Have you heard of Twitter? Sure you have. But do you have the time to figure out if it could be useful for you or your business?
According to co-founder, Evan Williams, Twitter’s spectacular growth is being driven by unexpected uses. Twitter use was up 10x in 2008.
But what is Twitter? It’s bigger than SMS and smaller than email. With its “instant messaging” web interface, you can connect to the world in 140 characters or less. Twitter is a free service for friends, family and co-workers to communicate and stay connected. The messages answer one simple question: “What are you doing?” Those little messages are called “tweets” not to be confused with “twits”.
“So”, a skeptic may still say? Are you getting all social media interactivity-connectivity-burnout yet? Hold the phone – don’t hang up just yet. Maybe there are useful Twitter applications that could prove useful and keep your social media ADD to a minimum.
Here’s what Lee LeFever (fun-voice guy) has to say, courtesy of his site www.commoncraft.com.
But there is more to consider in this haze of social media applications du jour. Not only is the Twitter business model and profitability still unclear, but it puts the traditional business brainiacs in a tailspin.
Twitter is a free Internet service that is figuring itself out as it grows. Before the revenues can cost justify the business model, Twitter has taken off down that unknown Internet super highway. Hurray for the new upside down model that drives fast before it establishes a monetization plan.
Looks like Twitter needs a redesign on their homepage, no doubt. The bird is stiff and could use a stronger bird-bill and dynamic voice. Branding is key.
Last year, Twitter and Facebook were in discussions. It seems like a natural fit to hang Twitter off of Facebook. Maybe it was overpriced at $500 million and merging a Goliath like Facebook (175 million users) with Twitter (6 million users) didn’t seem feasible.
The investors felt confident, despite the lack of revenue they forked over $20M. The last valuation was around $98M. What!
Twitter is mobilizing their traction first and will figure out how to make money along the way. This is an interesting new horizon. I am sure the traditionalists are rolling over in their business 101 graves. But still, it’s ok -right? Build loyal users, not bombard them with ads and once you hit critical mass, boom – you pull the switcher00. Trust me, there is a switcher-oo waiting to happen.
But let’s hear from Evan Williams, Twitter’s co-founder – the not-so-dynamic speaker – with dynamic insights into the adaptive uses of Twitter. This will help make up your mind.
This should help you to decide on Twitter. Go on try it out- you may even find a few EnoggEggbert Twits or is it Tweets.
From the Desk of Enogg.
