If you have used Twitter for any length of time you are aware of the fact that crashes and errors on the site are as common as breathing. Users have learned to deal with this issue however, and usually take crashes rather well but if the site does not stabilize soon it is in danger of losing a major amount of its following.

When it was first launched Twitter was considered nothing more than a micro-blogging site but I think we can all agree that it has evolved into something much more than that. Twitter is a global news source for real time breaking news, and that news is provide by you, the citizen.

The site plays a major role in a new movement of citizen journalism, and that was never more clear than during the incidents surrounding the Iranian Election. Thousands of Iranians were given a voice through Twitter. If there were high error rates during this time what then would have happened? Iranians would have found another avenue to get their message out, and Twitter would have missed out on playing a major role in a media movement.

Considering that Twitter does not correct the stability issues it is having, or they get worse, the site will inevitably lose followers, and any loss of followers means a loss in relevance. Relevance is quite possibly the most important goal of any fledgling social media site, and sadly it is very easily lost. We have seen it happen many times before. MySpace was notorious for being cluttered and confusing and when Facebook came along offering a similar experience that was less cluttered, the social media torch was passed.

Please don't think I am comparing Twitter to MySpace, because I wouldn't dream of it but I am simply using it as an example. MySpace was a cluttered mess so people went to Facebook; Twitter is unstable so people could go to "insert the next big thing here."

Twitter plays a major role in news, and gives a voice to those in other countries who would otherwise have none. They are changing the face of the Interent with the concept of real time news, and their dominance could be in serious danger if the site does not stabilize. I am not saying that it is the stability issue itself that will draw people away from Twitter but the boom of a similar real time service that is stable definitely can. However inconceivable that may seem.

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