Twitter stutters... and no one cares!

Posted by JR on July 9 at 3:31 PM We in the Web world speak often and vehemently about usability. You want your site to be user-friendly, easy-to-use, sensical, and (it almost goes without saying) functional. Why? Because your user/consumer is key. Yes your brand is important. Your blog, too. But if your target audience doesn't find your site or product useful... well, you're out of business - and you can use all those cards you had printed as coasters.

Yet, then again, there is Twitter. Which suffers from frequent service outages. Users encounter errors. Failed pages. Apologetic messages of total failure. But guess what? This week, Twitter's visits have gone up by 500%.

Twitter is destroying its microblogging competition in a most bloody and uneven way. The other guys (and gals) don't stand a chance.

But why? What is the secret?

Well, some (Clickz, I'm looking at you) say it's Twitter's apologetic, upfront nature. Other's give credit to Twitter's Fail Whale.


Sure he (she?) is... but this cute, error-ridden mammal appears on Twitter whenever things, well, fail. One might think it would cause dismay, anger, murder - much like the PC hourglass or the swirly Mac spinner. But this is not the case.

There is a Fail Whale Fan Club
and a Fail Whale Wikipedia page
and so much more.

I'm just waiting for my next trip to Boston when I take a whale watching tour, for the guide to shout: "and if you look over here, you'll see Fail Whale breaching."

But really - what is the deal? How does Twitter do it? Sure apologies might work, sure the whale is cute. But I don't think that's the secret.

The secret, I think, is laziness. And lack of awareness. Think of MySpace, which I have railed against previously. It is a sloppy, disorganized Web site. A social community full of spam and errors. But it led the way for a long time, and continues to lead today.

Why? Because we are lazy on the web. We don't want to take the time to find a better alternative. We don't want to fill out new forms, Google new terms, and then go to a community where none of our friends spend time.

I think, personally, it's that Twitter was the first out of the gate. I don't Twitter, but I know its name rather well. People flocked to it and now they're holding tight. Sure some might be Fail Whale Watchers. Others may be brand enthusiasts. But I'll bet you a Carvel Lil' Lovin' cake (in the shape of a whale) that a majority of the users ARE fed up and annoyed, but not fed up and annoyed enough to make a move.

My warning: Twitter - get your act together!

MySpace sat on its high, error-filled horse for a long time... and then Facebook opened its doors to everyone else, and now they're off and running. A better alternative with smart branding, Facebook forced MySpace to undergo a huge re-design, and they're still fighting to keep FB at bay.

Twitter has the convenience of being the head honcho - but wait until one of the challengers nipping at its heels gets a sound investment and a strong branding strategy.

Then Twitter might find itself staggering.
Topics: branding, interactive        SHARE: