Interesting. Tonight I had a little tiny convo on Twitter with Fred Wilson. He was super kind and wanted to change my Twitter situation, where I felt, "no one on Twitter talks to me" I really appreciated his action to make me feel like part of the community. There is nothing better than a person who reaches out. Thank you Fred : - )
Still, as the convo went on, I brought up the truth that Twitter is different for people who were in it from the beginning or near beginning because they have a whole different experience then the people like me, who came in six years later. The early people have no idea how it is now. Well, to them it's super awesome and cool, and they get lots of interaction. They have hundreds of thousands of followers, of course they are going to get "talk action" but the people like me, well, we struggle to get anyone to talk to us, or follow us. Personally, I've been locked into "No follow Prison" for 10 months now. And I wonder, why the hell I waste time on it.
One of the problems is the use of API. Now these interfaces are a double edged sword. It's great in one way, yet it actually causes the problem of "no human interaction" in the other way. For example, one day I tweeted, "Is anyone actually on Twitter right now? Or are all these posts sent through API?" Not one comment did I get. I felt lonely. I felt like Twitter was some sort of weird posting site in a grocery store, where I should rip off the phone number tag and call the poster if I wanted what they offer, or at the least talk to them.
Another Twitter person agreed with me. He felt Twitter users have their circles and only talk to those people. Maybe so, or maybe not, the fact is, there is a big problem looming for Twitter and other social networks, but can they see it?
My beloved WhisperApp
Oh, how I love Whisper. Why? Many people in the technology industry, VC's and Angels, shrug it off as something that has come before and will fade away. Many people in the industry think anonymous apps are immature. They seem to toss Apps like Whisper to the side as if it's going to die and it's worthless and of course "They are too intelligent to waste time on it" Hmmmm
Whisper has something all the other social networks ought to pay attention to. They have harnessed the deep social problem for so many millions of people. They have given us, someone to talk to. The human desire to talk to other humans, is worth more than a bank of Twitter followers. It's worth more than, well, pretty much breathing. Us humans, we need each other, and we love talking to each other. So if your social network makes it hard for people to talk to each other, well, what do you think will happen to you and it?
My Hard Day
Today was a really hard day for me. My twin brother was found dead in March and today for no reason, I was consumed with sadness. My body was taken over by some sort of force of depression. I couldn't achieve anything today. All I accomplished was wandering around my house. I even had thoughts of "fuck it" what's the point of building a startup? If I had put a call out to my Whisper friends, I know what I would have gotten. They would have come to my side and stood with me through this pain. Supported me. Been there for me. Yeah, I've done it in the past with Whisper. These are real people who care. You might think it's a bunch of sex driven post, but hey, who ever said sex was bad? The reality is these people on Whisper may predominantly post about sex, but they are humans who will talk, they're not just about sex.
I've been on Twitter almost two years and Whisper around six months. I have so much human connection on Whisper, and almost none on Twitter. Hmmm Math, seems to make sense now.
I have a bank of Whisper friends outside of Whisper. They are not anonymous any longer, they are people like you and me. They are my friends. I am sure Twitter is this way to people. I'm positive that Twitter users are humans with hearts too, but I haven't been able to make the connections like I have on Whisper. I do have one Twitter friend whom I will always love dearly, Eddie the eyeball, I call him. He is a person who would support me in any kind of crisis. But no one else on Twitter. I can't make the human connection on Twitter like I can on Whisper.
That's it ~ The Human Connection
If your social network can't achieve that, surely you will leave it. I hang onto Twitter, because, I'm not sure why. I think I want to find the wonderfulness that I hear others talk about. I keep wanting to bask in it's pleasure that I hear others talk about, yet it's still so far away from me. And possible, it will never come.
Hey Fred, I hope you can change it for me, I'd love to see the world of Twitter that others talk about. Truly, I'm chatty, I don't have a problem with participation. ; - ) I love people, and I love to talk.
Happy 4th Of July everyone! Please have a great week, weekend, and be safe ~
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