Business Insight Zone

Many of y’all know I’m a fairly heavy Twitter user/addict. Like a lot of Twitter users, I’ve been frustrated by the service’s very, very, VERY patchy availability over the past few months. Earlier today I was so frustrated after Twitter ate a message for the umpteenth time this week that I paused to consider — actively consider — how much trouble it would be to switch to some other service like Pownce or FriendFeed.

But I follow hundreds of interesting people on Twitter, and am followed by hundreds in return. There’s a built-up network there — ivy covering the brick, so to speak — that it would take a long while to replicate anywhere else, if indeed it could be replicated at all. It’s hard to port the Twitter experience out to some other setting or tool, which the folks running the service (and those funding them) must know quite well.

But what if you DON’T have high switching costs?

Consider another service I often use in tandem with Twitter: Is.gd. This is one of those URL-shortening tools, and I like it better than others (Snurl, TinyURL, etc.) because the interface is better (no need to use the mouse) and because it genuinely gives you THE shortest possible URLs.

But a little while ago I couldn’t connect to Is.gd. Don’t know why — and don’t really care. Maybe it was just a fluke, although I find that I can’t get in as I write this, either.

Probably the folks at Is.gd are tearing their hair out right now, trying to figure out how to restore service. They have a nice little tool, so in general I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. But they also have no special claim on me — no built-up history, no ivy covering the wall — which means that the friction for me to switch to some other service is . . . not just minimal, but nonexistent.

Eggs, baskets, etc.

We all know the old adage, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” but many businesses have done very well for themselves putting all their eggs in one basket. (Example: Harry Winston stores. You’d never go to them unless you’re in the market for seriously high-end jewelry. But if you ARE in that market . . .)

But here’s the key: if you’re going to put all your eggs in one basket . . . GUARD THAT BASKET.

Am I the first person to figure this out? Hardly. But given my experience with the downtime of online services, I’d say this old, old lesson bears much repeating.

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(Photo by Irene2005.)

Category: Social media