For anyone who regularly uses the social site d’jour, Twitter, there is little doubt that it is one of the most useful social networking sites to date. It is an easy and quick way to keep in touch with people that you know and an efficient way to network. Following someone who keeps on the forefront of new technology or industry trends can make sure that you are an early jumper as well.
Unfortunately, Twitter has one small flaw…it is ALWAYS broken. This is starting to cause dissent amongst the ranks of the internet elite, and some people are moving to other services like Pownce. Many people have put a lot of time and effort into building and growing their follows and followers, and they are not terribly eager to drop Twitter so easily.
The brand loyalty is fairly unique in the ever-changing world of social networking but the community that so strongly supports the site is starting to use its flaws as a form of brand marketing.
Introducing…The Fail Whale.
This is the image that one sees often when using the site. It is the image that Twitter is over capacity and it portrayed by the Twitter birds carrying the whale of users. The community has created many twitter products for sale, and the latest craze is the abundance of Twitter whale paraphernalia. The interesting thing about this is the fact that a site can be branded by its clever error page.
There is even a fan club of the Fail Whale, and from what I have found there are shirts that are actually being sold by the original illustrator of the fail whale. Check out the Fail Whale Fan Club for all of the various ways that people are using this sites down time to help continue to promote it.
Fail Whale References on Twitter
