Twitter’s frequent (enough) outages have caused some rumblings of mutiny among the Twitter community. Just listen:
While the Twitter Blog tries to explain the outages as the service tries to keep up with its increasing popularity, the community needs to take things into its own hands. So, I asked people, on Twitter of course, where they turn when Twitter goes down. Here are the top responses (weighted by my own editorial opinion, so there), with my comments:
- @pprlisa “I go straight to your blog, read your archives and think deep thoughts when Twitter’s down”
(Obviously delusional, but i like her style) - @geechee_girl: “I go… back to work/writing *laughs*”
(“laughs?” Points for spelling the word out) - @lizwebpage: I go to www.cuteoverload.com and stare blankly at kittens and duckies until twitter comes back. ;)
(No. No, you don’t) - @fairminder: returning to a previous activity or position (I made that up)
(I’m confused, but I think you did that on purpose) - @jljohansen: Twitter Down SM 5: 1 Check Twhirl settings, is it just you; 2 Plan tweet about outage; 3 Check facebook chat; 4 Catch-up on FF; 5 Cry
(FF? French Fries? Fantastic Four back issues? Oh- FriendFeed) - @spazcer: top 5? i guess id have to say Plaxo, FriendFeed, GMail, Facebook and Jyte
(Plaxo= still creepy; FriendFeed= info firehose; GMail= no thanks; Facebook= what do we do with Facebook again?; Jyte= Jyte? Do I need an invite to that? Must..check…out…jyte) - @susank: I just shut my computer off. J/K. Seriously, news sites, Facebook, Google reader, email and maybe eeks, I pick up the phone.
(Phone? Phone is for Twitter! How would that help?) - @jonathanfields: Lunch…then dinner! ;-)
(You’re not accounting for a few hours’ activity here- or maybe not) - @paulswansen: to the local bar, bowling alley, shopping, the mall, your hairdresser
(Um… the mall? And my hairdresser’s identity is a secret) - @csuspect: Top 5 sites to turn to when Twitter is down? Mine are Pownce, Utterz, Viddler, gmail and www.pheer.com
(I think gmail doesn’t count. Isn’t email the enemy? I see a vote for Viddler but not YouTube. Cool) - @andycaster: I’m sure Utterz is on your list..if it isn’t … it should be!
(It is)
So, My 5 sites:
- Utterz (but I link that through Twitter!)
- Blogs (but I find out about the best posts through Twitter!)
- News sites (blahblahblahblah Twitter!)
- GMail (To catch up on new Twitter Followers!)
- Seesmic (just kidding; actually, Facebook, which consists mostly of my Twitter updates — but I intend to check back in on the Seez soon)
My simpler take? I’m with Twitter until the people leave. patience among the community is starting to fray, but there is still plenty of headroom for the Twitter-folks to get Twitter stabilized before any real exodus occurs. Of course, the appearance of a tool that is as simple to use (or “stupid” as I like to say), as ubiquitous (i.e. mobile-accessible), and stats to draw enough of my crowd, there could be a more urgency. I don;t see FriendFeed as the solution yet, but anyone, feel free to prove me wrong.
*Photo by “Owlhere”, from Flickr
Technorati Tags: twitter, utterz, seesmic, facebook, gmail, flickr, socialmedia,friendfeed
The picture really makes this post.
Sometimes I forget that an Internet outside of Twitter exists. Thanks for the reminder.
I’ve got my Plaxo account heavily filtered, there are alot of affiliate marketers in there spamming some of the more popular groups. Overall I do like the community.
FriendFeed is nice, its the first thing i run to when twitter goes down as it seems that a majority of its users are also Twitter users.
Jyte is my random site in the mix. You basically make claims, like “Social Media is great”, and people vote up or down on your claim. Interesting topics come up and the claims are of all shapes and colors.
Thanks for posting my reply.
i’m with you too – i definitely going to be patient. they got the bucks coming, it’s only a matter of time…(unless something hotter comes out…)