Although I’d likely be one of the very first people to admit my love of Twitter, my frustrations with the service have exponentially grown lately to where I feel I must express them via the blog.
Clearly the popularity of this social networking/microblogging site has increased immensely within the last month or so, which is great for the Web site itself. It’s getting amazing press and with the buttload of celebrities joining its ranks, more and more of us normal folks are signing in as well. Unfortunately for us users who have been utilizing the site for several months and are quite accustomed to its effortless usability, the amplified popularity has created a plethora of troubles – or at least it has on my end – that seriously make me consider foregoing my membership.
At this point, I’ve stopped counting the number of times I have encountered the “Twitter is over capacity” image, and this is something I seemingly come across on a daily basis. And each time, I leave behind my “tweet” and exit the Web site not only annoyed and agitated, but wishing I didn’t enjoy “tweeting” – who came up with these ridiculously youthful-sounding verbs anyway? – as much as I do. After all, updating my Facebook status a bazillion times because I’ve had a few too many beers at a Jeff Dunham show could be considered excessive by my friends. Instead I choose to regale all of those in the Twittersphere* with those 140-character informative postings.
And in those moments I actually gain access to the site, it rarely appears correctly without me having to refresh the page. It seems that all of the ease Twitter once held has disappeared as its servers are (I assume) overwhelmed with usage, and that results in people like me becoming pretty damn irritated far too regularly.
So everyone, feel free to use this post to lament about Twitter. Sure, we all love it – Did I mention you can follow me @mskut? No? Oops! Well, you can. – but what the hell is up with these issues!?
* I definitely just made that word up, but I think we should spread it like wildfire. It fits quite well with “blogosphere,” after all.
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A MinD in MoTown 
I feel your pain too. Twitter’s been a pain in the ass lately. I’ve seen the fail whale more often than I have my own profile pic. Hopefully some cool VCs give them some capital to buy some more servers.
*I think you’ve already been beaten to the punch on the word Twittersphere – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN2HAroA12w
“Fail whale.” Haven’t heard it, but I like. And damn about the Twittersphere. I thought I was being so forward-thinking. Eh, I’ll try again next time!
Comment by TOPolk March 30, 2009 @ 5:50 pmsometimes, i’ll get an effed up looking tweet feed with all of the text out of whack. WTF.
but thank goodness for twitterberry 🙂
unfortunately with all of the press and a celebrity bandwagon, i think twitter is becoming too much like the new facebook.
I get that, too! I keep wondering if it’s my work servers – since I do most of my Internet surfing on the job – or the site itself (I assume the latter though). Too many people are definitely jumping on this trend and it’s becoming less appealing as a result, for sure.
Comment by thatShortChick March 30, 2009 @ 5:56 pmNot that this is an really defense of Twitter, but it has always had problem with overcapacity. I mean, without that, we wouldn’t have the fail whale.
I haven’t noticed any more problems lately, but I have to say that I’m concerned that soon everyone I know in real life will join, and I’ll be in this awkward place where I have to decide whether to make a personal twitter account or just tell everyone about my blog.
That is quite the quandry. All of my friends look at me like I’m an idiot when I mention blogging/Twitter/anything, so I’m not overly worried about them reading my stuff. But employers? That scares me a bit…
Comment by Ashley March 30, 2009 @ 6:19 pmtwitter drives me cray, But i wonder why I’m still so much inmto it 😛
Likewise!
Comment by andhari March 30, 2009 @ 6:37 pmTwitizens of the world unite! Reclaim the twittersphere and bring the whale back to life!
Well said!!!
Comment by [F]oxymoron March 30, 2009 @ 6:46 pmAs I now have the iPhone, I can avoid some of the twitter unpleasantness. However I mostly just use my computer which means I’ve gotten highly acquainted with the fail whale as of late.
Damn that fail whale. And you have an iPhone?? Jeez. I don’t know you at all.
Comment by Kendall March 30, 2009 @ 7:11 pmTwitter is fun, but yes I’ve been having issues too. The problem isn’t with extra users, but with the number of ways twitter is being accessed. Twitter’s site can handle (ideally) tons of people, but now everyone puts their twitter ‘feed’ everywhere. And for you and I that’s not too bad, the server has to get the feed every hit. The problem is when famous people have a twitter feed, then everytime someone’s on @Star’s webpage, it’s another time twitter needs to send out info. Expect it to get worse before it gets better.
Thanks for oh-so-brightening my day by saying it’ll get worse first… Thanks a ton Patty.
Comment by mackiep1 March 30, 2009 @ 7:28 pmI hate that stupid twitter whale.
Like birds could really hold up a whale. Its ridiculous.
Excellent point you make.
Comment by Matt March 31, 2009 @ 8:25 amThanks! I love the picture too, but I didn’t take it. Found it through a Google search. If you click on it, that should tell you where it’s from.
Ahh okay. Thanks for letting me know!
Comment by Angela March 31, 2009 @ 6:07 pmyep i’m one of those people that just joined within this last month 😛 so i don’t know how the functionality was before firsthand but i’ve definitely noticed it sucking!
It’s so relieving to know other people notice. I just hope it improves soon or a lot of Twitterers (that’s sort of a word, right?) will quickly depart.
Comment by floreta April 1, 2009 @ 12:59 amSeriously, Twitter is driving me CRAZY lately, with all the disappearing Twits and Tweets. PEOPLE MUST KNOW WHAT I AM DOING AT ALL TIMES!!! Don’t you get that, Twatter??
And I must know what others are doing at all times, and yet the damn thing has been keeping me from my stalker-ish ways. Argh!
Comment by LiLu April 1, 2009 @ 2:04 pmI enjoy twitter, but seriously hate the twitter-whoring that goes a long with it… while I know it could be a good way to promote my blog, I just can’t do it. I won’t add people that I don’t want to read…
I’ve been using Tweetdeck at home, and it helps. I can group people so I don’t want to be updated every 6 second by my friend who feels the need to live-tweet every detail of some moronic award show, then I don’t have to.
Personally… I’m disliking the twitterization of facebook. I remember the days when my private liberal arts college wasn’t even on facebook, and I only had a membership ’cause I took a summer class at the state school… I am proud that my mom is not actually on facebook. That seems to be a rarity nowadays.
I do love Twitter, but you are right, some people can be a bit excessive in their updates – though I’m guilty to have updated along with an award show before. Once I started, felt as though I couldn’t stop … but it’ll never happen again. It was not fun. Felt more obligation than anything, and I’m unsure as to why.
My mom is also not on Fbook – she wouldn’t have a clue what to do on it anyway – but my boyfriend’s mother is and I think that makes me even more nervous than my own trying out the site, ha.
Comment by Rini April 1, 2009 @ 3:13 pmYa, that whale gets on my nerves. Sometimes I have to click “home” three times before he goes away. Ughhh.
Ditto. The whale is one thing, but have you seen the page a bit skewed (best way to describe it is as if Twitter went back to 1998)? Drives me nuts!
Comment by Akirah April 1, 2009 @ 9:27 pmI hear you! I had to attempt FOUR times to post my “Twit Pic” today, which caused me to wonder, WHY DO I CARE?! Resistance is futile..
But please don’t leave Twitter…I kind of like having you there.
I have no clue why I care so much either. It’s like a crazy addiction (one that my boyfriend often makes fun of). And I don’t think I’ll be leaving anytime soon. I haven’t been pushed over the edge … yet.
Comment by hautepocket April 1, 2009 @ 10:26 pm