I like to think of myself as an Early Adopter. Generally when a new product rolls out, I’m not afraid to jump in and give it a whirl. I’ve had the pleasure of being invited to participate in Beta tests for a variety of interesting new technologies and tools. Some great (Hootsuite), some decent (bee.tv) and some flops (Google Wave).
Observing the evolution of social media avenues has been interesting from an Early Adopter’s perspective. The newest developments with Facebook and Foursquare have helped me see that Early Adopters are not only critical to the start-up phases of new businesses – but to their ongoing development phases as well.
Facebook and Foursquare are two examples of companies that have seized on the opportunities that come from keeping Early Adopters engaged. Twitter, on the other hand, seems to be lagging behind. With the exception of a few developments on the marketer’s side of the product, Twitter is pretty much the same as it was when it debuted in 2006. Why haven’t they been more aggressive about keeping their users involved in innovation? Beats me.
As for what’s next for Twitter, I have no idea. I only know that it better happen quickly or Twitter will become wholly irrelevant. Not just to Early Adopters, but to everyone.
Twitter should really take a lesson from the likes of MySpace and AOL. In the age of technology, things don’t change yearly, quarterly, or even monthly. They evolve on a daily and even hourly basis.
I’m divided. I like the fact that Twitter sticks to one primary model and keeps it simple. But then I think about how my Twitter usage is dropping, as well as the usage of colleagues and friends. Then I go on to think how my usage of other forms of social media, such as Foursquare and Tumblr, is increasing. Then I go on to think that my boss lady might be onto something – Twitter better step up their game and get with the program.