Uber This, Uber That. What’s All The Fuss About?

By Osagie Alonge

So there I was, just back home from a stressful day on a Friday evening. After a hot bath, I turned on my PC, cued in some soothing Jazz music and then turned my browser on.  It’s a norm for me, that even before I check my mails; I compulsorily login to Twitter – my online obsession.

Twitter, the micro blogging site is like my Play Park, small business meeting place and text TV all rounding up into one for me. The randomness, fast updates but most interestingly, hot debates on issues are what excite and always have me tweeting round the clock.

But it was a little different that evening as the first tweet I saw was a follower’s, complaining about her not being able to use ‘Ubertwitter’. Ubertwitter, as I learnt is a twitter app mostly used by BlackBerry phone users. Another follower complained, followed by another one and another and yet another. Within minutes, my Timeline was flooded with complaints and oh-boy, people were not happy about the inability to use this app.

I was beginning to feel irritated. Ok it’s not working, then switch to another app and stop complaining! I mean, there are over 10 other apps they could switch to or just go back to the original twitter app that came along with the BlackBerry phone. I was not happy about the fact that almost everybody could not have a sense of closure and move on. At least, it wasn’t like Twitter shutdown.

The first thing I had to know was that why did Ubertwitter twitter shutdown and cause my evening to be filled with complaints from people I was meant to be sharing ideas and jokes with? Apparently, Twitter had the app banned due to privacy issue violations. I also found out that it wasn’t only BlackBerry users that were complaining, Android users had also been affected as the popular Twidroyd had also faced the ban.

UberMedia, owners of the UberTwitter and Twidryod apps, over the last two years have gained popularity and cornered the market as most BlackBerry and Android users have opted for its service. Last week, Ubermedia acquired another Twitter app, TweetDeck.

Twitter then released a statement to various sites stating that the apps were ‘guilty of violations [that] include, but aren’t limited to, a privacy issue with private Direct Messages longer than 140 characters, trademark infringement, and changing the content of users’ Tweets in order to make money’.

Not being a patron of the app, I found it quite annoying that I was somehow affected with its absence as I wasn’t even getting the right responses from my followers who were either trying out a new app or still complaining. Facebook suddenly seemed the next best place for to me run to.

After a few clicks here and there, message replies and changing my profile picture, I shutdown my PC and went to bed feeling empty. I said a little prayer for Ubertwitter before I slept though.

Ubertwitter which is back now fronts the new name UberSocial, and has been given full approval by Twitter, so everything is back to normal. The entire hullabaloo has got me wondering, where does user satisfaction end and the desire of platform owners to make money begin?

Similar case is that of Ipod owners Apple, warning to sue anyone who uses the word ‘POD’ tagged with their products without rightful permission. Websites aren’t left out as well as they are now demanding for search engines to pay them for indexing. An example is Newscorp, the media conglomerate who have recently decided to pull out of Google as they not being compensated for indexing. In fact, Newscorp boss Rupert Murdoch frayed more than a few nerves when he announced last year, that all Newscorp-owned sites are to begin charging users…