Twitter’s Technical Issues Mount as Top Users Revolt
Currently, significant parts of Twitter are down (in fact, the whole website). However, instead of blaming the problems on scalability issues associated with Ruby on Rails (which is the most popular explanation about the problem), or their own slow reaction time to the problem, Twitter is choosing to blame its most loyal and heavy users, such as tech blogger ubermensch Robert Scoble.
Scoble follows 20,000 people on Twitter and is followed by about the same number. Obviously, he and similar users put a heavy strain on the system. His reply? “Please Twitter: fix your darn problems and stop blaming your users. You now have $15,000,000 in venture. You have no excuses anymore.”
That is pretty well to the point. Twitter does have a fresh influx of cash, enough so that they should be able to throw some money at the problem and get it to work. Of course, it’s never so simple as that, but Twitter’s behavior recently is quite puzzling. How good for business can constant downtime and blaming its best customers be?
In reaction, Scoble has been moving over to new-kid-on-the-block Friendfeed. He’s already got 11,500 followers on it, most of them added in the last couple of weeks as Twitter has struggled and Friendfeed has gotten good press. Today, he used Friendfeed to pretty well put the last nail in the coffin as far as he and Twitter are concerned, writing, “You know, the guys who invented Gmail and Google Maps? They are the ones behind FriendFeed. See ya Twitter!”
In fairness to Twitter, they weren’t built to become as big as they are have been victims of their own success. However, as the problems began to mount last year, they made the same excuses that they are now.
Big trouble for Twitter right now, it will be interesting to see if they can weather the storm. But their biggest fan is now disgruntled, and that’s really bad news.
Thanks to MG Siegler at Venture Beat for the story, and Robert Scoble at Scobelizer.
Technorati Tags: twitter, robert scoble, friendfeed
