After almost 2 days of having my Twitter Account Suspended for no apparent reason, I checked this morning out of curiosity to find that my Twitter account is once again active but there has been no contact from Twitter indicating why my account was suspended and no response to the support ticket that I had opened. People can now follow me on Twitter once again.
Yes, Twitter is a free service and has seen considerable growth in their niche in the last several months. However, the lack of information has left me wondering what caused the suspension and makes me concerned that my account may have been compromised by this “Best Video” exploit. According to reports in the Washington Post, people who clicked on the link in this tweet had their accounts compromised and their passwords stolen – not a good thing.
What’s more alarming is the lack of information provided after Twitter suspended my account. A quick search of Twitter will find many people tweeting about having their Twitter accounts suspended for no reason and the majority are in the same situation as myself.
For Twitter to be taken seriously as a “service provider” they have to get serious about providing service. With their amazing growth in the micro-blogging niche and their market penetration, they must not only capitalize on the buzz, but show they are doing more than flying by the seat of their pants in their business model. To me, it is very apparent that Twitter is making things up as they go along.
Service outages, lack of communication to members and the uncertainty that is circling the service’s security, it makes me wonder if the service can continue its current haphazard ways and be taken serious. There’s no doubt that social media and social networking is changing the face of the online world but providing service goes well beyond the hype. However, with more than 60% of the people abandoning the Twitter service after a month (according to Nielsen), one must contemplate if Twitter is meeting the needs of its users or does it go beyond that?
As with the other social media sites, I see an amazing potential for Twitter and Twitter marketing. However, my trust in the Twitter service is waining and it goes beyond having my Twitter account suspended. As a techie, marketer and a self-professed geek who utilizes the social media sites to expand and grow my reach, seeing the Twitter service have no direction makes me doubt how it can remain mainstream.
The popularity of the service is contributing to the less then desirable user experience right now and the site’s somewhat laissez-faire attitude is hurting Twitter’s credibility at a time when it needs serious leadership. I’m not sure if Twitter’s co-founders (Evan Williams and Biz Stone) are the ones to lead the company through this growth period.
Looking back through the brief history of the Internet, one doesn’t have to look far to see many great sites such as Twitter that changed the social landscape that lacked leadership and a business model. Services such as Napster changed the music industry forever but when better run services emerged on the scene such as iTunes backed by strong support and an enhanced user experience, Napster fell wayside to the masses who flocked to Apple’s product offering.
Will the same thing happen to Twitter?
Quite possibly. If Twitter doesn’t improve its user experience at all levels including communication and support, you can be guaranteed that someone will come along and do it bigger and better. Internet history has proven this time and time again.
Right now I will continue to utilize Twitter but I do so hoping that Twitter does get its act together sooner than later. It has potential and a massive following right now. I hope that it doesn’t alienate its users during these growing pains.
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After having my Twitter account mistakenly suspended a couple of days ago, I found this article. I totally agree with you! I especially love when you say that if Twitter wants to be a “service provider,” it needs to start providing a service. If it wants to stick around it’s going to have to stay one step ahead of the game and not be reactive to hackers and spammers.
Although I love using Twitter, and think of it as a great networking tool, I’m also quite upset that they’d suspend my account for no reason, while tons of real spammers are out there. Seeing as how I most likely have 30 days until my account gets reinstated (and for my entire built-up network to forget about me/unfollow me due to not tweeting), this might actually give me the time to think about if I really want to support Twitter anymore and give it my time.