Status updates on common requests and issues

Hello Twitterverse! First off, extremely grateful for the incredibly enthusiastic welcome from everyone. We have received tonnes of great feedback on how to improve via the public timeline, direct messages, and our forum at GetSatisfaction.  We will address the most common issues here, which are:

  1. Long waiting time of generating a report
  2. Re-updating of created reports
  3. Emphasize more “Interesting People” rather than “Celebrities”
  4. Upcoming features?

We will address each of these briefly right now, and will provide an new blog posting as we move forward.

1) Dude, where is my report?

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Status: The average time for someone who just joined will be about 48 hours.

Why? Under a deluge of requests, we had to make a tough choice between speed of processing and stability, and we decided to choose the latter. Earlier followers might recall that we crashed after Scoble used our service, and that caused lots of inconvenience to many users, which we were extremely sorry for. After that, we re-engineered for stability, putting the high networked users (>5000 followers) on whole as we cater to the rest of the users

What is next: 1) Gross negligence of bedtime as we ramp up capacity and optimize processes. 2) Sending new users a DM with an estimate of the wait time.

image image

*For Fun: Conversation with Scoble

2) I came back everyday, but my report remains the same!

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Status: We will update your reports again with a new set of rankings and based on your last changes.

Why not update now?: Updating is a very intensive process. Given our limited capacity, we want to make sure that we can get more folks their initial reports asap. Just as importantly, we have learnt lots about what works (and what does not), and we will need sometime to finetune and create more substantial improvements, as opposed to marginal tweaks.

What is next?: We are likely to implement a weekly update, with recommendations based on the changes for the week. We cannot promise a concrete timeline, but will be sometime Dec.

3) I do not want to see “Internet Celebs!”

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*First and foremost, our goal is to help create meaningful relationships, not fan clubs. This is definitely top of mind for us.

What: For veteran twitterers, the feedback is that they often have to flip a couple of pages before they get to the really interesting people. Before that, they see celebs they know about already. Hence, feedback is that we should downgrade the “internet celeb” effect

Status: We already have several checks and balances to downgrade the “internet celeb” effect (finetuned thrice already), but we are sure we can improve further!

What is next: Using both user feedback and datapoints to finetune rankings that create meaningful relationships. Re-iterating, we are not out to create a fan clubs, but here to help make “marriage-worthy” matches, as Marta Strickland very eloquently pointed out.

We will get there, but we do need lots of feedback and support! In the meantime, please flip a few more pages!

4) Upcoming features?

What: There has been many great suggestions for features, ranging from ability to see your own statistics to UI improvements like checkboxes for one-click following.

Status: We have implemented some of them, but we are focused on scaling this week. We will implement somemore ideas next week, so stay tuned!

All in all, thank you so much for being such great users - we love you guys, and we are so glad we have a forum besides Twitter to communicate through! :)

Cheers,
Mr. Tweet

Category: Service Updates

  • You guys are doing a great job really really good job. Keep it up!
  • Mr. Tweet...where have you been...I just read your listings on who I'm not following and the newest follows...and I thank you for an awesome report! Just what the doctor ordered and I will follow your advice biweekly to the T..I love how you have it laid out...very professional and neat!
    Tony Beach
    Hope I can help you in some way too...just ask? Need more traffic? I'll give you my best!
  • david
    Please, please, please can you get your service working again. It is a great idea, but I am sick of looking at the same list every time I log in.
  • Allie O
    Is there a "Ms. Tweet" in the future? It would be cool to grow a women's network on Twitter, too..*man*. <grin>
  • I got my list right away -- it was impressive. Not surprisingly -- Wil Weaton was on it. Zappos (dude he's everywhere) and many more -- I'd be curious how some of the folks relate, because it appears they are followed by others I follow... because they are cute, or well known... but I'm curious. Amazing work in any case, data mining at it's finest. Now, how do I get people to listen to my free music :)
  • randallmoeller
    Hi, can you please send me (@randallmoeller) a DM letting me know when I might get a report? Thanks!
  • Liz
    I must have been lucky to hear about you when you first started a couple weeks ago because I only had to wait a couple of hours. I look forward to gettting updates to my list but I understand you want to take care of 1st timers before we head back for seconds.

    I actually didn't have a lot of Internet celebrities on my list but I found the second part, about people who were following me who I wasn't following to be the most valuable. I don't always look closely at new follower notifications (since some people follow & then unfollow) so it was helpful to see who I had missed following back.

    I'd love to know how you match up the first category, people one "should be following". Compatibility is so complicated and I think a lot of people here are asking for very specific matchups. With millions of Twitterers and a deactivated People Search on Twitter (boo!), I don't know what you use as a basis (bios? people someone already follows?) to suggest new people to follow. I'd love to hear more about than if it isn't proprietary information.

    Thanks again!
  • Good luck, guys! Good choice in going for stability over performance :)
  • lisisilveira
    I agree 100% that I want to follow people because they are interesting and I have lots to learn or have in common with them... Celebrity is not something I want or am looking for... but Interesting people I will follow anytime :-)
    Anyway you are doing great!!
    Lisi
  • Keep up the good work Mr. Tweet!
  • Thank you Mr. Tweet. You apparently are working hard and not sleeping to bring the reports and data to the Tweeple!

    You are appreciated. I just signed up and have gotten a ETA of 100 hours for my report. That is fine. I will wait. I look forward to the valuable insights Mr Tweet provides!

    In Joy and gratitude!

    Amy

    http://twitter.com/allaboutenergy
  • I don't remember how long I waited for my report but I did find the information very valuable. I found like the statistics included in the reports as well as the people suggested.

    I like following some of the "internet celebs" so to speak but my report didn't have that many and I don't mind clicking past a page or so to finding the information I want, after all I have a library science degree.

    Thanks for offering this service.
  • Nice service and nice update, guys! It looks like most of the "if only it did this" things are in the works. (What I'd love is to be able to sort on the different fields).

    Glad you started this blog!

    Just a thought - Have you considered using getsatisfaction.com to help keep track of your requests and upcoming features?
  • It may not be a bad idea to give our actual names and bios. Mr. Tweet is a great name as far as it goes. But don't hide behind it.
  • ejly
    I heard about you guys and followed you on Weds night 11/26 (oh, about 48 hours ago...) I'm looking forward to getting my report or getting an update!
  • admin
    @Ollie -> Thank you so much! And you are certainly right about the data part. Pretty hardcore.

    @Mark -> Haha! Our first name is Santa, Santa Tweet. We try to do our best, and feedback has been core to us being able to improve the service continuously

    @David -> Yes, the DM was suggested to us by our users

    @Wayne -> Can you elaborate a little more about "socialtoo"?

    @Ee-Yuing, @Vince, @Yu-yu, @brownoxford -> Thanks a lot for your understanding - much appreciated!

    @Laura -> We actually do weight that, but I think it is great that you highlight it. Could certainly help a lot!

    @Gail, Kris -> Glad the blog psoting helped

    @T.S -> It is important for us to set expectations right, so 2 things here. (1) The 48 hours are for folks who sign up now. We had a huge influx over Tue/Wed, so the lag time would have been more than 48 hours. Slowly catching up! (2) We might not work that great for you, recommendations are hard to say. In the case of that happening, hope for your understanding and feedback!

    @beachbum -> please DM us your username

    @melody -> haha, thanks! We love SBGs. They are so important for bring small businesses into web awareness zone

    @Mike -> Thanks! We now have so many different filters we need to build - No Alist, No rabid followers... ;)

    @Jeremy ->Need to scale DB Writes. Any advice? hehe

    @Martin -> Thanks for your understanding! Will be updating the wait time as we go along. :)
  • Mr. Tweet is terrific. I wrote a review here: http://www.twitterrati.com/2008/11/28/review-mr...
  • Great work on making something that people want!

    From the comments above it shows that people are prepared to wait for something they know will be of value and use to them, all through word-of-mouth.

    Bravo MrTweet, I, too, am waiting on tenterhooks for my report to be processed.
  • I feel ya on the lack of sleep i am in the middle of a successful launch of a 15 site/blog network so keep up with your juices, exercise and whatever you can do to release stress. I would disagree slightly with your time estimate i believe it to be more like a week which for the type of report that is offer for FREE is an ok wait time.
  • While I'm at about 72hrs wait time, if anyone understands scaling issues it's me ;-) g'luck guys, keep rawking :-)
  • I'm glad I got a report before it went south again. It was very useful.

    Why not give us all the option of NOT INCLUDING the "Net celebs"? I have ZERO interest in the so-called "A-list."

    I'm looking for writers and book publishers -- not technologists.

    I look forward to report updates!

    Happy holidays. Get some sleep too.
  • Nice tool in the making. I found it really cool to see and understand the influencers were following lil ole me! Mr Tweet, you make me love Twitter even more! Every coach, speaker & author should become a fan of Mr. Tweet!
  • Ive been waiting 2 weeks now. I guess mr. tweet has nothing to offer me.
  • It has been over 48 hours since I followed and my other twitter friends who followed at the same time got a DM for estimated time and their report 2 days ago. I followed on Mon. or Tues. and I think I just got over looked. I am so not trying to rush or seem impatient. I know you are soo busy. Please forgive if you are working on me and I will wait even longer too. I just don't want to miss out on the great info cause everyone says it is so awesome!!! Thank you for this blog and all that you do.

    @netgendesign
  • I've seen this service all over twitter. My question is if I sign up will it automatically send a message into my timeline like the ones I'm seeing everywhere?

    Cool service and once a few more bloggeries are added I'll be adding it to the directory.

    All the best,
    Rob
  • Thanks for the update, was indeed looking for info on the report update myself. Great stuff anyway so keep it coming.
  • Paula
    finding cool/appropriate/interesting/helpful people to follow is an issue and sometimes difficult, especially for new users. Thanks for your hard work to fill that hole!
  • thanks for the blog. It answers many good questions especially the ones I didn't have to think of myself!
  • The celebrity thing is probably my biggest issue. It suggests Guy Kawasaki for me but I haven't followed him for a reason: Content not relevant to my interests and low chance of interaction if I reply. I'd kind of prefer something which weights the value of those on my twitter follow list who have fewer followers but where they and others have a low number of followers with 2 or 3 people in common. That is where I am mostly likely to know some one and not realize it, where I am likely to find some one with which I can have meaningful Twitter interactions.

    Some one who is following 2,000 people? As a non-power user of twitter, that isn't as helpful or as interesting to me. Relationship development is key. You can't necessarily do that with some one following that many people. (Er. See http://blog.fanhistory.com/?p=120 for more of an explanation as to my issues.)
  • Considering the amount of traffic that has been dumped in your lap overnight, I think you guys are doing great, keep up the good work!
  • Congrats Mr. Tweet! We'll be waiting for the updated reports. I think everyone's just really anxious to see who they should be "meeting"!
  • Vince Verbeke
    Good stuff. Thanks for thhe update. Appreciate the fact that you are being inundated with requests right now.
  • Looks like you guys are doing a great job and having fun at it! Glad you have a blog now!
  • I was fortunate enough to feature on Mr Tweet, sometime on Tuesday (I think), which resulted in 100+ followers, which was and still is excellent.

    However, I had no idea where those followers had come from, because Twitter doesn't offer that kind of information flow. I was told by someone else.

    As a service, Mr Twitter is very informative and helpful; certainly helping me uncover people who'd followed me who I didn't even know about!

    What I'd like to see is a Mr Tweet / SocialToo mashup. Now that would be cool...
  • So far, I'm very impressed - I've found a number of new people to follow beyond my network, and also been able to check on interesting people among my followers.

    Sending a quick acknowledging tweet with an 'estimate of time to create a report' is a good idea - because by the very nature of Twitter, people expect nearly instant gratification.

    I'll add a few more suggestions via GetSatisfaction. Rock on guys!
  • Waiting for my report is like waiting for Santa (hint: it's been about 3 or 4 days)....

    Heard great things though - it's not a dig, just childish anticipation.

    (I'm 33 for goodness sakes!)
  • Ollie Parsley
    I think you guys are doing a great job! Keep it up! Even wrote a blog post on http://tweeterstuff.com

    Ollie
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