Recently a unique situation has occurred, call it a confluence of the omnipresent micro-blogging movement (Twitter) and the launch of private betas of new web apps, that has been really bugging me.

In the beginning there was hype, and lo it was good

Two or three years ago you could launch the closed beta or alpha of a new web app and it didn't really cause much stir, other than the expected hype and anticipation. The group of people who had access to the closed app would communicate with each other either within the closed ecosystem of the app itself, or through some other equally limited means like email.

Then came Twitter

With the rampant success of services like Twitter, the game as they say, has changed. Now when you want to share some great new thingy that you have produced with said private app, what do you do?

Well of course you tweet it, or better yet, the app tweets it for you. If only people with access to said private app were following you on twitter, this would be rather innocuous. Unfortunately this is not the case. Some of us have hundreds, if not thousands, of followers on Twitter.

The moment we post a link to something on one of these apps in our streams, saying things like "Boom, new awesome sprocket begotten by my shiny webapp" we simultaneously excite and frustrate our followers. It is important to understand that this can ultimately be damaging to your shiny new web app.

The last thing you want is for the app to have negative experiences associated with it before it has a chance to really live. Thankfully this does not have to be.

Heed my words, I am the Profit

I think the most disturbing thing about this trend is the enormous opportunity that is being dropped by those of you making the next generation of fully awesome web thingies. One would hope that by the time you start allowing people to really use your new app you have a fairly bulletproof way to display the things they are creating.

Why not allow for the display of the content they are creating, even to logged out individuals? What is more compelling do you think, me talking about how awesome this new service is, or me showing you how awesome this new service is by giving you a link to what I am doing with it?

The two keys to any web app worth its salt are creation and consumption. What does it allow me to create, and how can I give it to people to consume. Obviously you want to limit the number of people creating content in your new environment, but limiting the consumption of this content? What does it really give you?

To sum it up

In todays reality, the Twitter-reality, allowing for consumption of your private beta'ed web app will drive its mindshare, encourage excitement and drive use once you are ready to open the doors. Limiting consumption only breeds frustration and negative emotion associated with your app, cutting its legs out from under it before it even has a chance to run.

As always, the comments and twitter are open. If you twitter a response to this, please use #silly888. I'm a lazy, lazy motha. Searching for your responses by hashtag makes me giggle.