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Like Tiger Woods at the U.S. Open, Twitter is playing on a bum leg.

For weeks now the service has creaked under the weight of more users and traffic -- it's had to shut down key features and sometimes goes offline altogether as is struggles to build a more stable system.

Newer services, such as FriendFeed, Identi.ca and Plurk, have managed to peel away some users. Dwight Silverman, an active Twitter user, believes the exodus is not significant.

The following is a lightly edited radio interview with Silverman.

SILVERMAN: For most people, Twitter is where their communities are. It's where the most interesting conversations are happening. And so people are sticking with it because it serves that social need.

GORDON: But it seems like every week there's, like, the new Twitter. People are definitely sampling alternatives.

SILVERMAN: People go off and try them but they just don't have Twitter's mix of usability, simplicity and community.

GORDON: While Twitter is growing rapidly, it's certainly no Facebook yet. Will Twitter's technical problems prevent it from ever truly hitting the mainstream?

SILVERMAN: I think Twitter eventually will fix its problems. They're certainly working hard on it and they've gotten a large infusion of venture capital to try to make that happen. But I think it's going to take time, and I think they loyalty of the community will keep it together so that when it is fixed, a lot of people won't have fled.

GORDON: So you're a big Twitter guy. You update more frequently than I do and have quite a few more followers. Why do you like it so much?

SILVERMAN: I don't necessarily think that everybody should try Twitter. There are certain types of people who should try it. If you have a community of people around you who are using it, certainly you should get into it in order to maintain conversation with them. A lot of of the people I interact with are here in Houston. I've actually made additional friends in the real world that I have met on Twitter. If you're interested in technology and are interested in learning what some of the big thinkers of technology are doing, a lot of them are on Twitter. There is a growing community of entertainers on Twitter. You know John Hodgeman, who's on The Daily Show and plays the PC guy in the Mac vs. PC commercials? He's a regular on Twitter. The woman who wrote the screenplay for Juno is a regular on Twitter. So depending on what your needs are Twitter can be a lot of fun, it can be very useful, and you can learn a lot.