The Twitter phenomenon has clearly been established. Everyone and their mother (especially moms) have adopted the new social networking trend. It is yet to be determined whether Twitter is a flash in the pan and doomed to be the next online version of pogs. Beyond the hype, Twitter undoubtedly brings something new to the table of Social Media. Their simplistic design offers companies an incredible way to interact with customers, share content and ideas while networking with other people and companies.
What baffles me about Twitter is the immense amount of success despite the shortcomings of their site. The technical difficulties page, known as the “fail wale”, is now a common joke among Twitter users. Images and graphics on the site routinely do not load. Searches commonly end with glitches. Their interface is buggy and the navigation isn’t all that logical. Despite all this, Twitter flourishes.
I am amazed at what Twitter has done because of the amount of competition which exists. To grab the attention of people on the internet, I always assumed that your website and product had to be flawless. Why would someone want to use your site if they ran into errors? Twitter has been able to succeed despite that the site cannot keep up with the growth. Much of their success is a reflection upon their stellar marketing and the ability to properly execute a good idea. I am sure much of this was out of their control.
I would argue that most of their success is due to Twitter’s ability to “create the party”. People want to come to a party if their friends are there. People flock to Twitter because they can interact with friends and celebrities. This is an important lesson for any type of site which offers interaction among its users.
