Twitter Stomps on 3rd Party Tool Community (Was it inevitable?)
This week it was revealed that Twitter was going to release its own url shortener. This news comes on the back of Twitter acquiring the iPhone Twitter app Tweetie (along with the company behind it). These two stories together represent Twitter essentially turning its back on the 3rd party tool community that has helped turn Twitter in to the success it is today. After all, can you imagine Twitter without mobile apps and Tweetdeck?
But was this inevitable? Should we all have been so foolish to think this was not going to happen.
I guess it depends on how you look at it. I am sure the owners of Atebits (the maker of Tweetie) have no hard feelings about it - since they are benefiting (to the tune of $ millions).
Twitter in essence made a brilliant business play. They developed a cool new micro-blogging platform and quickly released an extensive API that allowed a myriad of 3rd party developers to create a virtual industry around creating apps that interact with Twitter. Then they just sit back and wait. The community voted with their usage of the best and most wanted apps - and then Twitter can either acquire them, or build it themselves.
From a business perspective this is brilliant, from a 3rd party app developer standpoint - it sucks. There is no way around it. Hundreds of us spent many months, some years, developing software that Twitter can (and did) render irrelevant in a day.
We knew this was coming. So why did I push forward with the development of br.st?
1. Business is a risk, and developing 3rd party tools is always an even bigger risk due to its dependence on the main party's software/business. Getting out of bed in the morning is a risk. You have to take risks.
2. No one knew what direction Twitter was going to go. If they would have taken a different direction it could have benefited us.
3. There was always that possibility they could have chosen br.st to purchase or another company could have purchased br.st.
4. In the still unproven world of social media, it is anyone's guess what business software strategy will work. For example, did anyone think that Facebook would unseat the once king of the hill MySpace.
5. We could afford to take the risk. Brinkster (the parent company), is a long established solid company that could afford to take the risk of spending several months trying its hand at social media.
I feel bad for all the companies and people that based their entire existence around Twitter. My best advice is to try again, keep taking risks. Your idea could be the next Farmville app for Facebook (60+ million) users or it could go the way of Friendster.
In the end we have focused back on our core compitencies and learned several lessons. And we will keep moving forward...
- Jared (Follow me on Twitter - @JaredStauffer)
ReTweet Tug of War: Twitter vs. Power Users
The battle over the new and old way of retweeting is in full swing. The battle between Twitter and its power users (who do most of the tweeting and retweeting) is raging in tweets and in comments on articles about the new feature.
On one side we have Twitter
- New RT preserves the integrity of the original tweet.
- New RT gives credit properly.
- Organic RTs are messy and come in different flavors.
- Organic RTs can be faked and become a form of spam and a problem for well-known people.
- Organic RTs can show up multiple times in your timeline if they are RT'd by multiple people you are following.
- New RTs are trackable due to being labeled as such behind the scenes, Organic RTs are not as trackable.
On the other side we have Power Users
- New RTs do not allow us to add our own thoughts.
- New RTs cannot be edited for length.
- New RTs insert unknown people in to your timeline.
- New RTs lack credibility because they do not show the person's picture who actually posted/submitted the tweet.
- New RTs promote the highly followed Twitter users (they get the most RTs) and do nothing for the person who submitted it.
Power users say the new retweet basically nullifies the power and purpose behind the retweet altogether.
My Take
I think that Twitter may be looking at the "issue" of retweets from a one-sided perspective. On the Twitter CEO's (@Ev) blog post on the topic he stated that having the picture of the person who did the retweeting in front of the retweet has no value. I totally disagree. Showing me the picture of the person that I am following gives the retweet credibility and adds value to the retweet. It does this because I, in theory, trust the person I am following more than I trust the person they retweeted.
"The new RT, like some first generation software, looks good, is missing some key features, and needs further development."
Power Twitter user's two main complaints about the new retweet is that it takes away the ability to add comments and that it does not give them enough credit for the tweet. This can be solved by showing the person's picture that did the retweeting next to the tweet author and allowing them to add their own opinion. (see graphic below)
Now that Tweetdeck has integrated the new retweet functionality it will be interesting to see if the power users embrace it (since many of them use this tool). For br.st we have decided to hold off on implementing it for awhile. Twitter must be a little uneasy and unsure about it as well since they started asking for your feedback about it on the right sidebar of Twitter.com after you login. 
Follow me (@jaredstauffer) on Twitter, if you are not already, and get updated when I post these juicy bits.
Br.st is Giving Away 21 Wii Systems & 4 MacBook Pros
Announcing the Br.st 25 Days of Christmas Giveaway!
Last week we launched br.st. We worked hard to make sure it was the best place to experience Twitter on the net. We did not get the press coverage we anticipated. So, to get the word out we decided instead of buying advertising we would do a giveaway contest and give the money in the form of prizes to our users.
We are giving away 21 Nintendo Wii game systems every day (except Fridays) from December 1st through December 24th. AND we are giving away 4 MacBook Pros (13 inch) every Friday in December.
It is pretty simple to enter: login to br.st, click the Wii or MacBook button on the right sidebar, submit the tweet, and you are entered! You can enter each giveaway up to five (5) times per day. And you have to re-enter the contest every day for the Nintendo Wii and every week for the MacBook Pro.
Read the main giveaway page, the FAQs, and the rules. Here's to hoping you win!
Today br.st was Released
Today br.st was released. This project is near and dear to my heart. I conceived the original idea for br.st back in July as a leading URL shortener and then with my team evolved in to the killer twitter client it is today over the last several months.
Huge kudos go out to my team at @brinkster for help in designing and developing this tool: Nat, Clint, August, Jason and Marc.
Br.st truly has some unique features that we are very proud of. It is the first web based Twitter client to auto shorten URLs as you type them. It is the only Twitter client to have Text Shortening (the feature loved by all and derided by English majors). You can share images or files, see geo tags in a google map, view advanced stats on links/images/files shared. It has an awesome open conversation feature that works like no other Twitter client. AND you can email in from your mobile phone images to post and a tweet in the subject line!
See screenshots of all of these cool features here: http://br.st/features.aspx.
New ReTweet Makes Sense in the Context of Lists
The new retweet functionality on Twitter has received its share of negative reviews. What is it? Basically the old retweets would just show in your timeline, like this: RT @jaredstauffer : check out the NEW br.st Twitter client - with the user avatar and Twitter Username of the person who retweeted it. The new way is they show is like this:
The big deal with this is that now you may see people you are not following in your timeline. This is a big shock to some people and admittedly took a little getting used to on my part as well.
Why I think this is a good thing...
I think this new functionality is a good thing and only enhances your experience on Twitter for the following reasons:
1. It presents new people to you: One of the most exciting things about Twitter is finding new people to follow that you are interested in - and this feature only helps you do that.
2. It properly cites the author: I know this may not seem like a big deal, but quoting people the exact way they meant to and did say something is important. When you only have 140 characters it is hard enough to get your point across without someone else changing up your tweet.
3. It encourages the use of Lists: Lists are the coolest thing to hit Twitter in a long time and if you are not using them you are truly missing out. It someone you follow retweets someone else and you see it in your timeline you can add that person to one of your lists (in addition to or in lieu of following them).
Why it makes sense in the context of lists...
The new retweet makes sense in the context of lists because once people get it that lists remake how they read and use Twitter they won't mind seeing people they don't follow in their timeline. People will also understand that the new retweet actually enhances their experience instead of interrupting it.