Come on guys, when are people going to wake up and realise Twitter is mainly popular with older people? ¬†That young people are using social media that is more customisable, longer, more “rich”.
Nielsen have released another piece of research that confirms what’s I’ve said on many occasions (like here and here) – Twitter is limited and for old people. ¬†Don’t get me wrong – the immediacy and ease of use are great – but beyond that?
Posterous, Friend Feed and Facebook Status Updates do exactly the same thing, but from within a more innovative framework.
There’s a phenomenon I’ll term¬†The Coldplay Paradox for Twitter. ¬†Comedian/Philosopher Daniel Kitson expressed annoyance at how bezerk people go about Coldplay. ¬†He says, that in isolation, Coldplay are quite a decent band with pleasant songs. ¬†However, due to the overwhelming praise heaped on them by all and sundry, the incredible frenzy of excitement and calls of “greatest band of all time” or “the next U2″, despite inherently enjoying the band, he was forced take a step back and remark – “no they’re not that good”. ¬†Not only are they not the greatest band of all time, they’re simply good to very good at best.
Therefore one must, paradoxically, scorn Coldplay to simply retain an element of relative balance, eg: “They’re not that good, after all, their best song (Talk) was just a cover of Kraftwerk’s Computer Love“.
That’s the way I feel about Twitter. ¬†It’s pretty decent. ¬†But it’s far from “the next Facebook”, and it’s best feature is just a version of Facebook’s Status Updates.
Controvesy!
The simplicity and single mindedness (and mobility) of Twitter is its strength, non?
I feel that Facebook is a little worn out; and that, people are using fewer and fewer features (messaging, photo sharing and status updates) as its own hype cycle levels off.
Being all things to all people is very hard to sustain.
I am a massive Daniel Kitson fan p.s.