Search Engine Marketing Blog: piloSEO

Now I still like Twitter and think it has great potential. It has the largest user base among all of the micro blogging platforms. That being said I recently began spending more time at Plurk than at Twitter. While they are similar IMO Plurk offers more of what I am looking for in a micro blogging platform. Is it because Twitter has become more popular and more spammy? Is it due to all of the downtime that Twitter has encountered? YES.

Twitter is not only more unstable, it is also much more spammy

I have written about Twitter being unstable and unavailable before, as have others. It has been better lately but for a while it was almost impossible to access Twitter. This instability is one reason I have been less active at Twitter. Another reason Twitter has been less intriguing to me has been the proliferation of spam there. I understand that the more popular something becomes the more ripe it is for spam. This is not Twitter’s fault. I understand that spammers are going to latch on to the most popular platforms. That being said if I can find a similar service that is less spammy I will spend more time at the spam free service. That’s why I spend a lot more time at Plurk now.

Plurk is exactly what Twitter was…for me

When I first joined Twitter it was about engagement and furthering a conversation. Now it seems like it is about pushing an agenda. I used to enjoy logging into Twitter to engage with the people I was following and my followers. Now it seems like everyone there is only interested in talking about themselves and pushing their agenda. Plurk, on the other hand, is more of a conversation. Even if my friends are trying to advance their agenda they are still willing to engage in a conversation about it. Not just pushing another story. I still think their is room for both services but Twitter needs to work on cleaning up the spam and becoming more stable or I (and others) will continue to move to other platforms like Plurk and Friend Feed.

Popularity: 7% [?]

So, for the third day in a row Twitter has taken a crap on me. What’s the deal here. I understand that sites go down on occasion but three days in a row is freaking ridiculous. I have just recently started becoming more active in Twitter but this significant down time is really starting to turn me off.

I like Twitter but my fondness is fading

And it has nothing to do with Twitter when it is actually working. My frustration is with the fact that it is down far too often. One of the reasons I enjoy it is because of the immediate and constant communication. That all goes out the window when it goes down every day in the middle of the afternoon. If Twitter wants to expand beyond its current user base these down time issues need to be fixed because mainstream users will not stick around at a micro-blogging service that is not accessible half of the day.

Popularity: 30% [?]

I have found Twitter to be both useful and frustrating at times. In many cases people use it to relay meaningless information and it can be annoying to read about the tedious minutes of a persons day. That being said there are some fantastic uses for it as well. I followed the Super Bowl Scorecard and found it to be a great way to keep up with the Super Bowl Ads and how each advertiser leveraged search into their overall campaign. I also recently discovered another feed that harnesses the real power of the Twitter system.

Getting stuck in traffic SUCKS

After struggling with my commute home last night and my trip into the city this morning I found a great new feature in Twitter. At least it is new to me and I wish I would have found it sooner as it would have saved me some frustration. Twitter now provides a Commuter Feed. This feed allows users to follow commuters in their metro area as well as provide updates when they encounter delays. This is the type of thing that Twitter is perfectly designed for. It gives users up to date traffic information and allows them to plan their trip into work or wherever they need to go. I have just signed up for it and am very interested to see how it works. If it can help me avoid some of the frustration I have experienced in the past day or two I will be very happy with it.

Give it a try

If you have not signed up for it you may want to try it out. If you have been taking advantage of the Commuter Feed I am interested in hearing about your findings, good or bad. Let me know how well it works. I will continue following it to see how helpful it is. This is a wonderful use of the Twitter system and I would love to see these types of applications expand as Twitter grows.

Popularity: 28% [?]