Twitter is playing with fire. They are making a mistake that may be costly to them moving forward. They thought the way their users interacted with them needed an update. They should have asked their users. These forced changes are creating a growing wave of user anger. They are being forced to re-learn how to use the service and third-party management apps no longer work.
Don’t get me wrong. Users like Twitter and its place in our lives. Sure, many have problems with political balance, privacy and much more, but generally speaking, it is a good place to grow your follower base and participate in whatever discussion you are interested in.
With that said, Twitter is huge and too complex. It’s difficult for most users to understand how to use this service for their personal or business lives. Many users struggle trying to figure out how to achieve the results they want.
Many times, they have found third-party apps to help them do what they want on the service. Some have cracked-the-code and are successful. Although they don’t know how they did it. The vast majority struggle to achieve the same results.
So, there is plenty of room for improvement. Making tweaks to the service makes sense, especially if it adds value to users. However, Twitter has now decided they will make significant changes that will force every user to spend countless hours relearning their system. Plus, they will find their third-party management apps no longer work.
No, I don’t think Twitter executives want to harm users. I just don’t think they know what they are doing. And they do not realize what they have unleashed. This is a recipe for disaster that is now brewing.
Twitter can save themselves, but they must act quickly
Over time and with lots of work and testing, users have developed many ways to handle the enormous Twitter challenge on an ongoing basis. Sure, it would be better if it were understandable and easier for users to be successful, but most users have made some progress.
With these sudden changes, users will now go back to the beginning. Once again they will have to waste countless hours learning again and searching for new ways to do what they have always done on the service.
This wastes time that no user has to spare. Especially when there is no added benefit.
Over time, every user has learned their own way to use Twitter. But users have a business to run and a life to lead. They don’t have the time, desire or need to be forced to learn something completely new and different. Especially with no benefit as a result.
Twitter third-party management software no longer works
Twitter users depend on third-party software applications or apps to help them manage and get value from the service.
These new changes are creating a road-block for these features, Twitter is creating big problems for themselves going forward. They are making their own service less valuable to their users.
Remember the first thing Doctors learn. First do no harm. However, too often these complete transformations don’t consider the user and that is the real problem. Forcing users to adjust only creates animosity.
Twitter should put users first
Companies should always put their customer needs first. If Twitter executives were getting itchy for a change, what they should have done was create a separate, new operating system. That way users who wanted a new experience could switch and those who were happy with the way it was could stay put.
Even Microsoft and Apple let users continue with old Windows and MacOS for years before forcing this kind of changes. Why can’t Twitter at least follow Microsoft and Apple? That would take the sting out of what is happening right now.
Twitter should learn from Microsoft Windows
Fortunately, there are a few ways of switching back to the familiar Twitter, at least temporarily. However, that solution was not offered from Twitter, so it will very likely not last very long.
This sudden change on Twitter is sending countless users, world-wide into a frenzy. Users are saying, how dare these executives negatively impacting their lives and businesses by forcing this issue and by not giving them a choice.
Like I said earlier, I like Twitter and want them to succeed. However, with this forced move, Twitter is playing with fire. They are slapping users in the face. They are saying they don’t care about the user. They will do what they want despite user demands.
If they are not careful and do not show they have empathy for their customers, they will get burned. And burned by their own torch.
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