This page is a collection of a lot of user generated images for the Twitter Fail Whale. It also answers the question above. I think this is a great example of two measures we have an eye for when we help companies develop products.
First: failure is a means to the goal and should not be avoided per se. Failures help you carve out your market because it is through failing (and failing fast, as I like to say) that we learn the correct path to success.
Second: spreadability. This is a term that Henry Jenkins uses frequently to describe how users generate content. It’s a term that most people mean when they say “UGC” or “Viral Content” and it simply refers to the ability of a meme to be spread without the encoded original message getting distorted. Not only is Twitter “spreadable” but even its longstanding “fails” are worth sharing.
What we as product developers can glean from this lesson is that once a product makes it into pop culture, expect to lose direct control of the message. And that even a culture that gently pokes fun at the product by highlighting its shortcomings is in its own way a loving culture. We tease those we love, after all. Why should it be any different for products we love?
