There’s lots of buzz about Twitter’s new (and improved?) suggested user list (aka SUL), it which it provides users with other people to follow. The original SUL mostly promoted A-Listers and celebrities, which explains why people such as Ashton Kutcher quickly built up a massive number of followers.
The new SUL (here’s a TechCrunch review) now features categories with each category having 20 suggested people to follow. While better than the old version, the new SUL falls short because it’s the mostly the same approach but re-packaged.
Twitter’s difficulties in creating a SUL that is relevant, useful and neutral (promoting people on the basis of things other than their notoriety) is one of the company’s biggest weaknesses. A huge part of Twitter’s value is being able to develop a group of followers who share interesting content, links and commentary. As a result, Twitter should be playing a major role in making it a breeze for users to discover new followers.
Unfortunately, Twitter has dropped the ball. Fortunately, the developer community has stepped into the fray to save the day. In particular, services such as Mr. Tweet are doing a nice job of filling the void. Mr. Tweet works by looking at your existing followers, and then suggesting new people to follow based on the information it has collected.
While not perfect, Mr. Tweet is a more interesting, valuable and democratic approach to discovering new people to follow. As a result, it’s the perfect target for Twitter to spend some of its venture capital booty on – along with TwitPics (photos) and Tweetdeck (reading/posting).
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