Technology journalists are often accused of blowing Twitter out of proportion, and for good reason.
Leaving the cozy tech bubble and talking to people in, you know, reality, yields plenty who view Twitter as an alien artifact. But the problem isn’t that people haven’t tried Twitter. Lots have, but then they give up. For the casual user, the social messaging service simply fails to prove its usefulness.
So I’m not surprised that Twitter plans to change up its home page next week. Co-founder Biz Stone told All Things Digital that the new page will “better show who we are.” The plan is to include a search box, information on trends and—here’s the important part—information on how Twitter can be used.
That’s crucial, because I believe the claim that most Twitter quitters don’t know what to do with the service.
As a writer, I went into Twitter with specific intentions. I wanted to interact with fellow technology journalists, along with other people in the field. I also wanted to stay on top of breaking news, which Twitter allows in an almost accidental fashion. Finally, for someone who works at home alone, Twitter provided a social network that isn’t entirely unproductive, because I made it relevant to my job.
By comparison, friends of mine drop the service after a post or two, if they ever post at all. More importantly, they don’t follow anyone because they don’t know where to begin. If Twitter needs to address anything, it’s not the home page, but those first steps after you get an account, when you’re out in the Twitterverse with only a cold list of suggested users for guidance.
It’s not clear how much Twitter intends to hold new users’ hands. Stone said the home page will let visitors try the site without signing up, but that’s not good enough. It needs to entice people and give them a sense of what to do, should they sign up. Like movies? Twitter should provide a few people to follow for news, a few for commentary and, of course, a bunch of celebrities. Want to connect with others in your area? Twitter should dig up the best sources for local news and happenings.
Once new users get a sense of how other people are using Twitter, they’ll start posting in the same manner. Maybe then, that “What are you doing?” slogan will die, for good (Via Macworld)
True – people do not know how to tweet. The postings on the site where my website is hosted shows. Some just do not get it. Others want to just send spam and when people do not reply, they unfollow.
I love Twitter, home alone and socially isolated makes me feel part of the real world.
Good idea to show how it is used. will wait for this update with interest
Sue
Twitter was a bit difficult to grasp at first & I almost gave up but I ended up googling things that fit my interests, like: storm chasers on Twitter, cats on Twitter, etc. When I found someone I wanted to follow then I went thru the people they followed to ck. for potentials for me to add. It was a time consuming deal but I stuck with it & thus I’m still loving “my” custom Twitterverse.
Hopefully the new Twitter will indeed be more user friendly.
I have always said that the thing I like most about Twitter is the fact it has very few rules and expectations. Unlike Facebook for example where I am permanantly bombarded with quizes, applications, tests, pokes etc Twitter is nice and simple.
There is enough in it for most, but if you don’t like it then no one is making you use it!
I use it for a mix of reasons that I will post about one day 🙂