All That’s Twitter Isn’t Gold

Who wins Best Picture at the Oscars isn’t really important to me. In fact, I don’t really care about any of the Oscar awards. I like the movies I like and the actors I like regardless. But, when I phone began fluttering with video, GIFs, and memes of the gaffe — I was glued to it.

Twitter has been doing this lately. A lot, actually. Its becoming kind of a delayed broadcast of what’s happening, with a filter to keep out the mundane. So when something happens that breaks through the wall, its getting posted within mere moments of it happening. And I’m there reaping all the benefits.

This is one of the valuable prospects of social media itself. Things are more interesting when delivered in the package of commentary of those I know or like. Twitter happens to be the greatest benefactor of these opportunities at this moment.

However, speaking of Moments, what are they doing to capitalize on all this? On the surface it appears to be very little.

Twitter was the undisputed king of the social webs during the presidential debates. They’ve live broadcasted the NFL’s Thursday Night Football in all its color rush glory. And most recently, it was plastered all over the Oscars under Jimmy Kimmel’s thumbs. You can’t get better free attention than that.

But… it still feels like Twitter is riding along on cruise control. It lacks definition and, in turn, direction.

Recent changes to the iOS app provided a strange design update taking away Moments and introducing Explore. The position also makes no sense considering its at the bottom of the app and requires your thumb to travel the length of your device, twice, to reach Search which was originally at the top of the screen to begin with. Furthermore, Explore isn’t bringing anything additional to the experience as the content was already there but in a different format.

Also, for an app that is primarily used to quip, the iPad version is abysmal. Its an oversized iPhone experience with a ton of white space, particularly on the iPad Pro.

The app also appears to be a little buggy. You can confuse it by using the share cards from other apps, in my case YouTube, and go back into Twitter to reveal the old Moments tab.

And in some cases you lose even the Moments tab. Other times the Search button reappears at the top, where it should have remained.

And the order of the buttons at the bottom even change. This is all true without changing the version of Twitter, uninstalling anything, or anything. Simply use a Share card and you’ll find out.

Beyond the fragility of the current version of Twitter, I’m also disappointed with the focus on repackaging existing features instead of innovating something new. Moments, Explore, and allowing photos and @mentions to not interfere with your character limitations is hardly pushing anything forward. And there’s so much to be done.

1. A much better answer to fake accounts and purposefully hateful activity
2. Better curation for related content than the existing #hashtag that exists in Top, Latest, etc. Something that more closely resembles SubReddits
3. Live Event commentary needs to be subdivided better. Watch a TNF football game and attempt to keep up with ALL of the people tweeting. Again, #2 above. Create rooms or limit it to the people you actually connect with (follow/followed by)
4. Anyone should be able to do this via Periscope and it follow suit in form and function
5. There’s a real shot in beating YouTube at this game because of the real-time conversation that can be had for Live Events, and so far its a half launched idea. This should include PPV or subscription monies
6. Leverage this format for watching other video or listening to audio. Again, rooms/connections for listening together and conversing. Leaving the room moves the playable down but should not close it so you can continue to listen until you’re done with it
7. Premium accounts can and should exist. A follow costs either one time or ongoing subscription money. Great for subscriber only access to songs, podcasts, video, or other consumables
8. And more…

I’ll stop there because going any further may eat into your ADHD ceiling, if you’ve made it this far.

I just cannot remember a product that is as well placed on television and, to me, it feels like Twitter is resting on its laurels in the face of so many missing updates.

Tell me what you think Twitter should be addressing and why it seems we’re in this holding pattern.