Now that the holiday season has almost passed, there is no better time to look forward to 2010 and make some predictions and goals. Twitter is always seeming to improve as a platform, but there are still some changes that the service can make to drastically improve the user experience of nearly all of the users.
Here are the five biggest ways Twitter can improve their service in 2010.
Streamline the retweet system.
The old-style vs. new-style debate has to stop: Twitter should come up with a way to make everyone happy with retweets in 2010. It could mean reverting back to the old system, going all out with the new system, or finding a good happy medium (while merging the two retweet ways together).
A recent Mashable poll showed that 64% prefer old-style retweets to new ones, so the question becomes, why change something that isn’t broken? Retweets are such a huge part of the Twitter experience, and this issue should be at the top of Twitter’s changes or adjustments as we head into 2010.
Free up the dead accounts and expand the username pool.
As more and more people join up on the service, the available number of usernames will continue to shrink. Unfortunately, many Twitter usernames are taken by spammers or automated programs, limiting the choices available to new members.
As noted in an earlier post, the username is very important to the overall Twitter experience. Twitter should find a way to identify the dead, inactive or spam accounts and free up the usernames/handles for others to select.
Rethink the “Twitter jail” system.
A Twitter user who ends up in “Twitter jail” must tweet over 100+ times per hour, or hit a daily quota of 1,000 tweets. One thing is for certain: that is a lot of tweeting. (Update: Some users have experienced Twitter jail updating under 100 times/hour.)
For repeat high-velocity Twitter jail offenders, Twitter should increase time penalties with each successive violation. More users will be joining up with Twitter, and the last thing that the service needs is more noise (tweets with low or no value). If Twitter raises the penalties, this will likely discourage heavy-volume tweeters from sharing excessive updates.
Twitter should differentiate users who get retweeted often from those who are barely retweeted to allow for variable tweet limits. In other words, users who need the tweets to reply back and share new content should be able to do so without being penalized under the “Twitter jail” system.
Make a “Mutual Follows” option available to users so everyone can see who they are connected with.
Twitter would greatly benefit from a “Mutual Follows” page where a user could see which Twitter users he/she has in common with another. Similar to the Facebook option under their friend request system, it would make it easier to identify real Twitter users with common follows.
This would also help to better identify spam accounts. If spammers are following each other to game their following/follower number, one would easily be able to realize this. In addition, Twitter would benefit by being able to identify and take out groups of spammers at a time.
Expand the “Verified Account” system to more accounts in an attempt to limit impersonation and rumors.
Now that Twitter is being indexed by Google and Bing, the services’ use for breaking news will only continue to rise. Twitter should reach out to news sources and attempt to verify them all to stop impersonation and false information/rumors being spread.
In addition, Twitter should contact some of the elite Twitter users (judged by retweets and a list number) and offer a verified account badge to those users as well. Well-respected and widely-recognized Twitter users should be acknowledged just as much as the authoritative news services and sources that enhance the Twitter experience.
Do you have any thoughts on how Twitter could improve in 2010? Let me know in the comments.
5 Biggest Ways Twitter Can Improve In 2010
Now that the holiday season has almost passed, there is no better time to look forward to 2010 and make some predictions and goals. Twitter is always seeming to improve as a platform, but there are still some changes that the service can make to drastically improve the user experience of nearly all of the users.
Here are the five biggest ways Twitter can improve their service in 2010.
The old-style vs. new-style debate has to stop: Twitter should come up with a way to make everyone happy with retweets in 2010. It could mean reverting back to the old system, going all out with the new system, or finding a good happy medium (while merging the two retweet ways together).
A recent Mashable poll showed that 64% prefer old-style retweets to new ones, so the question becomes, why change something that isn’t broken? Retweets are such a huge part of the Twitter experience, and this issue should be at the top of Twitter’s changes or adjustments as we head into 2010.
As more and more people join up on the service, the available number of usernames will continue to shrink. Unfortunately, many Twitter usernames are taken by spammers or automated programs, limiting the choices available to new members.
As noted in an earlier post, the username is very important to the overall Twitter experience. Twitter should find a way to identify the dead, inactive or spam accounts and free up the usernames/handles for others to select.
A Twitter user who ends up in “Twitter jail” must tweet over 100+ times per hour, or hit a daily quota of 1,000 tweets. One thing is for certain: that is a lot of tweeting. (Update: Some users have experienced Twitter jail updating under 100 times/hour.)
For repeat high-velocity Twitter jail offenders, Twitter should increase time penalties with each successive violation. More users will be joining up with Twitter, and the last thing that the service needs is more noise (tweets with low or no value). If Twitter raises the penalties, this will likely discourage heavy-volume tweeters from sharing excessive updates.
Twitter should differentiate users who get retweeted often from those who are barely retweeted to allow for variable tweet limits. In other words, users who need the tweets to reply back and share new content should be able to do so without being penalized under the “Twitter jail” system.
Twitter would greatly benefit from a “Mutual Follows” page where a user could see which Twitter users he/she has in common with another. Similar to the Facebook option under their friend request system, it would make it easier to identify real Twitter users with common follows.
This would also help to better identify spam accounts. If spammers are following each other to game their following/follower number, one would easily be able to realize this. In addition, Twitter would benefit by being able to identify and take out groups of spammers at a time.
Now that Twitter is being indexed by Google and Bing, the services’ use for breaking news will only continue to rise. Twitter should reach out to news sources and attempt to verify them all to stop impersonation and false information/rumors being spread.
In addition, Twitter should contact some of the elite Twitter users (judged by retweets and a list number) and offer a verified account badge to those users as well. Well-respected and widely-recognized Twitter users should be acknowledged just as much as the authoritative news services and sources that enhance the Twitter experience.
Do you have any thoughts on how Twitter could improve in 2010? Let me know in the comments.