Hail the Fail Whale

Undoubtedly the Twitter Fail Whale is a Web 2.0 icon, but things don’t stop at the trendy edge of internet-based appreciation. Rather, in a horrific case of cliché, the Fail Whale is so much more.

Appearing in moments of Twitter downtime, the Fail Whale diffuses user frustration, until the micro-blogging site recovers allowing 140 character updates to flow once more. I could go into details of how the image and concept of the Fail Whale occupies spaces all over the web and has been discussed at length by many. Alternatively though I’ll just point you to ‘What Is Fail Whale?’ A collection of all you could ever need – how to make a Fail Whale Martini?

But why do people love it so and how does it pacify annoyed users? The ‘What Is Fail Whale?’ site has a very simple sentence that sums up succinctly with a sentiment that should extend far beyond Twitter and resonate in the world of word of mouth.

“The Fail Whale is a web 2.0 icon and aims to improve user loyalty by showing empathy.

(__-){  <3s you!”

Sweet.

Brought into the world on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 and filed under Uncategorized.