This Suggested Users page is probably the most controversial element of Twitter. Think of it as an exclusive club where an entry can help you gain thousands of new followers on Twitter in a single day.
Here’s a graph comparing the follower growth rate of select twitter profiles who also enjoy the "suggested" status.
Naturally, some web personalities like Dave Winer, Robert Scoble (again), Darren Rowse, etc. (all early adopters who sort of helped Twitter gain initial momentum) aren’t feeling very happy and their strong reaction has prompted Twitter co-founder Biz Stone to explain the criteria they use to determine who should be given entry into the elite club.
The selection is not entirely based on staff recommendations but if you are a celebrity or run a fairly popular blog, you have a higher chance of getting into the list.
Are Twitter Recommendations Any Good?
To know how useful these suggestions are, I created a new account on Twitter and it recommended me the following users – NBA, John McCain, Britt Selvitelle (User Experience Lead at Twitter), Jason Goldman (Twitter employee), 10 Downing Street and a couple more.
Since I am mostly interested in technology related stuff, these "official" suggestions were more of "noise" to me than anything "useful".
What Can Twitter Do?
If you have ever used Google Reader before, you probably know about "feed bundles" – a set of 8-10 web feeds related to a particular topic that you can subscribe to all at once. Feed Bundles are again "official" suggestions from Google but, unlike Twitter, they aren’t created or approved manually.
Twitter needs similar "user bundles" so that a new person can easily find out (and follow) other popular users who "tweet" on topics that may interest him or her.
Related: Do Interesting Things with Twitter
Find this article at: http://www.labnol.org/internet/twitter-and-google-reader/8053/
Tags: best, feature, google reader, opinion, twitter, Internet
Reader Comments
Hi Amit – good post – what a chart, eh!
I disagree that Google Reader is a good model to follow – all they did was pick a few blogs and they have never removed/edited/updated the lists as far as I can tell. No matter how much certain blogs screw up, they don’t get removed… but the idea of bundles certainly makes more sense than the “we pick whoever pumps us, brings us cupcakes or will help us look big” model.
Written by Allen Stern on 03.26.09
Completely agree with your thoughts and suggested this exact idea mentioning Google Reader’s approach a few days back to the Twitter team – I suspect they’ll end up doing something more like it (at least I hope they do).
On a related note: did anyone else find it a bit ironic that the article Biz wrote on how ppl make it to the recommended list said to fill in a profile when there are a couple on the list currently that don’t have profiles filled in? He also said that one way to get on the list is that they include those that introduce ppl to twitter…. again, I’m not sure who on that list at the moment does that….
Just feels a little odd to me. On some levels it doesn’t worry me a whole heap, Twitter is growing and that’s good for all, but it’s kind of sad to see something that was quite organic going in this direction. I guess it was inevitable.
Written by Darren Rowse on 03.26.09
I absolutely agree with you on that Amit. Infact, that will pull away some amount of criticism that many A-listers have been making and also the price some (like Jason Calacanis) are ready to pay for the spot.
BTW, I still think people will voice about it if they see that their twitter handle is not in the “User Bundle” directory.
Then what would you suggest…?
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Sampad
Written by Sampad Swain on 03.26.09
So, the important thing here is to apply a script which suggests users of Twitter – popular Tweeters based on their interests or other people one is already following.
Written by Rohit on 03.26.09
Twitter’s appeal is not at all based on the logic of any of its “features” or its performance. Its simply the standard because there’s nothing else, and enough people have signed up that its too late for a better version.
The Suggested Users is a complete joke. 50-odd people of interest for the entire planet. Can’t we have a more sophisticated algorithm than that for generating these lists? Do I, an early 20’s computer engineer and tech-nerd, really give a crap what the Harvard Grad paid to update Britney Spears’ twitter account is saying? (Hint: no!). Searching for users rarely works, I’ll search for friends by their exact username and it will take 4 or 5 submit’s before a result appears. I regularly get error screens due to “too many tweets”. The amount of effort they put into designing their error screens shows they’ve anticipated an unreliable service.
Written by K Antoine on 03.26.09
Amit, that was great. Actually I am re-coding another ‘twitter’ to php. I am almost done..I was looking for a few new features to add to it..thanks
Written by Satheesh on 03.26.09