Yeah, that’s right, a deadbeat dad. Sometimes it’s there for you. Sometimes it’s not. And mostly, you just can’t count on it.
This week in particular Twitter was spectacular breaking the news over the earthquake in China. Then Wednesday and Thursday happened. The last tweet I got on GTalk was at 3:20 PM Thursday. Twhirl’s a big fat blank that doesn’t even log in. Twitter for iPhone, the same. Twitterfone couldn’t post any of the tweets I recorded at 5 pm EDT yesterday. And by mid-afternoon Wednesday and Thursday, the Twitter website was telling me “Twitter is pretty stressed right now” and refusing to give me access to replies.
I’ve stayed on the sidelines through the entire discussion by Dave Winer and others about decentralizing Twitter, and making it an open standard. Frankly it’s none of my business. Surely Evan Williams and his board realize, however, that the magic of Twitter is the community, and not the technology. It could be easily duplicated, and likely more reliably.
Best to catch up on those alimony payments, and make sure you don’t get behind again. Otherwise the judge (a.k.a. the user base) is going to find a way to penalize you.
Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry maker Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I don't see anywhere near the problems you seem to, perhaps the time difference means it's less stressed during GMT hours than USA hours?
I see the worst problems by mid-afternoon, Ian. But right now, I can't log in via any of the clients I have. They all say that my limit has been exceeded.
I've been having the same problems you have. So disappointing.