It is no longer possible to see @reply conversation directed at people not already in your follow network. There are several issues that arise from this change, but the great sin of Twitter may be a UX problem.
Monetizing Twitter
Samir Balwani noted some of the problems microblogging companies will face in monetizing their product. Stakeholders in Twitter have wondered how Union Square Ventures will get their ROI.
Blip
IU School of Informatics grad Erik Pukinskis tweeted something interesting just now—a link to the “Twitter for music,” a new music sharing service called Blip. If I can let the channel play in the background and hear the music others feed me, this could change the way I listen to music.
A paradigm shift towards presence
Is microblogging something new? Young services like Twitter and Tumblr are seen by some as a natural evolution of personal presence on the Internet, filling a gap between blogging and social networking. Some say it is in the process of obsoleting email.
A brief history of microblogging
Microblogging—the term given to short status messages reporting on the details of one’s life—arrived on the scene as a major communication channel in March 2007 when Twitter became the hit of the South by Southwest Conference in Austin, Texas. The young company set up large screens to display content provided by conference attendees, who signed up for the service in droves. Site creator Evan Williams didn’t invent communication through text, but his company did construct a scaffolding that gave new power to short messages.
Home Tweet Home
I have been tweeting since early March, just before Twitter exploded into the mainstream Internet with a strong showing at the South by Southwest conference. Since that time, I have followed the growing interest in the service and saving hundreds of links that I will try to process over the course of the next week. Over the next week, BlogSchmog will explore different aspects of Twitter based on eight months of use.