The bigger Twitter gets, the less I like it

As a blogger and social media user, I use platforms and tools every day. Two of my favorites have been Posterous and Tweetdeck.

That is, until Twitter bought both companies.

• Posterous had a system bug last week that prevented posting new photos. The blogging platform is similar to Tumblr in its ease of posting and sharing photos. As I tried and tried to update a blog, I realized something was amiss.

The irony of social media as customer service is how lousy the customer service is at social media companies. Bug reports, questions, complaints, feature requests and system status alerts seem to be a low priority at these zillion-dollar outfits, including Twitter.

But Posterous doesn’t have a system status page. And its Twitter and Facebook accounts don’t respond to user complaints.

So if something goes awry with your Posterous site, you are on your own.

• Meanwhile, Twitter’s redesign of Tweetdeck for the Mac has left it a shadow of its former self. (The iOS app is gone, as Twitter likes to push its own official crummy app.)

Several key features were dropped in its makeover: search and filter within columns, posting to LinkedIn, instant Bit.ly link shortening, replying to users who retweeted your updates in the new style. The design and user interface were much better before: compact, slicker and with a tweet window that didn’t obscure update columns.

In the pre-Twitter Tweetdeck, I could respond to dozens of people much more quickly. The current version is a chore to use.

Twitter has seemingly dragged its heels on Tweetdeck, favoring its “official” interface on the Web and branded apps. It can’t even keep its financial filings up to date, risking closure by the British government.

This pattern isn’t new for tech acquisitions. Twitter can barely keep its own house together — struggling with monetization issues and defining its direction — so seeing it screw up its properties yields no surprises, only frustration.

It reminds me of how Yahoo bought photo service Flickr, only to make it irrelevant through poor management.

I don’t mind if Twitter wrecks itself from within, though it will leave me without my favorite social media channel. I do mind if it wrecks other great tools in the process.

It may be time to move on to Tumblr and Tweetbot for Mac. Sigh.

Photo: Doctor Rose (CC)

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