Twitter 1 (rhymes with won) and Users 0

While enforcing their rights and their Terms of Service (TOS) Twitter (the company) has reduced the user community experience. It seems to me the score is Twitter 1 and Users 0.

While UberMedia may have overstepped their bounds. I think Twitter did a 800 pound gorilla move on the user community. It seems the initial hit is over. For now.

Some of the issue stemmed from the use of the word Twitter in the name of UberMedia products – namely UberTwitter. Which was the primary Twitter app I use on my Blackberry. Sure. It’s free, but so is Twitter. It seems Twitter didn’t like them using the name in the product. Which is perfectly within their rights. However, while UberTwitter was down and being renamed / rebranded as UberSocial I was using the default Twitter app for Blackberries. At first I didn’t like it very much, but it’s not that bad. So, will users come back?

The newly minted UberSocial seems to be back now. It’s gone up and down a few times. The picture in this post is the error I received after I first loaded UberSocial. This error seems to be gone now. Sometimes replaced by the fact that no updates are coming through.

Is this a big deal in the grand scheme of things? No. Was it annoying? Yes. Did UberSocial lose mindshare and customers in the process? Yes.

Looking Forward to the Twitter Branded Future

Will we all need to start including (R) or (c) or (tm) in all our tweets that mention the word Twitter? What about for blog posts mentioning Twitter? What about comments? Do we need a special set of air quotes when mentioning twitter?

Did Twitter have the right to shut UberTwitter down? Sure. Did they have the right frame of mind for end users? I don't think so.

What do you think?

Image and Copyright Credits: Twitter, UberSocial, UberMedia