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Some are skeptical, but I think Twitter will be around for a while

If you aren't on Twitter it is hard to explain. It really needs to be experienced. If you are on Twitter I'm sure you have asked yourself how a site that is so simple and yet is constantly down due to technical difficulties can survive. Here's 5 reasons why Twitter will survive.

1. It's not so stupid after all
When I first heard about Twitter I thought it was pretty stupid. Why would anyone want to blog in short sentences. Then a friend recommended it and I read this article in Wired. I finally gave it a try and got hooked. As the Wired article postulates, it gives you a sense of what is happening in the lives of those around you. It's also a great way to look back at what you really do all day which can be good or bad.

2. Early platform
The Twitter developers had a hunch it was not stupid when they created it. Since they were probably the only ones, they had the market to themselves. First to market is a fantastic competitive advantage since it literally can not be copied without the aid of time travel.

3. Number of users
Lots of people using your stuff means lots of other people wanting or needing to use it to connect to them. Twitter has lots of users.

4. Backbone
Because Twitter lacks some features, many third party apps developed to sync with it. Today there are tons of social platforms like Facebook that sync with Twitter. Twitter has become the glue that links these different sites and keeps your status updated across them all. Kind of like Tolkien's One Ring.

5. Familiarity
Ya it's not fancy and breaks down a lot- kind of like your first car, but that is part of the endearing quality of Twitter. It has a bit of the underdog story going for it. Plus, people love to complain and lots of down time makes for great tweets about the lack of service when it comes back up. Humans are funny that way.

Eventually Twitter will work out its technical difficulties and be a reliable communications hub. It will probably get bought by Microsoft or Google and become a mainstay on the web. I think we will miss these days. I can't help but think this is the golden age of Twitter. Tweet on.

Are you on Twitter? What do you think?