Twitter Future: Do They Really Need More Options To Grow?

My friend Tom the other day wrote a blog post about Twitter and how Twitter could improve with or without Elon Musk.

It got me thinking: Do we need Twitter to offer so many tools on the network that it overwhelms us? For instance, take spaces example. If you wanted to do audible media wouldn’t you join Telegram?

Sometimes Less Is Best

If people have too many choices, they become overwhelmed and stressed out. They may not choose anything. They may go on Twitter and decide not to tweet at all with all the choices that are being thrown at them on the old social network.

• They could do audio,
• Or join a community,
• Make a tweet thread,
• Do a video,
• Post a poll,
• Watch their Twitter list feed,
• or just do a plain old tweet.

Have you been to a store or market and shopped for an option only to find so many choices that you walked out? The same online when trying to make a purchase. You may leave everything in the cart.

What Made Twitter Great

When Twitter first came out, the speed and ease of use made it great. Not only could you tweet away easily but your tweets were seen by all of your followers.

Today we have a fancy algorithm and lists and communities where not everyone sees your tweets anymore. Even with 25,000+ Twitter followers, it can be quiet on the network for days on end.

Today you are lucky if just a couple of the thousands of followers see your tweets, and even fewer will engage with them.

Did Longer Tweets Begin the Demise of Twitter?

Was it the longer Twitter count that started the downward trend of Twitter? It didn’t seem like a bad thing when it happened back in 2019. But that’s why things started to change on the social media network.

It wanted to be more like Telegram with the start of its audio spaces. And then their videos were to compete with Instagram and TikTok, though they have not ventured into reels yet.

Then in 2021 Twitter communities were launched on the network. They remind me of Facebook groups. So it takes people away from the main feed and cuts down on the people you engage with.

Why Does Twitter Want To Be Like Everyone Else?

That’s really it. I don’t understand why Twitter would want to be like all of the other social networks.

I used to tweet that if I w wanted to be on Facebook I’d be there and not on Twitter. (as people were sharing FB posts to Twitter back in the day.)

My guess would be that they want it to be like the other networks so more users would join. It would make it easier and keep them all on Twitter — maybe that’s a good strategy.

However, if they cut down on their censorship practices others would join or not leave the older social network for newer alternative social networks.

The Twitter Future

What would you like to see in the future for Twitter? Would you use it more with any changes back or forward for this social network?

My friend Tom wants to see the verification of all Twitter accounts. I’d agree with that to cut down on spam and the bots of Twitter.

My favorite Twitter future would return the algorithm to the way it was years ago where everyone could see your tweets. If they didn’t like your tweets, they could always unfollow you.

Of course, now you can block and even mute others on the network vs. just a simple unfollow.

I’d love to know what old and new features on Twitter you love or despise. What would you want to see for the Twitter future?