Mike isn’t too busy, he’s looking at the numbers first thing every night when he wakes up, which is the real reason your ass hasn’t caught fire.

Jimmy

For all of those who write off Twitter as early-adopter ware going nowhere but up the butt of the blogosphere … there was a very successful microblogging service out of the mobile space in Japan in 2000, on iMode. It may be that services like Twitter really come into their own as more and more mobile devices become internet capable (which is what iMode is.) Microsoft, AOL and Yahoo have not managed to do better in the US in spite of their huge installed base of IM users and presence footprint and only Facebook really has a commanding lead in status/newsfeed. I’d be much more likely to watch the space and look for audience trends than I would to just write it off as too geeky. SMS seems popular and it is one-to-one. Why assume that one-to-many (especially if it is the “right” many relative to the one) layered on top of a one-to-one core messaging application would not get traction with the mass-market?

But that’s only by day. At night I join the mass and tune in to American Idol and root for David Archuletta.

Please. That argument is tired and elitist. You’re like a modern art owner trying to find a reason behind a splash of paint that cost a few thousand dollars.

Cliff Gerrish writes on his Echovar blog: The consumption strategy that makes the instant messaging model of Twitter work is to follow a core group and then track keywords of interest. Tracking keywords adds people you don’t follow into your…

(What the preceding ignores is that some folks seek out these posts specifically for an opportunity to display their expressions of outrage. That’s the unadvertised service both Gillmor and Scoble cheerily provide.)

Scoble has clearly learned from the Kerry campaign. He will not be swift-boated. His rapid-response war room staff is ever ready to defend his reputation.

Scoble’s heart is pure. He does what he does for no ulterior purpose. But what he does is so far beyond the bounds of what most of us do, that we are mystified and left gasping for motivation. Here’s the truth about Scoble. There isn’t just one of him. He’s like those cylon skin jobs (in fact, he’s the one to be revealed). There’s a barn full of him, synaptically sync’d like the Borg. They sleep in shifts.

Gillmor ain’t gonna cut it for the “See Dick Run. Run Dick Run” crowd. If you’re not willing to get your brain bounced with metaphor and half-glimpsed visions that might expand your horizons, then fish in shallower ponds.

That’s it for now. Resuming my 140-character alter ego…

You must get tips about new startups all the time. Why don’t you write about the start up i work at? http://www.WebRidesTV.com, the fastest growing automotive enthusiasts site. In 18 months we went from no where to a top 6k alexa ranked website.

There are plenty of start ups to write about besides twitter, and if you can’t find any then you should hire someone who can, because that’s why most of us are here. We want to hear about the latest and greatest ideas and start ups. I know what Twitter is, i get it. And if you keep blogging about the same crap you’re just gonna piss off your user base. I love tech crunch, i’m a big fan, but stick to what got you here.

Please believe i say this with the best intentions. Squeaky wheel gets the grease. Michael Arrington said it himself, “I love start ups!”

So do we mike, so do we.

[ closes Ameritrade in other open window ]

Oh, I think your posts speak volumes for impatient and hectoring irritability with ideas you don’t like. I’ve made a very reasonable and intelligent critique of this important article. That’s not “whining,” it’s criticizing. A lot of the people in the thread don’t even understand what he is saying, let alone its dangers. When someone like you comes along with a pestery little “you’re a whiner,” it’s eminently reasonable to assume that they are insecure — they are unable to entertain multiple, different ideas, especially contrarian ones. Conformism seems to be paramount.

>Don’t respond. I’m done with you. You are adept at alienating people. Try harnessing that energy to help some people instead.

I don’t need to follow any putative hydraulic theories of human endeavour here lol, to the effect of “don’t post on a blog and you’ll be able to save the people of Myanmar.” Did you eat your peas at dinner? Because if you didn’t, perhaps your mom can send them to Afghanistan.

My energy is plenty harnessed, and I help people already fine, thanks, you simply don’t know me, have no idea what I do or don’t do, and are just engaging in the typical little fussy Internet sport of hectoring and anaethematizing people with ideas you don’t like lol.

>Need some help with that? Ask me how you can mentor kids in India, or how you can help a kid build a windmill in Africa. Ask me how you can send a kid to summer camp who has never been to camp.

Um, no, I won’t be doing any of your self-designated “cool causes” that fit the usual tekkie approach to saving people. I know it would startle you to discover that I do exactly these sorts of things all the time, and more — but I’m not required to explain that to you : )

>Do something useful with your energy. For a change. I know you aren’t an idiot - you just play one on the Internet.

I am doing something very useful here, which is critiquing an oppressive idea. What are you doing except adding to the oppressiveness?

I admit that sometimes I have to read him three times before I get it, but I’m so glad to have invested the time when I do.

He has schooled me more than once on emergent trends, and I am all too eager to hear what he has to say. Tweet away…

Need some help with that? Ask me how you can mentor kids in India, or how you can help a kid build a windmill in Africa. Ask me how you can send a kid to summer camp who has never been to camp.

Do something useful with your energy. For a change. I know you aren’t an idiot - you just play one on the Internet.

Rob

..what’s the adoption rate of RSS since inception. A lot of people i know could give a rat’s ass about RSS — and these are people who live and work in the valley! I remember when all the SOMA kids and cooler than-thou hipsters couldnt get enough RSS masturbation while your avg Joe clicked an RSS link only to be served up with a bunch of XML code and went what the hell.

You, Scoble, Arrington and others who see Twitter as the second coming are simply blind to your own reality distortion field. Most people dont use IM let alone understand the need for Twitter.

It’s a shame that grown men like you are wasting your lives Twit-twatting with others who have way too much time on their hands…

Stoned or not, it bred some needed discussion on the relevance and necessity of these services. For the commenter who complaining “these services arent curing cancer” - RSS itself hasn’t cured cancer, but it has changed the way we consume information. How many major news outlets reported on DCA (dichloroacetate)? But many blogs and social news sites were buzzing about it. How did most of the interested people first learn of it? Some form of RSS reader. These new services allow asynchronous two-way communication, the potential for which has yet to be realized by the non-connected many. It might take something on the order of Google Reader (clean, simple, reliable, scalable) for this thing to really take off though.

Could you point to some rudeness?