While I was away… Twitter’s gone Mainstream
April 22, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Can you believe it? I took myself off on a 5 week holiday and not a mention of it on the blog. The thought did cross my mind at various times while soaking up the sun on Brazil’s gorgeous beaches, or breathing deep the air of the rainforest … but hey, that little thought was cast back to where it belonged (dark recesses).
While I was away – Twitter went mainstream
The signs were there…. I use my Gmail account for Twitter and there was a steady stream of ‘add’ notifications going on. Most were people I don’t know. And hardly any were marketing. But the daily numbers were growing.
Just a moment ago, Paul Walsh tweeted about breaking the 1,000 followers mark on twitter. I don’t believe he’ll try to sell his Twitter account like the dude in the US is trying to – with 1500 followers.
Neatly summed up (again today!) in Tech Crunch article on how Twitter has become a monopoly:
For others the Twitter habit started long ago. And for most people, it is yet to start. But the trend is clear: Twitter is becoming an Internet utility. And their monopoly power via the network effect they’ve earned means they don’t have to worry much about downtime. We’ll all still be sitting here patiently, waiting for it to return.
But the ultimate sign of mainstream has got to be the Coca Cola Earth Day home page. Recognise the little birdy?
Comments (2 responses)
Some people (http://scobleizer.com/2008/04/21/twitter-grabbing-defeat-from-the-jaws-of-success/) think that Twitter’s downtime has damaged the monopoly already. I on the other hand think that, while you are dead right and it is mainstream (has been for a while IMHO) it is also vulnerable in that Twitter’s primary focus is not communiction so much as being universally useable (which is it’s biggest strength) – any downtime means that those tweets by phone could just vanish (pretty expensive) and as evidenced by Friendfeed – it’s not hard for another site to catch up in popularity given the number of early adopters these days!
While FF is not (again IMHO) a direct competitor – one could easily emerge using a similar model… All is not yet safe! Their “monopoly power via the network effect” is not as much defence as Tech Crunch might suggest!
Thanks for your considered opinion. I think it’s interesting how Twitter, despite being technically inferior, has emerged as the winner. But you’re right this battle ain’t over yet. Let’s watch this space.
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