The Problem With Twitter
I really want to love Twitter, I do. The simplicity of the product is what made it so appealing in the beginning. The product didn’t have all the features that Facebook did: Photos, Groups, Applications, Events, etc. It was just you and a box to enter 140 characters. So simple. So beautiful.
You could follow people and get their updates directly in the feed or even on your phone. In theory it was great but what happened is that I began to dilute my feed. I followed people when I met them at events. I followed celebrities because of some instant recognition or connection to the name.
Now my feed has become boring. I could unfollow people who don’t interest me, but there’s social pressure to keep connected with those who I personally know and follow me back. I could go recreate lists of people who interest me but that feature is not the most user friendly.
So what do I do? Today I find myself browsing Facebook, Reddit, ProductHunt, Instagram, GrowthHackers, and reading newsletters in my inbox. Twitter on the other hand is work. It’s where I broadcast out posts like this one but that’s about it.
Facebook’s solution was an automated algorithm that chooses what content I’ll be most interested in. While not perfect it does a fairly good job at ensuring interesting content shows up. In the case of Reddit, ProductHunt, and GrowthHackers, I rely on the communities to surface interesting information.
On Twitter, I turn to a firehose of information some of which is interesting, much of which is not. Am I the only one who finds my Twitter feed to be decreasingly interesting?