Twitters Forthcoming Mother of All Whales

Path: mv.asterisco.pt!mvalente
From: mvale…@gmail.com (Mario Valente)
Newsgroups: mv
Subject: Twitters Forthcoming Mother of All Whales
Date: Tue, 10 Mar 09 13:41:21 GMT

“Dunbar’s number is a theoretical cognitive limit to the
number of people (150) with whom one can maintain stable
social relationships.
Proponents assert that numbers larger than this generally
require more restricted rules, laws, and enforced norms to
maintain a stable, cohesive group”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number

“‘The Tragedy of the Commons’ describes a dilemma in which
multiple individuals acting independently in their own
self-interest can ultimately destroy a shared limited resource
even where it is clear that it is not in anyone’s long term
interest for this to happen”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons

“A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy.
Four Things to Design For:
– handles the user can invest in
– a way for there to be members in good standing
– you need barriers to participation
– a way to spare the group from scale”

http://www.shirky.com/writings/group_enemy.html

Even though I’m a big proponent and defender of social
software ( http://is.gd/mHsv ), I think in the long run
Twitter has no enduring value and is destined to FAIL in
whale size proportion. Observation of the medium in the
last couple of months and in the last couple of days tends
to confirm my hypothesis.

— MV

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