So the big internet news is that Twitter are experimenting with 280 character tweets!. Some are against this. I just don't really care. I very rarely use Twitter these days. I can appreciate that it can be a good place to keep up with breaking news, but most of that is really irrelevant to me.
I think Twitter has struggled to really make money despite hundreds of millions of users and it seems to be hyped by people in the media who love it. 'Normal' people are more likely to use Facebook. Perhaps @zappl will take over with microblogging that pays users.
I was into microblogging for a while. I used Twitter and then identi.ca came along. This was a decentralised, open source platform that was big amongst freedom-loving folk. That also experimenting with allowing longer posts, but I think the purists won out there too.
The 140 limit only exists because Twitter originally allowed you to post with an SMS message. People have adapted to that and so it seems alien to change it.
For now Steemit is my main outlet and news source. I can browse the feed to see what's interesting without having to decode cryptic abbreviations.
Steem on!
I'll buy guitar picks for Steem Dollars
Convert Steem to Bitcoin (and others coins) using Changelly.
If this post is over seven days old you can vote up one of my newer posts to reward me.
Spam comments will be flagged
I think you underestimate twitter. In some ways it is like Steem - you can dismiss it out of hand, but it's powerful in a weird way that takes time to get used to.
As far as Zappa, IDK, they have delayed their opening so many times that I have a hard time believing they can compete with a mega-successful service like Twitter. We'll see..
I appreciate Twitter has momentum, but no service is guaranteed to survive. It's largely a matter of who uses it and that can soon change. Twitter took years to make a profit, but a Steemit-based service may achieve that much quicker. They could take a cut of each post to cover their costs.
It's still early days for Steemit really. I don't know how big a team is working on zappl. There are challenges in building a site and/or app. Meanwhile Steemit can still be growing. I just wonder if/when that growth will really take off.
I'm no expert in this stuff. Just find it interesting.
Revenue model based on ads are quite difficult when the prime reason for the user is to consume and post content. That is the issue of Twitter, and was the issue for Facebook before they invented all the new ways of earning and introduced all these ad possibilities in their mobile app. The 140 characters is kinda limited, but keep in mind large part of the world is not connected to the internet, but uses voice and sms. I have no idea how many of them use Twitter, but sms frontend to internet services is still something that is very interesting. using USSD the UI for sms(like) frontend is even more simplified with text based menu structures; But USSD is not really big, but still pushed by many African telco operators for instance.
I get about 1/3 to 1/2 of my affiliate sales from twitter. Since joining steemit, and I am able to boost my own posts and those I upvote when I promote them on twitter.
I have about 130 steemers on a twitlist and so far - they are pretty weak compared to the 5500 other connections I already had. Lots of fear and self promotion unfortunately - but I have hopes for improvement.
I'm interested in this new tweet length and will be changing strategies because of it.
I would love to put all of my social media eggs in the steemit basket - but with only 30K in active users - 25% of them bots (at least) - I'm just hoping the place survives and does not implode. Cleaning out the spam is making the Alexa ranking get worse - so that worries me.
For now - I am keeping all my fb, pinterest, twitter, and linkedin balls in the air. I've been through a few failed platforms and I worry about steemit meeting a similar fate.
I've been on a few platforms that failed, but Steemit should be harder to kill as long as the witnesses run it. I just don't have time to be on lots of platforms. For now it's all just a hobby and there are other things I want to do. I really hope to see Steemit take off as it offers so much potential.
Sadly, this is my living, so I have to go where the money is. I have a lot of hope for steemit, but it is certainly a rabbit hole :)
Let's hope Zappl does!
Ive never been a fan of twitter...however @zappl seems very interesting, checking that out now thanks for sharing =)
I'm quite excited about zappl. Look forward to check it out once it's released. The only downside though is that I'd like to keep my blogging content separated from the zappl content, which mean I'll have to find a way to create a new account on the Steem blockchain.
I can't seem to get Twitter fit in but know some people really like it. Seems like in there you make announcements. It is great some make good use of it.. I am all for that. :)
Perhaps twitter are already worried/aware that a lot of the content shared resides elsewhere and are looking to grab a bit more of it by offering more text?
I like the idea of blogging here and sharing on the pre-established user base of Twitter. Zappl could well be the future outlet but it's going to have to be amazing to get near Twitter!
Hi Steve,
I'm on Twitter since 2012 or so but I hardly use it these days.
Even though, one reason why I was never really into it, was the 140 character restriction, I'm not sure if doubling it is going to make me more active on there.
I am someone who's bad at summarizing. A man of many words but I often can't see the forest through the trees on Twitter. Too many birds on there!
I don't think the doubling of the characters will change the amount of tweeters but it will at least decrease the amount of messages that you see on your timeline. So that might actually be a plus.
Since I discovered Steemit, some months ago, I found out that blogging is more my thing. Twitter feels more and more like a promotional (or should I say spam?) tool that doesn't even promote well. I mainly use it to share my Steemit posts these days ;)
Have a great day!
140 or even 280 is not enough to really express yourself. I prefer longer-form writing. I only really use Twtr to link to Steemit posts
I agree. It is too much of a challenge and therefore, I use it for exactly the same reason these days. Ciao!
I do have a Twitter and i cant even remember the last time i checked it Twitter could soon go the way of Vine and to be honest i really wouldn't care
I'm not even registered to Twitter and I'm not going to, I have everything I need here.
Steemit is better solution, No Doubt. We have to promote steemit to more people. Also there should be better mobile apps for steemit.
The Twitter days are number. Now Trump will just have an extra 40 characters to spout his spurious nonsense, urgh.
With his attention span that may be to much
You are right, 240 will not save twitter. It needs a paradigm switch such as steemit did. It is a nice service, just is getting outdated so fast.
I cant seem to get anywhere on Twitter. Not my favourite platform to use.
i have no twitter ac.
Thanks for great information share @steevc upvoted and following updates....