Why do people tolerate Twitter frailties?

Twitter’s service performance levels seem to attract less criticism that most. But why is that, wonders Simon Brew?

By Simon Brew, 5 Jul 2010 at 12:24

The reasons are obvious, of course. As a marketing tool, it’s both very cheap, and speak to lots of people in one quick burst. Plus, if you come up with something that trends on the service, then it can get you the kind of coverage that you may still only dream of with a massive advertising campaign.

On a smaller scale, though, Twitter has proven important. As a simple means of communication between businesses and its customers, it breaks down some of the barriers between both sides. It allows for quick, to-the-point interaction. And it brings with it often the kind of numbers that you’d struggle to get anywhere else. That’s why everyone from Greggs The Bakers through to Government departments are keen to embrace it.

Business Twitter?

We wonder therefore if the world of Twitter is set to turn. The fact that the service is effectively bracing itself for further problems down the line doesn’t help, as it does seem that we may yet ensure more service bumps before all of the planned fixes are in place. Could, therefore, some of the long-mooted revenue models for the service follow too? Could we be looking at the rolling out of en masse advertising for instance?

Or could, perhaps, we be looking at a business Twitter? One where the company introduces a charge for corporate users ? Because as the number of ways companies turn to Twitter increases, and the business world’s reliance upon it continues to grow, then it’ll eventually, inevitably, throw further light on the moments when Twitter’s service can’t stand the proverbial heat.

Could a business-centric account, with guarantee service levels, be plausible, or is it even necessary? It might be some time before we find that out, but the power of Twitter is such that we’d wager at the very least the conversation has taken place.

To be fair, returning to the point right at the start, Twitter’s service over the past year has been far strong, and there have clearly been improvements in place that have helped keep it stable. And we suspect that for some time to come, it’ll remain the service that people are kinder to than most.

But it’s interesting times nonetheless for a service that’s grown at a quite staggering rate, and is set to continue to do so. Whether it can maintain its performance objectives or not…