Twitter's problem is that they don't even have the basic understanding of why they're successful. In the past several years there hasn't been a single change they've implemented that has improved things. The goal I guess has always been to attract the non-user.
But when I really study things most of the stuff that people think as fundamentally part of the service was instead added by the community and initially rejected by those running Twitter like use of the pound sign.
In fact when you look at when Twitter really slowed its growth was when they turned their back on that very community, especially developers. Anyone here actually believe that their experience with Twitter wouldn't be far better if there were still independent clients?
Twitter imho would be far better served to improve the service for those using it than randomly try throwing stuff at the wall in an attempt to broaden its appeal.
I think the real core value prop of Twitter is the niche communities people can build around their interests. It's about the interest graph. I posted this in another article on the front page today, but I'll do it here also. I think they need to double down on growing communities within Twitter. It's just too hard right now.
Yes, there has been a single change that has improved things. Changing stars to hearts. The data shows that it's an improvement, presumably to engagement (as stated in the Twitter blog post).
Now, whether you consider that an improvement, is just your irrelevant (irrelevant to Twitter) opinion. I think we really need to draw a distinction between opinions that are thrown around and decisions that are backed up by data, and give benefit of the doubt.
* The “While you were away” list of tweets
* Auto showing images
* The analytics being available for everybody
* Muting accounts
* Blocking retweets (but allowing normal tweets) from specific accounts.
However I note that the Trends list on the main web interface no longer was a short summary of what each trend is. I guess whoever was doing that got let go.
But when I really study things most of the stuff that people think as fundamentally part of the service was instead added by the community and initially rejected by those running Twitter like use of the pound sign.
In fact when you look at when Twitter really slowed its growth was when they turned their back on that very community, especially developers. Anyone here actually believe that their experience with Twitter wouldn't be far better if there were still independent clients?
Twitter imho would be far better served to improve the service for those using it than randomly try throwing stuff at the wall in an attempt to broaden its appeal.