Article

Jon Bains
Jon Bains 4 November 2015
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What We Can Learn From The Impending Demise Of Twitter (In 17 Tweets)

Twitter, the perfect illustration of the legacy of the silicon valleys belief that 'finding' is better than ‘having' a business model.

Twitter is the perfect illustration of the legacy of the silicon valleys belief that ’finding’ is better than ‘having’ a business model. (137)

 

Hopefully ‘modern’ startups will realise that actually taking the time to establish a commercial proposition from the start is shrewd. (133)

 

Their current challenge is by design - it’s the limitations of the system that provided original novelty in an SMS world. (139)

 

Facing attack from all sides, necessity to remain relevant and most importantly profitable has forced them to show their true colours... (134)

 

Revealing, that in fact, they don’t have a strategy - at least not one that benefits their formerly loyal users. (101)

 

What can we learn from this? (38)

 

  1. If you are planning on being commercial at some point - be commercial at the starting point (94)
  2. Focus on where your core value lies - don’t try and ‘me too’ because trends have shifted (91)
  3. When entering a new market i.e. Twitter/Facebook for business for example - then make sure there is actual behaviour to support it (133)
  4. Volume rarely equates to value - having fewer but more actively engaged users is often the best way to go (109)
  5. When you see the change coming - either get out or get moving (66)
  6. Social start-ups require mutual self-interest to flourish - key word being ‘mutual’. If you audience purely broadcasts the value is lost (139)
  7. What the shareholders want is rarely what the consumers want. The wise focus on the latter and give shareholders what they NEED (130)
  8. The worst aspects of your company culture will be the first thing people consider when considering you (105)
  9. Just because consumers will do one thing in one context does not mean they will do the same thing in another (111)
  10. You can never-ever be ‘slightly censored’ - if your business model relies on free - unfettered communication you may want to think again (140)

 

BONUS: If you try to actually write in tweets you start sounding like a fortune cookie. (87)

 

This piece was inspired by Mike Morrison who reckons that all questions can be answered in 140 characters and by Damian Corbet’s great piece on their "inexorable slide into mediocrity and irrelevance".


 

About Jon Bains

Jon Bains, a 21-year net-vet, is founding partner of consultancy What&Why - purveyors of internationally proven, actionable strategy. They help new businesses get into the market and old ones out of their head. He is always up for new challenges, contracts and conversation. Connect with him at www.linkedin.com/in/jonbains. He doesn’t bite (much).

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