Why Twitter can kill Facebook

Recently Twitter has started to go mainstream (well in the UK and US).  These past few weeks have seen Twitter mentioned on the BBC (see Declan Curry from BBC’s Working Lunch), radio and in most of the UK Newspapers, especially since Jonathan Ross started “tweeting”.

What is becoming clearer and clearer as time progresses and more interesting people join twitter is that the second it reaches non-geeks, it could kill off Facebook.

Why?

Facebook is useful for following main reasons:-

1. Finding old friends – since the demise of Friends Reunited in the UK all my old school pals are on FB.
2. Keeping up to date with what people are doing through status-updates (notice the once empty box now says “What are you doing now?”).
3. Looking at photographs of friends.
4. Emailing friends/people.
5. Live Chat.

That’s all.  Throwing stuff, the apps etc, are totally useless in reality.  Humans are interested in looking at people, seeing how they are doing (what they are doing now) and interacting.  People are far happier to talk online than in real life to long lost friends, this is a fact as I often bump into old school friends (I left school in 1991) that are also FB friends, they are generally embarrassed to talk and normally offer a simple “hi” and wander off into the bustling high street..within an hour I’d get a “great seeing you today” message on FB!

Why is Twitter Useful?

1. Right now, none of my non-early adopter friends, ex-colleagues or family are on it, however, it is great for meeting new people relevant to both work and play, I have a real mix of people that I find addictive to watch and talk with on and offline.
2. Keeping up to date with what people are doing instantly.
3. Sharing links to interesting information.
4. Finding out who is in whatever location you happen upon ie “Who fancies a coffee in Oxford Street, right now?”
5. Talking to people instantly.
6. No limits on the number of people that can follow you and you can follow as many as you want (unlike FB).
7. Direct Messages (email?).
8. Getting out emergency notices, fast, such as this on Techcrunch today.

There are similarities to Facebook and it seems FB are actually copying “What are you doing now?”.  I think the second my friends born in the 70’s and technophobe work colleagues and family are introduced to and understand twitter, I would actually stop going to Facebook, FB offers me nothing more than Twitter and I prefer the fact that Twitter has flowing conversation.  The one thing Twitter needs is personalised homepages for each user and perhaps groups for friends, family and work (as we are discussing right now), and maybe allowing photos (the one thing Facebook has over Twitter).  Partnering with Flickr could fix that instantly.

There have been rumours of Twitter talking to Facebook regarding a potential acquisition (although it has been denied).   Of my followers not using an automated service to update their status’ the average friend updates three times per week..Not really live or helpful is it.

Maybe I am wrong and the fact Facebook has 150m users and twitter only 6m users in comparison means something..

I am however,convinced that Twitter, once understood and not just with geeks and people told they *should* use it, will take over Facebook.  Maybe in two years, and the revenue will be SMS based along with businesses paying to use it internally.  I know of many offices that have put bans in place stopping staff “wasting time on Facebook” – Twitter would be seen as a useful tool by bosses.

Your thoughts dear reader?!

UPDATE: It seems I am not alone with this line of thought other people are seeing the benefits including the UK public en masse

Read Full Post »

Here’s Why You Just Lost Loads Of Followers On Twitter

So you just logged into Twitter and found you have a whole bunch of followers missing, “what did I say wrong?” you ask yourself..

Fear not!

Twitter is finally deleting all the spammers from your followers, from their blog:-

Also: we’ll be releasing a change later this afternoon that will start removing deleted and suspended users from your list of followers. As this hasn’t been cleaned up previously, you may notice your follower counts go down. This is to be expected.

Phew, you weren’t so out of order after all!

Mine took a hit of 101 just now, follow me @kevindixie

Read Full Post »

The BBC Really Has Lost The Plot

After all the hoohaa about Ross and Brand, now Moyles, it strikes me that the BBC has lost control.  I just clicked on the international BBC site and am convinced they have lost the plot.

I understand the BBC feel it needs to make money out of its overseas online viewers, a simple, simple solution would be to offer BBC iPlayer to those outside the UK for a small monthly subscription say £5 per month, but no, that is just far too easy.  For those that don’t know, you are unable to access iPlayer from outside the UK.

What the BBC decided to do was to put some adverts on the site.  This started off with very discrete 468×60 sized adverts showing animated National Geographic links, very soft and pleasing on the eye, that was pre-creditcrunch.

Now, they have a huge advert on the right hand side of the homepage, I don’t have a problem with adverts at all.  But I can’t understand who these adverts are targeting, how on Earth do they expect to make money from these ad’s?  I mean, who is buying Rolex watches right now??  Surely a paid advert with a rev share would be better given the traffic the BBC generates?

Take a look for yourself:-

Any thoughts?

Read Full Post »

Edwardian London – on film

I have Just seen a video of Edwardian London on this new newspaper site and thank Nick the author for bringing it to my attention.

Take a look below and see the delightful Edwardian London and those happy smiley faces 🙂

Read Full Post »

John McCain – Why did you email me?

Just got this in my emails:-

My Friend,

From the time I entered the Naval Academy at age seventeen I have been privileged and honored to serve my country.

Throughout my years of service, I’ve been faced with challenges where I could have taken the easy way out and given up. But I’m an American and I never give up. Instead, I choose to show courage and stand up and fight for the country I love. Today, I am asking you to stand with me and to fight for our country’s future.

Our country faces enormous challenges and our next president must be ready to lead on day one. My lifetime of experience has prepared me to lead our great nation. I’m prepared to bring solutions to our economic challenges, bring our troops home in victory and improve our nation’s healthcare system.

Time and time again, my country has saved my life and I owe her more than she has ever owed me. I have chosen to show my gratitude through a life of service to our country and tomorrow, you will have a choice before you.

I humbly ask you to make the choice that will allow me to serve my country a little while longer by casting your vote to elect me as your next President of the United States.

Finally, I ask that you never forget that much has been sacrificed to protect our right to vote. We must never forget those Americans who, with their courage, with their sacrifice, and with their lives, have protected our freedom. It is my great hope that you will exercise your right to vote as an American tomorrow.

I thank you for your kind support, your dedication to our cause, and most importantly I thank you for your vote.

With sincere appreciation,

John McCain

Errr John, I am a Brit, I live in France..sorry, no can do…

Read Full Post »

Dear Apple please fix this iPhone problem..

Dear Apple,

I acquired the iPhone 3G on launch day in the UK.

This week I was lost in a part of London’s West-End and the fantastic Maps function saved the day for me, pinpointing exactly where I was and showing me where I needed to go, great work.  And then I needed to call one of my clients..

Then the trouble started…you see dear Apple I have adult man hands…Do the team working on the iPhone contact search have little elf sized fingers?  I simply cannot easily find a contact, those letters are too small to locate any particular letter – oh thanks for the magnifying glass search function, the only problem is, the icon is too small to locate with my “man hands”.  If there is any easier way to search, please let me know, i’d be grateful, alternatively why not simply have a permanent search bar at the top, then us people with “man hands” can actually find the people we want to call..

Regards

Read Full Post »

Blogging now recognised in the UK by companies

I just received the following box:-

Intrigued – I opened it:-

Still none the wiser, lifted the green nest:-

Berocca had sent me some goodies!

Inside the blogger’s relief pack are a load of goodies that are designed to de-stress!  Plus a tube of their orange effervescence multi-vitamin/mineral drink.  This drink is created for people with hectic lifestyles.  I have, as my friends and family will testify, had the worst, in terms of busy and hectic, few months I can remember, I am hoping this drink will be the tonic I need to pick me up!

UPDATE:  I just had a glass of the orange, already I can feel myself feeling mentally more alert.  Fingers crossed that it will help me in a meeting I have today in London.

The contents of the pack are below:-

Thanks for the pack, Berocca – I look forward to receiving more pick-ups in the future!  You can learn more about their range here.  Hopefully we’ll be able to run a campaign with these guys on Fuelmyblog soon. I will cross-post this over there too.

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored nor paid post.  I was under no obligation to write about the product in any shape or form.

Read Full Post »

Twitter has new look – then crashes

I love Twitter, it is a great site, I can be found and added as a friend here.

They just deployed a new look and feel, not sure if I like it but am sure it will grow on me..only the changes seem to have affected the new found reliability guess who came back?

Read Full Post »

Telegraph Business Club

I recently signed up and joined the Telegraph Business Club, it seemed to be a good venue for some online business networking along with a great list of events to attend. The only problem is actually networking.
As per their site “The Telegraph Business Club exists to give readers a forum in which to share their views, insights and challenges with each other. We hope this exchange will help to enhance your business performance.”

Ok, so to use the forum, you must click on one of a list of bullet point titles to view the “post”.  I did this, found someone requesting help on growing traffic online and using different marketing tactics.  Of course I know an angle there ;).  So I started searching for a place to leave a comment, a button some text…nothing?

Clicking back I read the following:-

“All member feedback is valuable – no matter how big or small. If you want to provide any comments, articles or raise any issues that you want to leverage input from your peers, then send an email to Talk Back.

Please note that comments may appear with your name and company. If you prefer your comments to be anonymous, please state this in your email.”

Come on Telegraph what is the point in vetting every comment if you allow anonymous comments, install real forum software and lets get talking.

Sheesh.

Read Full Post »

Dear Diary…

This was just sent to me, had to share, very very funny:-

Dear Diary,

For my birthday this year, my daughter (the dear) purchased a week of personal training at the local health club for me.

Although I am still in great shape since being a high school cheerleader 43 years ago, I decided it would be a good idea to go ahead and give it a try.

I called the club and made my reservations with a personal trainer named Brad, who identified himself as a 26-year-old aerobics instructor and model for athletic clothing and swim wear.

My daughter seemed pleased with my enthusiasm to get started! The club encouraged me to keep a diary to chart my progress.

MONDAY:

Started my day at 6:00 a.m.Tough to get out of bed, but found it was well worth it when I arrived at the health club to find Brad waiting for me. He is something of a Greek god – with blond hair, dancing  eyes and a dazzling white smile. Woo Hoo!! Brad gave me a tour and showed me the machines. I enjoyed watching the skillful way in which he conducted his aerobics class after my workout today. Very inspiring!

Brad was encouraging as I did my sit-ups, although my gut was already aching from holding it in the whole time he was around. This is going to be a FANTASTIC week-!!

TUESDAY:

I drank a whole pot of coffee, but I finally made it out the door.

Brad made me lie on my back and push a heavy iron bar into the air then he put weights on it! My legs were a little wobbly on the treadmill, but I  made the full mile. Brad’s rewarding smile made it all worthwhile. I feel GREAT-!! It’s a whole new life for me.

WEDNESDAY:

The only way I can brush my teeth is by laying the toothbrush on the counter and moving my mouth back and forth over it. I believe I have a hernia in both pectorals. Driving was OK as long as I didn’t try to steer or stop.

Brad was impatient with me, insisting that my screamsbothered other club members. His voice is a little too perky for early in the morning and when he scolds, he gets this nasally whine that is VERY annoying. My chest hurt when I got on the treadmill, so Brad put me on the  stair monster. Why the hell would anyone invent a machine to simulate an activity rendered obsolete by elevators? Brad told me it would help me get in shape and enjoy life. He said some other stuff too.

THURSDAY :

Brad was waiting for me with his vampire-like teeth exposed as his thin, cruel lips were pulled back in a full snarl. I couldn’t help being a half an hour late, it took me that long to tie my shoes.

Brad took me to work out with dumbbells. When he was not looking, I ran and hid in the restroom. He sent some skinny woman to find me.

Then, as punishment, he put me on the rowing machine — which I sank.

FRIDAY :

I hate that Brad more than any human being has ever hated any other human being in the history of the world.

Brad wanted me to work on my triceps. I don’t have any triceps! And if you don’t want dents in the floor, don’t hand me the damn barbells or anything that weighs more than a sandwich. The treadmill flung me off and I landed on a health and nutrition teacher.

Why couldn’t it have been someone softer, like the drama coach or the choir director?

SATURDAY :

Brad left a message on my answering machine in his grating, shrilly voice wondering why I did not show up today. Just hearing him made me want to smash the machine with my planner. However, I lacked the strength to even use the TV remote and ended up catching eleven straight hours of the Weather Channel.

SUNDAY :
I’m having the Church van pick me up for services today so I can go and thank GOD that this week is over. I will also pray that next year my daughter (the little git) will choose a gift for me that is fun — like a root canal or a hysterectomy. I still say if God had wanted me to bend over, he would have sprinkled the floor with diamonds!!!

Read Full Post »