Nationalize Twitter? Hmm, not so fast

Consider me second to none in embracing Twitter for all that it's worth. But the service's publicized brown-outs naturally raise questions about backup plans in case of further outages. The Gillmor Gang, in particular, has into this question, but the most searching critique I've come across comes from Echovar. It's worth reading the entire post. Here are a couple of excerpts:

It must be an odd thing to run a company in the midst of a debate around the idea of nationalizing your core technology. In a Venezuelan moment, the Gillmor Gang considers the idea that Twitter has become so important that our national security requires nationalizing its technical infrastructure. In a two-part discussion about an open mesh / cross-service dashboard mashups and the roll of Twitter as a sort of fundamental glue, the question surfaced of breaking up the centralized Twitter monopoly."

(Thanks to Dave Winer for pointing this out.) Later on, Echovar finishes with this kicker:

The idea of building competitors to Twitter on the same platform, or redistributing Twitter to multiple players reminds me of the idea that New York City should be rebuilt in Ohio because it would be cheaper. Or perhaps we could distribute a little of New York City in every state of the Union. New York City is what it is because of the people who live and visit there. Building another New York City in Las Vegas doesn't result in the phenomenon that is New York City.

This is starting to become a really interesting topic. For the folks over at Twitter, it's time to get out ahead of the discussion.

[mjconver]

Huh? Talk about self-absorption. Twitter is just more noise that makes you think your life is more important than it really is. It could disappear tomorrow and 99.99% of the world (yes, that's accurate, do the math) wouldn't even notice.

[Matthew_Maurice]

I had to check the by-line on this article just to make sure it didn't say April 1. While Twitter may be indispensable to 13 year-old girls and Robert Scoble the idea that its platform is relevant to National Security in any way is laughable.

[forensicmeteoboy]

I agree with Matthew... Twitter really isn't all that cool outside a small amount of teens and some so-called tech people.

How about they build a platform on something reliable (eg. not Ruby), have multiple redundant servers nationwide, etc.

In all honesty, they need a plan to make money. How about that? A business without a plan to make money. Is that really what you base your life around? C'mon CNet guys and girls... it's really not as big you think. Sorry.

[charlie cooper]

ouch. a bit harsh, don't you think? i'm not making over-the-top predictions about twitter's impact on tech but it's a fascinating story and we're still in the early innings. fwiw, i first heard this ayem about the china quake on twitter. there's now a thread on techmeme about this and i think dan's also writing on this...

[rapier1]

No, its not harsh. Its a realistic assessment about the true worth of the product. Twitter has some appeal to people who are tethered to cellphones and computers but a large number of people just don't care that much. Really. They don't. People in the tech field think they do but if you get outside of that echo chamber you'll find that the real potential for the market isn't there.

[Jimm1]

What's twitter? That's the response of more than 3/4 of the US population. IT is a small world that thinks it is THE world. Get real, people.

[mvaiks]

That's what I was about to ask: what is Twitter? Never heard of it... much less its importance.

[pieterjansegers]

The importance of Twitter and other microblogs is their function as instant global mass media. Creating real global awareness and 'glocality'.

Like any news is of importance to the stock markets, it's indeed vital to know the news as fast as possible. Within less than 5 minutes any event wordwide can be covered by microblogs, even radio can't do any better.

The automated information of express postal services are liked by anyone of us; now simular things are possible for all kinds of information.

I liked twitter right away and I'm now using microblogs all over the globe to share information I find usefull.

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