Social Media Minute: Twitter Scraps Suggested Users, We're at War for Interoperability

By Chelsi Nakano (@chelkano) Nov 18, 2009

Social media moves so fast, it's hard to keep up. Here are the week's top stories in scan-friendly format:

Twitter scraps 'suggested users' list

We're at war! For the Web!

Facebook implements a new privacy policy

Twitter and Facebook party with Xbox Live, but it's not poppin'

Twitter Scraps ‘Suggested Users’ List

Since its launch earlier this year, Twitter’s list of suggested users—the platform’s way of helping newcomers find interesting people to follow—has gotten a lot of backlash. As a surefire way to gain a healthy audience (featured users reportedly get around 53,000 followers after the first week of being on the list and 170,000 within the first month) the controversy doesn’t surprise us. Some of the accusations, however, have been fairly touchy, including favoritism for a particular political party (ouch).

Twitter’s answer to the problem? They’re scrapping it.

"That list will be going away," said Twitter co-founder Biz Stone. "Instead there will be something that is more programmatically chosen, something that actually delivers more relevant suggestions."

Exactly how they plan on managing this we’re not sure, nor do we know when the list will be taken down or replaced. We do know that in addition to a more egalitarian system, Twitter plans to add other features including faster ways to forward messages and the inclusion of more languages.

"Ninety-seven percent of our efforts are basically on delivering user value," said Stone. "Everyone is still experimenting. It's still young, it's still early. Anything goes right now as we figure out what works and what doesn't work."

An All Out Battle for the Web

Hold onto your hats, kids. The infamous Tim O’Reilly of O’Reilly Media predicts that we’re on the verge of a war bigger than any we’ve seen this side of the Web 2.0 era.

In a blog post titled The War for the Web, O’Reilly defines two models of operating system: a singular “One Ring to Rule Them All” type, and a second made from loosely joined pieces. He says the first model can be seen in Microsoft Windows on the PC, “a world that promises simplicity and ease of use, but ends up diminishing user and developer choice as the operating system provider.” The second is a system that works like an actual web, or, the Internet itself. Though it’s “less polished” and “less controlled,” it’s a great foundation for new innovations because it’s open to everyone—no permission required.

Though we’re currently at a crossroads, O’Reilly gives a lot of examples that suggest we’re headed in the winner-takes-all direction, including Facebook’s tight privacy policy (now revised), the need for Apple’s blessing when it comes to iPhone apps, Rupert Murdoch’s recent threat to pull the Wall Street Journal from the Google search index, and, of course, Google (‘nuff said). O’Reilly writes:

“…we've grown used to a world with one dominant search engine, one dominant online encyclopedia, one dominant online retailer, one dominant auction site, one dominant online classified site, and we've been readying ourselves for one dominant social network.”

The problem with this method? Zoom out, look at the big picture and you’ll see that it’s a war against interoperability, against reciprocity, against freedom! (Cue infamous Braveheart scene.)