Recent weeks have seen the launch of several sites related to Twitter’s failings, mostly related to the site’s notorious downtime. I recently blogged on the increasing number of sites that help Twitter users when the site goes offline. (See link below.)

What do such sites mean for Twitter and its users? 

Some sites cater to Twitter users who’d rather be Tweeting and give them an alternative. For example, Twiddict allows users to stack their microposts which then load to Twitter once it comes back on line, “Tweet your heart out … and avoid life-changing withdrawal symptoms during Twitter downtime.”

Others such as Fail Whale soothe users by suggesting users shouldn’t get uptight about downtime. Fail Whale is “to poke fun at the people who seem to take online social network downtime a little too seriously.” And Tweeple love it. Indeed, Fail Whale has already established a solid following. Its Facebook group has grown to almost 1,250 fans in less than a week since its inception June 24.

However, such sites are doing Twitter more harm than good. They act as a pressure valve, when Twitter needs more pressure, not less. Twitter developers need pressure to get it right, fix downtime, and to communicate with users ahead of time rather than just dropping a feature here and there to limit server requests.

By pandering to the feelings of dedicated but frustrated followers, sites such as Fail Whale divert attention from the real problems of the service. The result? Users will turn to FriendFeed, Plurk and other microblog sites (which now number several dozen).

And slowly but surely, loyalty will dwindle and Twitter will lose its audience. VC will dry up as the smart money turns to more reliable services that can deliver. As I have blogged about before, microblogging is too important to depend solely on one model or one service. If Twitter doesn’t get it right, others will step in. Fail Whale and its ilk will only highlight Twitter’s problems and lead to its eventual demise.

Related post
What to do when Twitter goes down

Related links
Twiddict
Fail Whale
FriendFeed
Plurk

The Twittersphere has been abuzz in recent weeks with talk of Plurk, a similar microblogging service. Unlike other microblog applications, Plurk seems to be aimed at directly competing with Twitter, notably given the same limit on the number of characters (140) that can be used in a single post.

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A number of articles in recent weeks have speculated on whether Twitter is reaching a “tipping point” (defined as “point at which a slow gradual change becomes irreversible and then proceeds with gathering pace,” according to Wikipedia).

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It’s a shame when a useful tool such as Twitter becomes a means for online harrassment and abuse. And it’s of even greater concern when the creators of the tool seem to condone such action.

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Sixty of the top 100 Twitter users are bloggers. The analysis takes the top 100 Twitter users as measured by the number of followers. In April 2008, a list was created from the website Twitterholic, which ranks Twitter users by the number of followers.

According to my categorization, the breakdown for the number of users in the top 100 is as follows:

Blogger      60
Corporate   25
Celebrity*    5
Developer    5
Twitterer      4

*Includes politicians. 

Of course, the number of followers is only one measure. It does not necessarily indicate the usefulness of the Twitterer. I am working on a different measure that will provide another metric to evaluate usefulness. 

One caveat, the list is in flux. Barack Obama was recently toppled from the top ranked position by Leo Laporte. (As of today, Twitterholic appears to be malfunctioning—the usually high ranked users are missing from the Top 100 list.)