Twitter shouldn’t sell, they should buy 🃏
It seems nobody wants to buy Twitter, that’s a big relief.
TL;DR: I love Twitter,
and many of my (nerdy) friends love it too, but to be honest, Twitter is not as useful as it once was. Taking everything into account, here are some contra ideas in these weird times for Twitter and its users. It’s by any means a piece I have been tinkering with for a long time.
Twitter has seen tremendous growth over the years due to its devoted community of developers, creatives and robots, however that has stalled recently. One reason I believe is because they never had direct competition, only indirect in attention. YouTube directly had Vimeo and 50 other video streaming sites, Facebook had friendster, myspace, local social networks and Apple had Google and Samsung the last years and Microsoft before that.
Twitter stopped serving more types of users in new formulas and ways. Early Twitter investor and silicon valley icon Chris Sacca says:
“location is neglected, buying relevant separate apps could result in better hooks to use Twitter, smoother onboarding and additional monetization formulas are needed.”
If Twitter had bought more relevant and diverse companies like for example Instagram, Nuzzle, Pocket etc. They would have been importing technology, attract people but above all else sprout new business models/monetization options.
Facebook is surely doing something right
The data and money shows Facebook is doing better, reaching new people in new countries and making more money. But when I think of reasons why I still use the two platforms/social networks, the reason why I can’t stop Facebooking is not same for Twitter.
In my 8y on Twitter and 7y on Facebook I still can’t go offline on either, can’t stop tweeting because I like it too much — and I can’t stop facebooking because I feel locked in.
Facebook bought potential competitors for their emotional and corporate lock-in such as Instagram, Oculus VR, Branch and more underground ones Parse, wit.ai and Gowalla.
Facebook bought messaging app WhatsApp for a big pile of cash, just to make sure they stay on top of the next wave: messaging.
Facebook acquired Dutch design agency Sofa and other global design leaders to work on their apps and platforms, which in return became better. Fresh eyes; new design teams are great for a company to bring in new experiences and experiments.(side note, is there a reason why FB acquired design leaders Teehan Lax shows its people Twitter accounts, instead of FB/LI?)
Twitter is a place where you really show yourself, not only your private — or business life. Because Twitter is transparent, it stimulates more genuine and whole personalities, which is great, but because of some core problems the platform is crowded with spam and inactivity.
People just want to feel heard and that’s not what you get from Twitter at the moment (maybe as a power user)
It’s not too late
Instagram should have been bought by Twitter — the design of Instagram was made on the Twitter mechanism/follow formula and they are both inherently mobile. With Instagram they would have acquired a small, but great design team.
Lots of Instagram users used to be active on Twitter, the photo sharing app became a natural competitor
Twitter also bought companies and apps and with that acquired personnel with new models and technology. They made data more insightful and influential with Tellapart, Gnip and Niche, but it’s all based around advertising and serving people better targeted ads.
It’s doing nothing for (new) users.
For example why is there just one main Twitter (client) app? There should be more ways to experience Twitter. Why not buy or build more consumer facing apps that enhance the stream of tweets? Tweetie and Tweetdeck is such a long time ago.
The platform could really benefit from more verticals, more smarter ways to experience the endless stream of live, comments and ideas. Twitter music was launched, but discontinued. Why? What if you could scout Twitter based on your needs or actions, like events, work, news, social, relaxing, inspiration, etc
Twitter needs to work better for everyone, and needs more user facing separate (vertical) apps that support their mission.
Periscope is a great example of a new vertical. Twitter should keep on doing that and experiment more to increase value on their overall platform. With doing this, Twitter enhances the basic concept of a tweet with it’s links, articles, pictures, videos and opportunities (ads).
What can work, more specifically
Twitter is about Live, Connection and News. For us it’s about life, connecting and new people. That’s exactly why we made Wildcard on top of Twitter.
With Wildcard we aim to connect you with interesting new people in the moment, at the places where you meet, learn and work.
What Tinder was for Facebook (mandatory FB connect) we are for Twitter (mandatory Twitter sign in). We can say a lot about Tinder — how it’s been brilliantly designed and executed —you can also say Tinder was great for the Facebook platform because it became a (not owned) vertical app. What’s apparent that it’s a great success because of the money from the Match.com conglomerate.
Since Wildcard started at a Twitter hackathon in 2014, our team has since bootstrapped 3 launches (iOS, Android, and the addition of Stacks) and created a validated business model and great local engagement rates.
Wildcard does the same as Tinder, but aimed at intellectual conversations over coffee or beer/wine, instead of sex/love. It does this at specific places that are willing to pay to fire up these conversations.
Wildcard’s product and business model (+team) are a perfect fit for Twitter, here is why:
7 Reasons why Wildcard is a perfect fit for Twitter
- Advertising shouldn’t be the only business model for Twitter. Wildcard could enhance this advertising model (read: lead gen cards) with live, indoor and outdoor data.
- Because finding relevant people to follow on Twitter is easy, but finding people that matter around you in your tribe or offline community (university, office, venue) is hard.
- Because people want more one to one conversation; messaging apps are booming, and Twitter is falling behind here. Certainly there’s a lot of opportunity for twitter to invest in messaging. Above all conversations should be more relevant users because now it’s engulfed in spam and disconnect. People don’t know who they are talking to.
- Because hashtags are helpful, but too simplistic. Popularized by Twitter, hashtags should be made smarter by Twitter. Let’s attach location and semantics to the hashtag. Wildcard does exactly that, and adds a clever monthly service business model to it for (estimated 40k) companies.
- Because Twitter has no safeguard or verification for normal users. Mobile is personal, and more mobile usage from separate apps like Wildcard can confirm a user’s identity. In combination with other apps this can be a great way to verify users and have a more consistent experience.
- Because lots of people on Twitter have nothing to lose. Fake accounts focus on quantitative spamming. Wildcard enables quality conversations and asks what types of account there are: females, males, organisations, bots, aliens. Everything’s fine really, but it should be clear so (new) users know what to expect.
- Because inactive or read only users are fine, but they do not have enough reasons to be on Twitter. Also the logged out audience has huge potential to be revived. People can be pulled back in, in part with the Digits and Twitter sign in combination, and new apps this audience can leverage to enhance their life.
How can we make Twitter great again?
Seth Godin says it well. “Software can create connection, and connection is the engine of our future economy.” Twitter needs more opportunities (wildcards, LOL) to have a better shot at more engagement through private messaging and new consumer facing apps. Furthermore, that brings in new business upsides.
These are just ideas, which will not solve everything. It is improving the user experience, creating new business models and forging a greater culture for Twitter and her future. This is something all power users want for Twitter, and that will be spoken about out loud, like Chris did last year.
The Twitter story is not over yet. They should just have more natural competition, improve user experience and acquire more business models with separate apps!
Thanks for reading, you must love 💜 Twitter like I do
Press the 💜 below to let me know if you like it. Share this to someone at Twitter and let’s have this go viral, #MakeTwitterGreatAgain
