Twitter is finally focusing on what matters

The other night I was at a Neon Trees concert waiting for the opening band to start playing. My friend who was with me was scrolling through Facebook. I asked him why he still used Facebook, since most people our age have moved on to other networks like Tumblr, Twitter, Snapchat, etc. I specifically mentioned Twitter an an alternative.

He told me “Facebook just has more of the big things that matter. Twitter is just a lot of little things”. Even as an avid Twitter user, I had to agree with him. When it comes to surfacing big news, whether it’s global or local, Facebook does a much better job since it uses algorithms to locate what’s popular.

And that’s why I’m excited about Twitter’s Project Lightning. Twitter is making it easier for normal users to see events unfold from a variety of vantage points and angles. Twitter is already the place to go to check in on events as they happen. My hope is that Lightning will make it easier for us to experience events together as they happen, and even after they happen.

Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing Twitter jokes about Taylor Swift and retweets of @darth in my timeline, but that’s not what most people are looking for in a social network.

People want to be able to see the big stuff. I think that’s where Twitter is going and I’m excited.

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