Kids of Today

I have been to a few conferences in recent years which have included a panel of teenagers sharing their experiences of the web and impression of different brands. I always find these sessions insightful and amusing.

I received this email from a colleague and loved the comment on Twitter in particular.

A VC-buddy of mine went to this event this week in Menlo Park. He was amused by the ever-popular teen-panel, where about 10 kids between 12 and 14 were asked about their consumption of media and use of technoloigy, with the following summary:

• Two services they could not live without are: GMail and Facebook
• When asked whether they would continue using their essential services if they had to pay $5 a month, they said no and that they would just switch to free service and friends will follow
• "Twitter is for Journalists and old people"
• Linear broadcast TV is not used; several mentioned that TVs have been disconnected in their houses
• In trade off between watching TV on e.g. a 42" plasma or a low-resolution laptop, the latter wins because of non-linear programme choice and lack of parental supervision
• Which would you rather have - iPhone or Droid? One third each plus one third don't know what Android is or whichever is cheapest?
• Might consider paying for music for a band they really like, but unlikely

Twitter again - at a crossroads

So another post on Twitter. It is a fascinating case study and I am not the only one that thinks so - see Weaverluke's paper.

I think Twitter is at an interesting juncture and its actions in the next three to six months will define whether it becomes a platform, becomes a mass market brand or disappears. All three scenarios are possible.

Plagued by operational difficulties caused by having a intern design the architecture, Twitter has spent the last few months in physiotherapy being coached how to walk again. By and large this has been achieved - with the occasional wobbles we have seen this week.

The interesting element is that Twitter has open APIs to its architecture as all good web2.0 companies should. Or should they?

Gradually, as Twitter's product managers have been sitting on the bench waiting for the engineers to make sure that the court is playable, other companies have made use of that API to create their own Twitter experience. The truth is now obvious. The experience created by the likes of Twhirl and Slandr (the two I use most out of a long long list, even recommended by Twitter) means that you never need go near the Twitter domain again.

So, what now for Twitter? Eventually it will need to make some money. How is it going to do that? You'd have to argue that they need someone commercial on the team at some point - its initial use of SMS was created with the US in mind and would have bankrupted smaller African nations let alone a tech based start-up. Now it is in a situation where it arguably cannot monetise the customer directly. Indeed, others are - only this morning I read of a new initiative for people to place ads in their own tweets to be able to monetise them. (I shall not link to it - it's not my idea of Twitter).

Either:

Twitter needs to be the bitpipe and engage in an interesting play for web2.0 - charge for its APIs (would this be a first? I cannot think of another example from this new world). I actually think at this point it is the smarter play.

Else,

It needs to put the platform issues behind it and build or buy its way to leading the user experience again. Its acquisition track history is not good. It acquired the excellent Summize earlier this year and yet the functionality to the market is less than it was when it was acquired (I miss Labs!!). So, it is now up to Twitter to compete again hundreds of smaller players - already monetising the traffic that Twitter is not.

If it were not for the economic downturn and the fact that these players all rely on the API for their business, I'd say this strategy was doomed to fail.

With a bit of manoevering, judicious use of both strategies could see Twitter emerge as the master of its own genius again. Can they do it? Do they have the team to do so? Time will tell.

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New World: Old World

A short post to make note of an interesting paradox.

Here we are in the nascent and emerging world of web 2.0 where - we are told - that the community rules; that the days of broadcasting are over; and, that brands must engage in interaction and communication with their audience to make their way.

A brave new world? Perhaps. But take a look at these leading examples from Twitter (which has me hooked) which, by general early adopter consent, is at the vanguard of all that web2.0 represents.

These are four examples of people using Twitter with large followings. When they speak their words create waves in the twitter community (ok, so I exaggerate a little in the case of Jemima but I wanted a UK example and she is great). But the key point is not the number of followers but the proportion of followers to those that they choose to follow in return. Without the 'follow' back there is no return leg and no chance of conversation.

I'd argue that in these cases, either the 'publisher' or the audience at large has re-created the existing publishing world paradigm where "I talk and you listen" or perhaps "I want to hear you talk". In this instance, Twitter is nothing more than any other distribution channel or a place where the audience can gather to listen. Not very web2.0.

If this is worrying for you then you should know that the profile in the bottom left is the Founder and CEO of Twitter!

This is the paradox that I mentioned above. Of course, I could leave the post there and leave you with the impression that all tweeters are like this but here are some examples of people who are either champions of the community movement or are applying its principles.

Let's hope this bodes well for Barack Obama's Presidency (fingers crossed) that in the twitter world he proactively seeks out conversation with others (he has fewer followers than those he is following).

A wonderful riposte

I have a feeling Twitter is like Marmite in that you love it or hate it without a lot in between.... perhaps a few that hate loving it.

The service has been having troubles recently with repeated outtages which in a less addictive service would already see it in many a user's deadpool.

The level of frustration has been high amongst users and among some industry commentators. One example of this was a post on Techcrunch which was a little disdainful and could easily lead to viral panning of the service.

I think the Twitter response was fantastic - playful yet serious, humble yet confident. Well done guys. A wonderful use of your company blog to reassure your users and get people onside again.

PR Meltdown - Part III

Great post at Mobhappy about what appears to be a company's bungled attempt to leverage Twitter and the social community around a competitor brand.