Or so seems to be the mentality of the think tank over at Foursquare and Twitter, lately.

These days, the Fail Whale has become the most recognizable whale since Free Willy. And over at Foursquare, BlackBerry users who couldn’t log in found themselves creating #Fauxsquare posts with their locations on Twitter, instead. That is, when Twitter was actually up long enough for them to tweet. But usually, the Fail Whale gobbled those up before they could make it out to the mainland.

Services that amassed a loyal, near cult-like following because of their simple, easy, and reliable interface are now going through an awkward pubescent stage filled with growing pains and angst usually reserved for a 90s show on the WB.

Companies are always going to look at tweaking the formula, in order to improve their revenue product. Does anyone remember New Coke back in the mid-80s?! These “improvements” often result in more backlash than praise.

But listen. Users will put up with minor inconveniences during the upgrades, as long as the end results are greater than the disturbances caused in the interim. It’s why we, as commuters, will deal with the headaches of road construction and detours all summer long. Because when it’s finished, that smooth, extra wide stretch of road is so much better than the pot-holed death traps that even cause NASCAR drivers to white knuckle into work.

However, it’s arguable that Twitter and Foursquare’s modifications have or will be worth the diminished UX (user experience) over the last couple of months. Aside from the addition of Lists, Twitter hasn’t added a whole lot during this time that’s made the user experience that much better than before. Then add in a celebrity death or event like the World Cup, and suddenly you’ve got one giant traffic jam on a road that’s already under construction. And it isn’t just the average Twitter-addicted user who is impacted by this.

For many businesses, a percentage of their business is reliant upon the traffic on these mediums. When Twitter is down or Foursquare isn’t allowing check-ins, there’s a trickle-down effect for these businesses. No different from a business that resides on a stretch of road closed down from construction.

How long will users remain loyal enough to hang around? Many will suffer through it for now, but that’s only because something better isn’t available. Yet. But the voice of dissent has been snowballing across these social media platforms, and even reaching the Facebook and Tumblrs of the world.

Will Twitter or Foursquare listen to the growing grumbling of their users and address their UX issues? Or will it take someone else to appear with a formula of their own that has all the taste, but half of the empty calories?

Bruce is a Mobile Media Specialist at Roll Mobile. He is a lover of good music, bad puns and ugly sweater vests. Want to learn more about adding mobile components to complement your existing marketing strategies? Or have a BLOG@ROLL topic you’d like us to explore?

Contact bruce@whyroll.com or on Twitter via @RollMobile.