Favrd, a site which aggregated the most popular starred tweets, has closed down. The site was a favorite of Twitter humorists, people who use Twitter mainly to express their wit. Favrd was the first of its kind to repurpose Twitter favorites (stars) into an aggregation site, where users could see who had “faved” their tweets, view tweets with 3 or more faves as a real-time feed, and check the most faved tweets in a 24-hour period on the Leaderboard. It was kind of like the Techmeme of funny tweets.
A similar site called Favstar launched in mid-09 (our review) and it appears to have taken the momentum from Favrd.
Favrd was the original though, so it’s disappointing to see it throw in the towel.
Most people think of stars as a way to keep a personal library of favorites. But according to a regular Favrd user we spoke to, “Favrds” (people who used Favrd frequently) throw them like confetti and rarely look back at their own stream of favorites. Favrd was also different from Favstar because it only counted faves of people who were registered – although you could fave anyone.
For a good overview of why many Twitter humorists liked Favrd, read this post by popular witterer Joe Schmitt (@joeschmitt).
The site’s creator, Dean Cameron Allen a.k.a. @textism, left the following suicide note for Favrd. You can tweet your condolences using this hashtag: #thankyoutextism.
“Alas, stars on Twitter have become mere take-out menus hung on the doors of other restaurants.
There are still lots of clever and funny things to read every day, but finding these is no longer a challenge – you already follow your sources. Sites like this one now serve mainly as fuel for emotional up-fuckedness in the guise of a game.
Just an idea: next time you see something you like, write the person who made it a note telling them so. Even better, explain why.
Take care!
– dca”
