Everyone who uses Twitter is probably familiar with the “Fail Whale”, the cutesy whale graphic that doesn’t really convey any message, except that Twitter is currently down, and you should look to do something else in your life during this time.
Whoever programmed this whale page, what exactly was he or she thinking. Is Twitter service allowed to be horrible simply because it doesn’t generate any money?
Some users simply accept this, but perhaps I have a unique perspective being an employee at an online brokerage firm, and also the co-founder of a start-up software testing company. One makes money, one is on its way to revenues and profit. Regardless of the revenue stream, throughout the time, we focused on delivering products that customers want, while maintaining the highest levels of reliability and service. Why, because we have high expectations from ourselves, and have plans to monetize the results.
How does the Twitter CEO sleep at night knowing the company makes no money? How he ever allowed the appearance of the “Fail Whale” is beyond my wildest thoughts. “Lets spend investor funds to design a nice piece of art, so when our systems go down from usage (all of which is not generating investor returns) users can see this whale, and maybe laugh about.” That just seems ridiculous to me.
To properly run a business, have plans to monetize. Tacking revenue generating features too late might actually irritate your group of core users. This is 2009, not 1999. Start-ups and internet firms need to make money. Run a business like a business, If the servers are over capacity, expand the infrastructure. Showing a smiling whale is not acceptable, and you not making money is not our problem.
