• Library of Congress The U.S. Library of Congress announced that they will no longer archive tweets. The decision to archive in the first place was an indicator of Twitter’s social relevance. The decision to suspend archiving Twitter is similarly an indicator of its relevance.
• 280 You don’t make this kind of change when your working model is fashioned on constraint. This is either desperation, lack of understanding of its users, or likely both both. Add to that the pigpiling of images, polls videos and other nonsense which have only created platform bloat.
• Storify. Storify recently announced that it would be closing its doors. This is the downstream effect of platform plateau.
• Seeking a suitor. Twitter has made it clear that it is looking for a buyer.
• Communication squeeze. As the original live platform for near real-time social dialog, it once was our only option. We have so many other options for live public comms of this type.

And while not an indicator of failure, Twitter has changed over the years. What began as something closer to real human connection has devolved into a space for sterile speech and posturing. In full transparency, I have gravitated toward the mean and I am just as much a part of the problem.

Slow Twitter demise

There’s plenty of momentum to carry Twitter forward without any additional driving force. I suspect Twitter will continue to position itself as relevant with product modifications that drive it further from its audience and mission.

A core application for health professionals and e-patients, Twitter was founded in 2006 and claims 317 million monthly users. By all standards Twitter would be considered a success. The challenge, however, has been the drive to monetize. Or perhaps, more importantly, monetize at a level consistent with Silicon Valley expectations.

Ultimately, however, I think the jig is up.

And here’s everything ever written about Twitter on 33 charts.

Image with modifications via Flickr