OtisNotes

I heard a piece the other day on NPR about Twitter. They were trying to understand and explain what Twitter was. They had clips from all kinds of Twitter users explaining it. I hear a lot of people saying they have no idea what Twitter is, and I'm frankly amazed that a service with such a convoluted purpose can be so popular.

I think Twitter needs to work on its purpose and branding so people can understand it better! Do people ask what Google is about? Facebook? No - a quick visit to the homepage of either site and you will get it.

Twitter is an information filter. Plain and simple. Google is an information filter too, but Twitter is a bit different in that you consume information from friends or interesting people that you follow. If you need information about what news people think are interesting - Twitter is a great place. Twitter really shines around specific news events - whether is a plane landing in the Hudson, or discussing a talk at a conference as it happens. If you want the pulse of what the people you follow think is interesting about an event, there is nothing like Twitter out there.

Many people who misunderstand Twitter say that they could care less about what their friends are doing at all random hours. And I agree! Tweets about random nonsense like "playing with my kitty" are useless, and Twitter should work on getting rid of those. Facebook is making progress there by changing the question they pose from "What are you doing right now?" to "What's on your mind?". That will totally change the answers, and I think for the better. Being able to group your friends and see updates from each group would be sweet too - anyone know why Twitter is stalling on that feature?

You can follow my terribly interesting updates here.



Here is the Daily Show piece Twitter.