say along with that self promotion, I HEAVILY engage with people on it? I don't see anything wrong with sharing links, but that seems to be the ONLY thing too many people do.

  • patrickem

    I believe Twitter is in a transition period, which hopefully won't last long. I read somewhere, I don't remember the exact numbers, that something like 75% of Twitter accounts have 7 tweets or less. Twitter has become a bit of a Cesspool, for spammers and links, I have accounts that follow me that have tens of thousands of tweets, every single one of them a link to something. At times I think I have nothing to gain or add to Twitter, but then I figure if I can answer a question for just one person then it was worth it. People may not be educated by following me, but they may be entertained.

  • http://tdhurst.com tdhurst

    I agree. The ONLY thing we can control is our own behavior.

  • tommypierucki

    I know I'm not an early adopter of twitter, but I've been using it pretty regularly for almost a year now. I learn from some people on twitter from what they're sharing. And what they're talking about. Shifting from a place to learn, to a place to communicate? Don't we learn by communication? I think twitter is still a place for both. Maybe it has to do with what you want to learn. I get useful information from it everyday, as well as use it to communicate. Why can't it be both. I really liked this post, but that one sentence really struck a nerve. Pre “shift”, what were you learning, and not communicating about? Weren't you learning from the communications? Maybe I'm really off, but I disagree from this point of view.

  • http://tdhurst.com tdhurst

    I don't think Twitter is going away, and perhaps I have too high of expectations. What I'm seeing is far less communication and far more broadcasting, as too many people follow TONS of people, yet ignore them.

    This isn't the fault of any specific person or event, and more of a reflection on the people itself. When I first started and up until, oh, late last year, Twitter was a community, not simply a communication tool. As it's become ubiquitous, and as rammed home with the launch of @anywhere today, the community has become fragmented, rather than niche focused.

    This post is really me thinking out loud as I adjust my expectations regarding what I expect from others and what I expect from myself.

  • tommypierucki

    I'll be the first to admit, I follow a ton of people that I don't communicate with regularly. On the other hand, I don't want to unfollow them for reasons of my own. Mostly because a lot of them don't tweet too often, and when they do, I wanna know about it.

    I think it still has a community feeling to it. The looks I get when I tell people that I'm on twitter, and that I use it all the time are varied. Most of the looks are dismissive. A lot of them are people looking at me and saying, “I don't twitter. People don't need to know that I'm eating ice cream”. I am constantly in an environment where twitter is just something on the internet. But to me, it's a whole new community. Tons of people I would have never met, I've met from twitter. I learn from them everyday. I learn from you all the time, and I've only talked to you for a total of about 20 seconds. Have you turned a blind eye to all of the newer users in your own community that you're trying to make better? Broadcasting to one person, is another person's way of finding they're niche followers. Maybe, now that twitter is getting bigger, niches are becoming harder and harder to find. If that's true, maybe twitter is just going through a growing pain.

  • http://tdhurst.com tdhurst

    I gave up on most ppl a long time ago, as I got tired of begging ppl
    to ve a part of something larger than themselves.

    Perhaps Twitter is just a highly accurate depiction of a society
    that's more interested in reality shows and pre-packaged lives than
    new experiences that might not be 100% safe or PC.

    This is very apparent when you see scratching-the-surface events like
    ignite or any of the *FNs regularly attended, but events like PodCamp
    or even Gangplank happenings shunned by the non-geek crowd. People are
    scared to change and you can't teach or include them if they're not
    willing to step on the field.

    Too many still view the Internet as separated from real life when it's
    really a simple extension of it. This attitude is nearly impossible to
    change without explaining the concept repeatedly, individually, which
    takes its toll.

  • http://twitter.com/andrewkfromaz Andrew k

    I'm following, at this moment, 861 people on Twitter, and the only ones who don't interact are ones who have something actually important to share, something to tell me that I actually want to hear. There might be one or two exceptions, and I don't expect that anyone else would follow the same 861 people and find the few who never interact to be interesting, but all this business that all everyone ever does is share links is total crap. It's a myth just like “Twitter? Why would I tell people what I'm having for lunch?”

  • tommypierucki

    Keep at it. Your efforts may be taking its toll, but the juice will be worth the squeeze. You still owe me a high five.

  • kelleyrobinett

    Twitter is a tool not a place. As more people join, they are finding more ways to use the tool to best suit their needs and wants. I bet if you would quit trying to project your micro needs of twitter onto the macro of the tool as a whole you might just find out that it is to you what you always thought it was and wanted it to be. Maybe worry less about how others use it because, in reality, it has zero effect on you and the ways you use it?

  • http://tdhurst.com tdhurst

    The way I use it affects others and the ways others use affects me.

    What's your insistence on busting my balls on this?

  • http://tdhurst.com tdhurst

    I DO owe you a high five.

  • kelleyrobinett

    not ball busting… I just don't understand your need to define and declare absolutes about a service that means so many different things to its many users. While Twitter may not be what it once was to you, the reality is that Twitter is just now coming into its own. Twitter is an aggregator, it is lightning fast dissemination, the future of sourcing and the great equalizer when it comes to cross-class communication. None of those things sound “dead” to me. Hate the celebrity idolization culture all you want but, celeb “news” magazines, shows and websites are most likely a billion dollar industry. Thanks to Twitter, the celeb culture consumers can comment directly to the celebrity and even get direct comment back. That's a goldmine.

    You are definitely the early adopter type. It's not a bad thing but, you have to realize it to either, A, understand your place in product life cycle or B, be someone who can transition from early adopter to long-term user without the drama and pains.

    Early adopters are both the key to early success and a hindrance to long term growth. They jump on something fast, many times to be first and define what “it” is, then complain and bail when it grows out of what they defined “it” as. If a company ignores the large emerging market needs in order to placate the early adopters it is bound to fail. This is true with companies, products, social organizations, churches… everything. The people who jump in first are usually the most put off by the real growth that is necessary to sustain.

  • http://tdhurst.com tdhurst

    My issue with it was more related to defining what Twitter was perceived as versus what Twitter truly is, a perception that has eluded me until now.

    I have no problem with what Twitter is now and I will continue to use it in the exact same way, I just wanted to address my, well, sorrows for an experience that was unlike anything possible before and is now fading into the background.

    I see networks such as these as a refuge from the canned conversations and persuasive visuals that too often permeate our lives. It was a bit naive and a bit short-sighted, but it was an honest attempt at saying goodbye to an experience that will never be replicated.

    I don't fault the mainstream for getting on board, it was me who invited them. What came off as complaining was simply sorrow.

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