Great article by Felix Salmon on Wired last month about Twitter, found via Buzz Andersen’s blog:
Twitter is becoming increasingly concentrated on a tiny core of power users. It’s less and less a distributed mode of many-to-many communication, and more and more a broadcasting hub for the elite—a highly unequal place where their least-considered, Ambien-addled opinions get amplified to a global audience of millions.
When Micro.blog launched, not showing follower counts at all seemed like a big risk. Now I think it’s recognized as a great feature. If we want an inclusive, welcoming community, the UI should encourage that by presenting everyone as equals.