If there's anything Twitter can be counted on for, lately it's been the service's instability. The situation got so bad that avid twitterers have now gotten used to loading up istwitterdown.com in one of their browser tabs while debating whether FriendFeed was going to replace Twitter. As Twitter started the long, hard process of a rebuild, the team learned how to quickly adjust the load by disabling services when needed. Staying up through the WWDC keynote was a triumph that they thought was reason enough for celebration. Don't be fooled though - they may have mastered how to shed load fast in order to stay afloat, but Twitter still has a long road ahead of them. Only now, they might have some help.
Last week, VentureBeat reported that Twitter decided to hire Pivotal Labs, a company they described as a "quiet but impressive group of big-gun, for-hire developers." Pivotal Labs have already worked with other clients like salesforce, lumosity, DiscoveryMining, Bringo, and many others.
Today marks the first day that Pivotal is on the job, and the job is rebuilding Twitter. Originally designed as a CMS (or blogging) system instead of a messaging system, Twitter doesn't just need to be tweaked - it has to be entirely rebuilt. That's a big job, but given enough time, there's no doubt that the Pivotal Labs team can help to make that happen.
The only question now is whether or not it's too late. The early adopter crowd has already found themselves obsessed with the latest shiny new object, FriendFeed. While no replacement for Twitter - that's really an apples/oranges comparison - FriendFeed enables conversations among its users, and those threads are easier to follow than the conversations taking place on Twitter.
Others are looking into Plurk, the latest take on 140-character micro-blogging, this one with timelines, the ability to sharing multimedia, and the use of cliques (groups of users).
However, the real threat lies in what's going on with Jaiku. Rumor has it that this Google acquisition hasn't been abandoned like everyone currently believes. On a recent episode of TWiT, Steve Gillmor said that he talked to Jaiku co-founder, Jyri Engeström, who is apparently very busy moving Jaiku to the Google app engine...and embedding Jaiku presence throughout everything in the Google universe.
The Jaiku blog even hints at their big plans, noting "...also, contrary to some voices out there, we DO have plans for future development..." and when discussing the Google App Engine move, "the Google App Engine enables applications to leverage powerful Google technologies and scale up to millions of users without infrastructure headaches."
Now, why would they be worrying about millions of Jaiku users if the service was being abandoned?
It seems like Jaiku is getting ready for its big reveal, and, when it does, will Twitter still have a shot? Will the Twitter community stick with Twitter even when Jaiku shows up in everything Google? Will people see Jaiku's feature set that includes things like threaded conversations and make a switch? Would you?
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"Will the Twitter community stick with Twitter even when Jaiku shows up in everything Google?"
Yes. The outages are part of the charm. They give us something to talk about.
Besides, if Twitter had "five nines" uptime, the staff of Read Write Web have absolutely nothing to do all day.
Posted by: Todd | June 16, 2008 6:56 AM
I just spent the last week evaluating both Pownce and Jaiku and was extremely happy with both applications and would gladly switch away from Twitter to either of them (posts on my blog about this).
The key issue as I see it for any potential replacement however, be it Jaiku or otherwise, is not functionality related, but rather the extent to which a user is able to preserve their network in the move. More than anything else, the threat of a loss of networking contacts seems significant enough to keep disgruntled Twitter users in the mire of Twitter outages rather than face microblogging alone (or amidst far fewer of their peers).
My experiences this last week were very similar with both Pownce and Jaiku, and seemed to highlight this issue - the toolsuites were impressive, but as soon as I attempted to start making in-roads to rebuild my contact list, I discovered the user population was so much smaller it was almost prohibitive.
Based on what I've seen Jaiku is indeed the most likely candidate out there for users after a very similar toolset. And given it's got the deep pockets and infrastructure of Google to support it you can be fairly certain that they won't have Twitter-esque outages.
Personally, I'd like to see people leave Twitter and would be only too happy to count myself in their numbers. Twitter has had more than enough chances and have let users down time and time again. I suspect there is a fairly high proportion of Twitter users that would be sympathetic to a move too - I just think they're waiting, as I am, for the final straw to emerge - or more likely catastrophe - that will finally break the dam and start the exodus.
Cheers,
Mike
Posted by: Mike Bogle | June 16, 2008 7:05 AM
Much like Mark Twain infamously said "Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated", I respectfully suggest that your thesis Twitter is becoming yesterday's story is off the mark.
Sure, there's lot waves of people abandoning Twitter despite it technical woes. A quick look at Compete.com shows Twitter traffic climbed 15% in May.
Posted by: Mark Evans | June 16, 2008 7:17 AM
Can't we find something else to talk about then Twitter? Isnt there any other web 2.0 service that needs to be discussed and perhaps bashed? All this talk about how Twitter needs to be saved, how they are doing and what not is becoming tiresome.
Posted by: htiawe | June 16, 2008 7:24 AM
Can Twitter Be Saved? No
Posted by: VYROTEK | June 16, 2008 7:28 AM
... I agree with @Mike - preserving the network is key today.
Preserving content ownership (even having some hope of doing so), is enough to keep me on Twitter vs. jaiku/Google.
I'll stick with the company where the image of birds lifting the whale makes me both frustrated and bemused at the same time.
Posted by: Janet Johnson | June 16, 2008 7:32 AM
@htiawe: i don't think that any of web2.0 'things' are having such a problems as twitter does. ;)
Posted by: eraevion | June 16, 2008 7:57 AM
I ran a poll on whether or not Twitter could/should charge people to use it (click on my name to vote). It's ever so slightly in favour of people being up for paying £12/$24/year right now. However, I now think it's less to do with the money and more to do with the underlying technology so even if you chuck a gazillion $ at it - you still need time and tent to fix it.
Posted by: Jonathan Hopkins | June 16, 2008 8:06 AM
Clearly tent there was meant to say talent - but then I guess there is a chance you'd need a tent too . . .
Posted by: Jonathan Hopkins | June 16, 2008 8:12 AM
I use Jaiku a fair bit - when I go to festivals I use it to feed to a tumblr blog, adding a mobile tv feed too.
It's had its ups and downs, but I'm more than happy to stay with it, rather than join the "cool kids" over on Twitter ;)
Still...I don't have anything to complain about on a daily basis, so that's a loss.
Posted by: Adam | June 16, 2008 8:13 AM
Twitter has reached a tipping point in adoption. Non technical / early adopter folks know what it is and are able to participate in the discussion.
Pownce and Jaiku are interesting, but have nothing compelling and, like Plurk, don't have any reason for me to invest in a migration. I happily cross post to the other services where facilities exist but as I don't have a single contact on one of them (or Facebook for that matter) who I can't reach via Twitter I can't see any reason to make a change.
Lets see what the landscape looks like in a year though... Unless Twitter fix the stability and add some neat new stuff (like being able to reply to a specific message to establish context and conversation), cliques (so I can easily message a subset of my followers or @ contacts without making the message public) and whispers (like a DM but appearing only in mine and that users view of the timeline) - then it may be a different story
Posted by: Offbeatmammal | June 16, 2008 9:01 AM
can it be saved? from itself?
well lots of cash and new team of experts and a plethora of loyal users.... what do you think?
this space has room for competition. it's not Search. it's not Video. it's not a Profile-based Social Network.
It's a global short-messaging platform. Their will be more than Twitter alone. And this won't matter to anytime soon.
It's a niche where all players can survive for quite awhile.
Would be nice to see some interop talk so we dont have the IM standards issues, but regardless... even that wont matter much in a world of data aggregation (ie. friendfeed).
Posted by: sull | June 16, 2008 9:05 AM
oooh. I like Google. Regarding Twitter, I'm cautiously pessimistic.
Posted by: rambn | June 16, 2008 9:05 AM
Sarah's theory is a possible explanation for why Jaiku would be in private beta for so long - building it up and getting ready to release it to the public with a BANG.
Twitter can certainly be saved, though. Knowing that the "calvary" has arrived will entice a lot of people to stick around, at least to find out how long it will take to stabilize.
Posted by: Mark Dykeman
|
June 16, 2008 9:30 AM
Jaiku FTW! lol
you can get invites at http://jaikuinvites.com/
Posted by: Sal | June 16, 2008 10:01 AM
No one's mentioned it so I will...
Twitter just admitted that they don't have the know-how to rebuild their own service if this story is correct. So, um... what are their engineers for then?
That said, props to Twitter for biting this particular bullet - it's hard to make the decision to do this but it's the right thing.
Posted by: rick | June 16, 2008 10:06 AM
"Now, why would they be worrying about [scaling for] millions of Jaiku users if the service was being abandoned?"
That's a very good point, and you've just caused a lightbulb to go off in my head!
Back in January I speculated that Jaiku could easily catch up with Twiter if the service was in some way integrated into Android, possibly as the default device address book (see - http://jonmul.typepad.com/blog/2008/01/think-jaiku-is.html). One of the barriers I noted back then was that "[Jaiku] would need to scaled to support such a rapid uptake of users".
Is this why the Google/Jaiku team are taking their time, making sure they've got Jaiku on a stable scalable platform I wonder?
Posted by: jonmul | June 16, 2008 1:05 PM
I love the Mark Twain quote. Can we just wait and see what Pivotal magic does. I love friendfeed, but it ain't no twitter imo. Twitter has totally changed my mindset in the last 18 months - so it rocks :)
Posted by: DC Crowley | June 16, 2008 2:10 PM
It's long been speculated that Google bought Jaiku for what could be done with the technology rather than the Jaiku service itself. Jyri and Petteri are two amazing minds so it's no surprise that Google snapped up the company to bring them into the fold.
Jaiku attracted early buzz but ever since it was put in sign-up lockdown to port it over to the Google App Engine, it has floundered and the feeling of community suffered.
One of the most attractive things about Twitter is desktop apps like Twhirl. One of the most attractive things about Jaiku is the Brightkite-like presence app for s60 Nokia phones. Whichever service combines the two will probably end up becoming the entrenched market leader.
I'm waiting to see what happens with Jaiku once Android hits the street. I don't think I'm the only one reserving judgement on the big battle.
Posted by: Shane | June 16, 2008 4:10 PM
Why does everyone think Twitter needs saving? ok so the site goes down a lot, granted but it's not like they are ignoring the situation, they understand the problems and they are working to fix them. They have just received another $15 million in funding, so we can expect a better service and maybe some more features (Twitter Groups etc...) in the not to distant future.
Posted by: John | June 17, 2008 2:39 AM
The coolest people in Ireland use Twitter and even if the site is wobbly, they will still hang out and tweet. The whole twitter tent would have to fall down on top of them before they move over to a place where there are threads of conversation because part of the charm of Twitter is listening to the same kind of chatter that you might overhear on a crowded bus. It's fun. It's chaotic at times and it's relevant when you need more than a water cooler scrolling session to pass the time.
Posted by: Bernie Goldbach | June 17, 2008 6:13 AM
I don't think anyone will actually leave Twitter, there isn't any service that combines easy usability, ubiquity, and the amount of users as Twitter does. And, I don't think anyone is going to be able to scale any better then Twitter is. Twitter right now is the best solution and until someone comes up with some revolutionary new way to do it I don't see anyone leaving Twitter for another service. (and it's pretty likely that if someone did come up with a great way to scale it, the guys at Twitter would use some of their VC funding to hire him).
Posted by: Michael | June 17, 2008 3:27 PM
I hope that Twitter will rise above the difficulties they are having right now as they have been an invaluable tool for a start-up like ours.
Speaking of which we just put up a job on JOBX with a NZ$300 bounty on it. It’s a Flash Developer position based in Christchurch with online business TV channel yourBusinessChannel. If you know a top Flash Developer who needs a new job you can refer them for the role via JOBX.CO.NZ with the NZ$300 bounty going to anyone who recommends a friend that ultimately gets the job (http://www.jobx.co.nz/it-services-jobs/developer/111829). This offer is for full members only but we welcome new registrations. It’s also the first job bounty of its kind in NZ but we’re going to be posting more.
Posted by: JOBX New Zealand | June 17, 2008 8:33 PM
Twitter is weak and needs to die.
Why people insist on using it as instant messaging is beyond me.
What does Twitter ask you ever time you log in?
Twitter has nothing, I repeat, NOTHING to do with IM.
Twitter is the poor, ginger-haired half-cousin of the status update on Facebook .. but with a smaller character allowance.
Let's use proper chat clients and micro-blogging services like Pownce, Jaiku and Plurk...
Posted by: Wayne Smallman | June 18, 2008 4:41 AM