I am not an “expert on all things web 2.0.” Nor am I a “social media expert.” Heck, I’m not even a “social media enthusiast.” I’m just a regular person who finds value in various things on the internet. One of them is Twitter. I fear it could fail because of certain things that bug me about the Twitter phenomenon. When I say they might fail I mean that users may stop using it, not because it doesn’t have a business model (although, that’s probably a problem as well).
There’s always going to be someone who will try to duplicate what Twitter did in a new way. Plurk tried, and last I checked they had quite a community but I don’t know anyone who actually uses it (at least not anymore). Even if something better comes along, that doesn’t mean users are going to jump ship. They’ve already invested time in Twitter. It will be hard to leave. How else do you explain how MySpace is still popular? I’m betting it’s because that’s where the cool kids were, then it became popular and that’s where people have set up homes. Twitter is the same way. That could change though. If you use Twitter you might have noticed that as each month passes the amount of spam followers seems to increase. Some days these spam bots follow you as soon as you post an update. Twitter needs to do something about this problem if they want to continue to grow. MySpace used to have the same problem. It has been several months since I deleted my MySpace profile so I don’t know if the problem is still as rampant as it once was. The point is, it may eventually drive users away, or make the move easier when something bigger and better does come along.
Another problem I have with Twitter is now that it’s popular it’s being inundated with another type of spam. The new spam are not pre-programmed robots, though one could argue differently when you look at their updates. I’m talking about the so-called social media experts, mavens, and enthusiasts. These are the people who do nothing but post links to their site/product/service and retweet other more famous people. They bring almost no value to Twitter and actually, in my opinion, lower people’s opinions about social media and what it can and should be. Social Media Experts are to today as SEO Experts were to a few years ago. Yeah, there might be a few people who honestly “get” it and can actually help you, but most are trying to peddle their goods and services that you don’t need. Just because you’re on LinkedIn, Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter doesn’t mean you’re an expert. It means you use the internet. In fact, I’m betting there are 14 year olds that know more about social media than you. I’ve actually had many of these human spammers follow me then when I don’t follow them after a day or so they quit following me. 7 times out of 10 they are back following me the next day. Is that because my updates are so great? Not at all. It’s because they follow anyone and everyone to try to pump themselves up more.
Along with the so-called experts, you have real companies on Twitter. Some of the accounts are good. There are some that try to help customers out and provide valuable information. There are also some that will jump all over you because they are watching if anyone says something bad about their company or product. Then you have something else entirely. I think everyone remembers the Skittles mistake. Skittles decided to make Skittles.com pull in anything anyone was saying about Skittles from Twitter and display it. Of course obscenities were rampant once it launched. It was funny for a few minutes, then it got old. It also made Skittles abandon Twitter for their homepage to Youtube. I bet they will actually think before they implement something like that in the future.
The last thing that bugs me and might not cause Twitter to fail, but it’s not helping. These are users that use Twitter as a lifestream. Now, it is your account and I can’t tell you how to use it because Twitter is what you make of it, but do you really need to use it as a lifestream? Twitter wasn’t meant to be a lifestream. That’s what Friendfeed and other applications are for. I do not need to know where you are every 5 minutes, so stop posting your brightkite status. I also don’t need to know every time you’re listening to a new song, so please don’t update me with your blip.fm status. It’s cool if you want to post these things every once in a while, such as when you find a great new song or if you need other Twitter users to know where you are for a meetup or if you have a new blog post, but when that’s all your updates are then chances are you won’t have many followers for long.
To leave on a more positive note I’ll tell you one thing that I love since Twitter hit the mainstream. Celebrities. I’m not talking about Britney Spears or Barack Obama and I’m not talking about celebrity gossip. I’m talking about the celebrities that are actually fun to follow on Twitter. People like Michael Ian Black, Rob Corddry, Jimmy Fallon, ?uestlove (of The Roots), Demitri Martin, etc. are great because their real life personalities transform so well onto Twitter. Even Shaq has some of the funniest updates on Twitter.
Obligatory Posse Cut
I’ve been wanting to write a post for a couple days but didn’t really know what to write about. Luckily, Plinky has plenty of prompts. There was one in particular that struck my fancy: If you were a famous rapper, who would be in your posse? If I’m gonna have a posse, I’m gonna go all out.
Posse Man #1: The Body Guard – I can think of only one person for such a role. He’s one of the meanest, and biggest, guys to ever walk the earth. I’m talking about Mr. Andre the Giant. This large brute dominated WWF wrestling (when it was still WWF) and even thrilled millions of kids in the wonderful movie The Princess Bride. No one would mess with Andre.
Posse Men #2 and #3: The Credibility Men – If I’m going to have a posse, I’m going to need some credibility so all the player haters know I’m fo’ real. I can think of 2 people in the hip hop world that would be perfect sponsors, Jay-Z and Russell Simmons. Jay-Z is one of the biggest rap stars in history. As he says, he’s not a business man, he’s a business, man! How would you not want him in your posse. Plus with him in the posse that automatically inducts Beyonce. As for Russell Simmons, he made hip hop what it is today. He marketed hip hop to the mainstream that wasn’t ready for it. He built hip hop’s most successful record label, Def Jam, from the ground up. You have to have respect for that.
Posse Men #4, #5, #6, and #7: The party guys – The 4-7 guys in my posse are the ones that every dude wants to hang out with. They are the ones you won’t to go out and get wasted with and the ones that will make you laugh non-stop. I’m talking about Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill, Jason Segel, and Seth Rogen.
Posse Man #8: The Tech Guy – I need someone to make sure I have all the hottest technology. Bill Gates? Hell no! I want good technology. Steve Jobs, come on down! You are now part of my posse. I’ll have the latest Apple gadget before anyone else with Steve Jobs in my posse. Envy me.
Posse Man #9: The Prez – Last, but certainly not least, in my posse would be President Obama. He’s smart, charismatic, the leader of the military, and has the Secret Service in case Andre the Giant has to hit the bathroom or needs a nap. He’s the ultimate posse man to have. Anything you need or want, he can get it. Plus he’s got that whole Air Force one thing going for him.
So there you have it, there’s my posse. I think I covered all the bases pretty well. I don’t think I could go wrong with this posse. Anyone know how to get in contact with them all and inform them they are now in my posse? Who would be in your posse?
In case you were wondering where the title of the post came from, it comes from the outstanding song of the same title by Extended Famm from their album Happy Fuck You Songs
Microsoft Just Doesn’t Get It
John Gruber at Daring Fireball recently posted a quote from Steve Ballmer of Microsoft.
What Ballmer doesn’t understand is that is not the only reason people buy Apple products. If you could (legally) buy any PC and run OSX on it flawlessly for the same price as a PC with Windows, I’d be willing to be that Microsoft would see Windows’ OS share drop dramatically. People aren’t buying Apple products for the logo. They aren’t spending more money on hardware. They are spending more money on a great OS, great support from the manufacturer, and an all-around great computing experience. That is what Microsoft doesn’t get.
All Moved
After 2 long days of moving and unpacking I’m finally done. It was a tiring ordeal, but it could have been worse. It feels good to be done and have everything set up the way I want. My family was a huge help and I’m very grateful for all they did. Also, my sister Lisa was extremely nice for buying me things for my living room and bathroom. The things she bought look great! I’m just glad it’s all over. Yesterday was my recoup day (and AT&T U-Verse install day) so it’s back at work for me today. For any of my friends that want to know where my new place is, hit me up and I’ll send you the address.
What Bugs Me About Twitter
I am not an “expert on all things web 2.0.” Nor am I a “social media expert.” Heck, I’m not even a “social media enthusiast.” I’m just a regular person who finds value in various things on the internet. One of them is Twitter. I fear it could fail because of certain things that bug me about the Twitter phenomenon. When I say they might fail I mean that users may stop using it, not because it doesn’t have a business model (although, that’s probably a problem as well).
There’s always going to be someone who will try to duplicate what Twitter did in a new way. Plurk tried, and last I checked they had quite a community but I don’t know anyone who actually uses it (at least not anymore). Even if something better comes along, that doesn’t mean users are going to jump ship. They’ve already invested time in Twitter. It will be hard to leave. How else do you explain how MySpace is still popular? I’m betting it’s because that’s where the cool kids were, then it became popular and that’s where people have set up homes. Twitter is the same way. That could change though. If you use Twitter you might have noticed that as each month passes the amount of spam followers seems to increase. Some days these spam bots follow you as soon as you post an update. Twitter needs to do something about this problem if they want to continue to grow. MySpace used to have the same problem. It has been several months since I deleted my MySpace profile so I don’t know if the problem is still as rampant as it once was. The point is, it may eventually drive users away, or make the move easier when something bigger and better does come along.
Another problem I have with Twitter is now that it’s popular it’s being inundated with another type of spam. The new spam are not pre-programmed robots, though one could argue differently when you look at their updates. I’m talking about the so-called social media experts, mavens, and enthusiasts. These are the people who do nothing but post links to their site/product/service and retweet other more famous people. They bring almost no value to Twitter and actually, in my opinion, lower people’s opinions about social media and what it can and should be. Social Media Experts are to today as SEO Experts were to a few years ago. Yeah, there might be a few people who honestly “get” it and can actually help you, but most are trying to peddle their goods and services that you don’t need. Just because you’re on LinkedIn, Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter doesn’t mean you’re an expert. It means you use the internet. In fact, I’m betting there are 14 year olds that know more about social media than you. I’ve actually had many of these human spammers follow me then when I don’t follow them after a day or so they quit following me. 7 times out of 10 they are back following me the next day. Is that because my updates are so great? Not at all. It’s because they follow anyone and everyone to try to pump themselves up more.
Along with the so-called experts, you have real companies on Twitter. Some of the accounts are good. There are some that try to help customers out and provide valuable information. There are also some that will jump all over you because they are watching if anyone says something bad about their company or product. Then you have something else entirely. I think everyone remembers the Skittles mistake. Skittles decided to make Skittles.com pull in anything anyone was saying about Skittles from Twitter and display it. Of course obscenities were rampant once it launched. It was funny for a few minutes, then it got old. It also made Skittles abandon Twitter for their homepage to Youtube. I bet they will actually think before they implement something like that in the future.
The last thing that bugs me and might not cause Twitter to fail, but it’s not helping. These are users that use Twitter as a lifestream. Now, it is your account and I can’t tell you how to use it because Twitter is what you make of it, but do you really need to use it as a lifestream? Twitter wasn’t meant to be a lifestream. That’s what Friendfeed and other applications are for. I do not need to know where you are every 5 minutes, so stop posting your brightkite status. I also don’t need to know every time you’re listening to a new song, so please don’t update me with your blip.fm status. It’s cool if you want to post these things every once in a while, such as when you find a great new song or if you need other Twitter users to know where you are for a meetup or if you have a new blog post, but when that’s all your updates are then chances are you won’t have many followers for long.
To leave on a more positive note I’ll tell you one thing that I love since Twitter hit the mainstream. Celebrities. I’m not talking about Britney Spears or Barack Obama and I’m not talking about celebrity gossip. I’m talking about the celebrities that are actually fun to follow on Twitter. People like Michael Ian Black, Rob Corddry, Jimmy Fallon, ?uestlove (of The Roots), Demitri Martin, etc. are great because their real life personalities transform so well onto Twitter. Even Shaq has some of the funniest updates on Twitter.
Chris Cornell – Scream
Chris Cornell has a unique voice. There is no other singer that sounds like him and he sounded great with both Soundgarden and Audioslave. I did wonder about the sound of the music that him and Timbaland would come up with. I was scared that it would be a rock-hop fusion that we heard so often in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. But it’s not rock. It’s not hip hop. The tracks on the album are funky and electric with a hint of pop. It’s something completely different from what Cornell and Timbaland usually do. Cornell’s voice over Timbaland’s production fits a lot better than anyone would have thought. This simple fact shows how great singer Cornell is and how talented of a producer Timbaland is. If you are looking for something unique, with great production and the unmistakable soulful voice of Chris Cornell, I suggest you purchase his album Scream.