I know I’m asking too much. I can already hear the objections: Twitter’s most endearing quality is its roughness, it’s simplicity. But the more time I spend on Twitter, the more I wish it had an enhanced set of features to make it’s instant interactivity a little bit more useful. Hey, I can dream…
1. Incentivize participation
It bums me out when I see a publication like @salonmedia or @nytimes, both of whom don’t really follow anyone and uses Twitter solely to broadcast their latest posts. Heck, as @filmlinc, I’ve been guilty of not mixing it up enough with the Twitter public about movies. That’s why sometimes I wish for the Twitter Police to start issuing warnings to all of those organizations who aren’t using the service for what it was meant for: conversation.
On the other hand, I’d be totally in support of a gold star program for outlets such as @mediabistro, who not only shows a tremendous dedication to customer service in their Tweets, but is also constantly serving up interesting content for media professionals. They are an example of a media organization that has confronted the unpredictable atmosphere of this new service and figured out how to use it to bring a lot of value into the lives of thousands of followers.
2. Integrate a client like Twitterfox
Everywhere I go, I am an evangelist for Twitter, especially to people whose professional lives have something to do with online media. But I constantly find that newbies have a really hard time “getting it,” and thus don’t hook into Twitter’s constant stream of bite-sized nuggets of valuable info. New users are left to discover clients that allow them to do work while Tweets are served up like IM’s in the background. Like StumbleUpon or De.li.cio.us, Twitter should supply people up with tools that allow them to use Twitter most effectively. If new posts were easy to follow without constantly having to log onto Twitter, I think newbies would jump in a little more.
3. Make a search function part of the interface
A good way to find people to follow is to search keywords on a Twitter search engine, but to do that at the moment, you’ve got to get off of Twitter and go to another site. I long for different ways of interacting with the information Twitter yields. Hashmarks are one way to follow multiple Tweets on one subject, but this approach seems pretty low-tech to me. An integrated search engine could create such an enriched interaction for Twitter users.
4. Help you separate the wheat from the chaff
At the moment, Twitter influence is built through number of followers and quality of interaction. Following people is a good way to build your number of followers, and also your influence. But the more people you follow, the harder is it to grab key info from the useful Tweets. I know this goes against what Twitter is about, but I wish I could filter out some less interesting Tweets for the ones that offer more valuable info.
5. Make me breakfast
Hey, while I’m making a wish list…
