Comments on: Jajah @call @stuarthenshall service misses the Phweet spot IMHO

By: Doug

Doug — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 17:01:11 +0000

Limiting the caller to calling only his followers prevents this service from becoming the ultimate robo-call mechanism. Thanks Jajah…

I don’t see much demand for this service, mostly it looks like Jajah is trying to sell minutes.

By: Tweets that mention Jajah @call @stuarthenshall service misses the Phweet spot IMHO | stuart henshall -- Topsy.com

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 21:56:10 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by mjgraves, Stuart and Taglets Log. Taglets Log said: #stuarthenshall Jajah @call @stuarthenshall service misses the Phweet spot IMHO http://is.gd/3mzby [...]

By: Stuart

Stuart — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:22:06 +0000

Luca,
Thanks for the comment. I’m generally in accord. Jajah @call won’t generate a lot of call traffic for Jajah. The Jajah model is only one that would work with close friends and then a number, Skype etc has usually been shared.

Where we probably differ in our beliefs is the opportunity that exists to escalate twitter exchanges to voice. I think you already know my beliefs around location based Tweets (like classifieds) and the benefits that can be had when the “system” provides the users with additional control. Eg CallerID, content re why want to talk. In Phweet we were conscious that we needed to change the way telephony works for it to be an effective part of Twitter. Eg the receiver is in charge. The receiver will never take an unwanted call etc.

Since Twitter and Phweet were launched Twitter has changed their focus and “messaging” significantly. Eg SMS no longer used / available in most parts of the world and changes in the visibility of conversations (eg #fixreplies). There also remains significant “latency” in Twitter. It’s not “real-time” like SMS or a voice call. However… many voice calls are made as a result of info… and many Tweets would like to escalate to calls and “persist” in importance. Search proves they will. Twitter just has to move to GPS tweets to make this really relevant.

Re Context. Context/status updates are the future. eg MotoCliq in some form. The elimination of the number / number exchange between parties is likely to become more relevant not less. We are names / not numbers. I’m also not interested in aggregating all my networks/directories under one mobile number. I am interested in managing these profiles/services from my mobile. Neither my handset manufacturer or my mobile operator has any right or necessity to have access to all my profiles. Just another reason that call escalation is really a contract/understanding between two or more individuals.

A “progress” example would be a Phweet like service running on an iPhone using the APPLE notification server. I have others…

What still excites me is Jajah reopening a conversation. Should Twitter talk? I believe YES it’s a value added service that can generate dollars. However I don’t see longterm solutions in “minutes” sold.

By: luca

luca — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 07:24:28 +0000

Stuart,
I honestly don’t think friends at Jajah will get much traffic from this.

The point, IMHO, is that the fact you are chatting with someone on Twitter doesn’t mean you want to use Twitter as the mean to originate a phone call. Most of the time you DON’t want to make a phone call. Twitter is twitter, a phone call is another completely different way to communicate and these are both valid and effective but belong to different contexts.

It is ok to try to leverage it to increase traffic/users but I doubt the % of user that will actually use it will be high (better, I doubt it will be relevant). My 2 cents

ciao