What did you do while Twitter was down Wednesday
microblogging May 15th. 2008, 6:00amTwitter is starting to feel like an essential part of the Web experience. I don’t know how long it was down tonight, probably only an hour (but likely more).
Yet, during that time I felt so disconnected from the Web that I found myself checking out Pownce (which I use a couple of times per week) and Jaiku (maybe once/month).
Random thought: why on earth did Jaiku build in the 140 character limit? And what does Jaiku mean anyway?
It’s funny how… quiet those other two services feel. However, it’s primarily due to the fact that I have less than 50 followers between those two sites, whereas I have around 800 with Twitter. Naturally it’s going to seem quieter.
One thing this experience shows me is that Twitter, or another site like it, has certainly become an almost indispensible comms channel. Well, it felt like it! I can reach a lot of people via Twitter that I can’t seem to reach any other way.
I think I’d be willing to pay some money now if it would keep Twitter up and running on a consistent basis.
How did you feel when Twitter was down Wednesday night? And what did you do? Does Twitter feel indispensable to you now?
EDIT: anyone feel dependent on microblogging for good blog ideas?
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May 15th, 2008 at 7:17 am
I’ve heard that services like Twitter and Jaiku are built on SMS technology, which has an 160 character limit. Both services allow 20 characters for your username, so 160 - 20 = 140.
Jaiku is popular in Scandanvia, so if you were up there then it would be busy. Try searching for Norwegians or Swedish on Twitter there doesn’t appear to be many. Then again, Scandinavia doesn’t have a particularly large population to it wouldn’t be busy compared to other regions anyway.
Or perhaps Twitter is just the best service, woth the best users and the best apps?
Would be interested to hear what others think - @benrmatthews is my Twitter username so drop me a tweet!
Check out The unconference that ‘Shined’ on us all from Ben Matthews
May 15th, 2008 at 7:54 am
@Ben - well, that’s an excellent point about the inherent SMS character limits… Interesting insight about Jaiku…
As far as Twitter being the best service, its reliability i.e. uptime) compared to other services makes me a bit . As for apps, there is quite a wide variety of 3rd party apps that use the Twitter API, so there’s definitely something to that.
May 15th, 2008 at 8:39 am
While Twitter was broken I went through the five stages of Twittergrief:
1. Denial. This can’t be happening AGAIN!
2. Anger. Why me? Why now?! D’Oh!
3. Bargaining. Just let me tweet, just one! Plus replies of course.
4. Depression. I have no life. Plus ‘Idol’ sucks big time.
5. Acceptance. Guess I’ll blog this and go to bed.
–Bill C
May 15th, 2008 at 8:43 am
@Radioactive Jam - brilliant!
May 15th, 2008 at 11:23 am
i was in complete distress! i bit my nails, sweat a lot, shook and shimmied, contemplated head banging, called a doctor but he was going through twitter withdrawal too, so i cried a little and fell asleep feeling lonely and betrayed.
“oh twitter why have you forsaken me? boo hoo hoo. waa waa” you know, that sort of thing.
Check out Keep Your Chidlren Safe Online! from spostareduro
May 15th, 2008 at 11:49 am
[...] Read more What did you do while Twitter was down Wednesday | Broadcasting Brain [...]
May 15th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
@spostaroduro - there, there… I’m sure it will be at least a day until the next failure…
May 15th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Gravatar test
May 15th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
It took me a while to understand that it was down. I think I was stuck in denial for half the day. I fell back onto my Pownce account for my social fix.
May 15th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
@Koka - exactly!
May 17th, 2008 at 7:13 am
Oh, I just went out with my wife and had a baby. I don’t know if I’ll do that everytime Twitter is down though (this was my fifth). Than I would have to take up the last name Twuggar
Hjörtur
@hjortur
May 17th, 2008 at 9:58 am
@Hjortur - yikes! I hope you, your wife, your baby, and your other kids are all doing well!