OK, I am just two months old on Twitter. With 70 odd updates in two months on my main account and about half as many on the other two, I can’t consider myself exactly a Twitter addict, but I do spend quite some time reading updates everyday. The concept is definitely cool, and some things can only be done with this format. The other day, as I was away from the TV working on my laptop, I wanted to get updates on the American Idol elimination episode. All I did was keep a window of Twitter search open and kept refreshing it now and then.
While I completely understand Twitter’s intention to keep it stupid-simple, it could do with a few changes. Here’s my small wish list:
- The “search twitter” and “twitter home” links should be on top, prominently visible, not all the way at the bottom – so that it is easier to switch between the two. “Search” is hidden away in a bunch of small links in the footer of the main page; it just does not make sense. I use the trick of clicking on a “reply” link to quickly go from “search page” to “twitter home”, but coming back to “search” is not that easy.
When you @reply someone, there is no way to tell for a reader which tweet you are replying to. If the reply is terse and/or the original is a prolific twitter, how do you understand the conversation? The reply should somehow link to the original tweet — without eating into your 140 character quota. I think the only way out right now is to manually add a link to the original tweet, but that is cumbersome and leaves you with lesser characters.Sorry, I figured this out. The link to the original tweet is where it says “reply to so-and-so” below the post.- OK, this one is a nice to have. Multiple accounts or tabs should be possible. Many people, in fact most people I know, have multiple accounts. My top reason is multilingual microblogging. If I am twittering in Hindi, I want to keep my Hindi tweets separate. There are dozens of other reasons why people want to have multiple twitter feeds. So, even if Twitter wants to limit one account per email address, have tabs so that.
That’s about it! Didn’t I say it was a small list? @Twitter, is somebody listening?
Overall, even with such a short age as a twitter, and not so much experience, I think it is addictive and not that much fruitful, in particular if you are as quiet a person as I am. Soon it will be time for a twitter free resolution.
Tags: microblogging, twitter
