Putting Twitter in a Headlock

14 Comments for this entry

• 

  Todd Carpenter
  March 9th, 2009 on 7:55 am

  I don’t like the list either, but felt it should be said that MC Hammer is as much of a geek as anyone else. I found his blog over four years ago. Unlike many celebs, it’s actually him making tweets. If twitter is going to feature people, he’s one that should be featured.
• 

  Lewis Green
  March 9th, 2009 on 8:00 am

  Lani,

  I have a different suggestion. Why not create categories of users that don’t change daily–an administrative nightmare–but one that changes monthly or more. Categories can include celebrities, C-level executives, marketers, students, moms, dads and so on? Perhaps, each month you add to the lists a few of the fastest-growing Tweeters and some of our newest Tweeters.
• 

  Lani Rosales
  March 9th, 2009 on 8:14 am

  Todd, while it is true that MC Hammer is among the few celebrities who aren’t paying $10 an hour for a lackey to post “their thoughts,” this article isn’t about him specifically. My point is that endorsing and promoting celebrities OVER the users that BUILT UP the Twitter system craps on the early adopters. I maintain my assertion that there is a better way to highlight users, be they a few legit celebrities peppered in with rapidly rising users, new users or any other category.

  Lewis, we’re on the same page and your suggestions are awesome. You’re right, it could be an administrative nightmare, but it could also be automated. Why not create an entry-level position within Twitter that is “User Promotions” and focus on growing the community of users? I love your additional suggestions, especially about categorizing users, how easy would that be instead of touting celebs over traditional users that continue to grow the space?
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  Alice Summar Womack
  March 9th, 2009 on 8:14 am

  The suggested users list should actually have daily updates. Al Gore hasn’t looked like that picture for 15 years.
• 

  Lani Rosales
  March 9th, 2009 on 8:27 am

  Alice, omg no joke!
• 

  Loki- SocialGumbo
  March 9th, 2009 on 8:44 am

  I think that the idea of a static list is outdated. Now if they had put a small quiz about your interests and dynamically generated a list that would be one thing. This approach is a step backwards for Stone and Co.
• 

  Jessica
  March 9th, 2009 on 8:44 am

  Slightly different subject but still on the same thread…I think it’s odd that as of three days ago I began to follow Demi Moore on Twitter. Coincidentally (I don’t think so), she is showing up on my FB as a sponsor “Demi Moore is now on FB. Become a fan to follow her….”? I do have the #fb application installed, but I follow other celebrities and their names are not showing up in my FB ad column.
• 

  Lani Rosales
  March 9th, 2009 on 8:50 am

  Loki, you’re speaking my language!

  Jessica, it sounds like a coincidence, but who knows? It could be a targeted campaign or you happened to follow on the same week of her social media blitz?
• 

  Paul Schmitz
  March 9th, 2009 on 10:35 am

  When I first saw that list, I thought to myself, “Why?” They might as well put up another useful list like those who have never been retweeted. BUT, a list with the most Retweets sounds fantastic! They have something that people want to hear if they’re getting retweeted. Basic economics. Demand and supply. @paschmitz
• 

  Lani Rosales
  March 9th, 2009 on 11:12 am

  Paul, you’re on the same wavelength… really anything besides arbitrary butt kissing endorsement to those who thrive on it, expect it and sometimes don’t deserve it would suffice… this current list does the community no good.
• 

  JuniorDimas
  March 9th, 2009 on 12:55 pm

  I think this is a natural commercial rooting of the Twitter scene. Although it started slowly, coverage of Twitter has recently exploded (read ‘exploited’) since Twitter is a leading edge of communication. It’s a real time opt-in status of a cloud of people: no more having to send mass text messages to find out “What’s going on for happy hour today?” (as an example, of course;) )

  And with the knighting of the Next Big Thing come the growing pains for those of us who are on it, the latency problems (oh boy), downtime, and what we feel is the equivalent of ‘selling out’ to MC Hammer and John McCain.

  However, I’ve actually just traveled via this page just once (when you first sign up and import your GMail address book) and think that it’s not the normal flow of people’s Twitter experience. People will find their niche and unsubscribe from these Twitter-sponsored faces as they deem necessary.

  Twitter: where keeping it real is expected.
• 

  bekahchristie
  March 9th, 2009 on 5:04 pm

  Lani – I completely agree with you! Our society is already obsessively focused on celebs and other unedifying subjects…UGH

  Why not have suggested users that are actually doing something to better our social community? Love the automated idea, even an intern could keep something like that going!

  Bekah
  - keep on tweetin’ on
• 

  Lani Rosales
  March 10th, 2009 on 8:03 am

  JuniorDimas, you really should start a blog. Seriously, enough lazy, this is good stuff!

  BekahChristie, I’ve been thinking about it some more and feel that it wouldn’t even take an intern- if users selected a category for themselves according to profession or interest, a single coder can create a script that shows users in said category according to any number of variables- newest, most retweeted, rising stars, etc. Thoughts?
• 

  bekahchristie
  March 10th, 2009 on 4:54 pm

  Yea I think some backend would do the trick. I’m assuming that’s how other sites are set up…like whoshouldifollow.com and mrtweet.com right?

  Bekah
  - keep on tweetin’ on

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