Twitter Founders Are Terrible Tastemakers (And Know It)
In any given month, half of Twitter's users never log on. Oy. To fix that, the microblogging service hand-picked some streams to push on new users, hoping quality content would prove addictive. How do you think that worked out?
About as well as any other scenario in which Silicon Valley geeks attempt to play tastemakers, which is to say, wretchedly. The company's co-founders, Web nerds Evan Williams and Biz Stone, have implicitly conceded as much, announcing plans to recommend feeds on a new basis: the tastes of other users who live nearby, or who have similar interests. What, middle America isn't going nuts Twitter-pimped content from Dell Outlet, Guardian Tech or geek-friendly bloggers like Veronica Belmont and Pete Cashmore? Who would have thunk it!
