I recently joined a debate on Twitter...actually, it might be "the" debate on Twitter, at least in terms of the subject, because it seems many people now deem themselves ready to announce to the world their expert analysis on the network's long-term viability.
Here's a link to the article by my friend and a very intelligent, compassionate and accomplished individual: Steve Baker (who has an incredible story in a marvelous book, by the way, also available here) http://www.pushingwateruphillblog.blogspot.com/
Here is my comment to Steve's post:
Twitter...has recently launched some business-oriented initiatives that may cement its profit model—something with which every player in this nascent industry struggles—and move the product beyond “fad.“ In the next 24 months this industry will experience consolidation, shakeout and a move toward standardization. Twitter may change but its brand is too strong within the market to just disappear.
Here are two of the initiatives Twitter has undertaken that set it apart:
SalesForce
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=15032
Here's my mantra to companies and organizations debating whether or not to begin and maintain a social media presence: You don't get to decide whether or not your company uses social networking. If you have a business with customers, you get to decide at what point you join the discussion about you. With SalesForce, when a customer "tweets" about your company, product or service, you know and record all available information about that customer and her comment, and immediately gain an opportunity to interface, publicly, about the concern or compliment. That's powerful stuff.
Listen, I think SalesForce offers poor training, falls short on the front end of the sales cycle, sells its very high-priced product to anyone who has the ability--and not necessarily the need--to buy it, and I know for a fact that it has lots of dissatisfied users who use the product to a fraction of its potential. I also think SalesForce, like its competitors, aggressively forwards the unconscionable myth that purchasing software will solve your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) challenges...throw money at a problem and the problem will go away. That said, it is the mac daddy of enterprise CRM software and any social network pursuing an innovative revenue model would be wise to partner up with SalesForce and bet on the come, i.e. that the company will employ its current success toward addressing the aforementioned weaknesses. Twitter has done exactly this. Twitter may, in fact, provide the vehicle by which SalesForce works with its customers to identify and resolve its own CRM issues. Talk about powerful references and testimonials--and differentiation?
ExecTweets (http://www.exectweets.com/)
Good article here http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2009/05/18/story11.html?b=1242619200%5E1829407)
ExecTweets caters to big business owners, offering itself as a communications tool for customers and employees. Given the continuing reprisals people incur from their employers stemming from their conduct on Facebook, it will be especially interesting to watch the development of the latter part of that equation. Anyway, these big shots are actually giving it a go. Twitter has seized upon a fundamental truth about guys in charge: You'll never go broke appealing to their egos.
If you can win over a corporate CEO, you have a future. Big companies are terrified of change and any technology they didn't invent or of which they don't own a piece. Plus, these people are busy and demanding--there's an understatement. Getting them to experiment, and being able to log favorable comments about your product, is a monumental accomplishment in and of itself.
Conclusion
In the mid-90's, most of us didn't "get" the Internet. In 1995 I worked for what was, at the time, the biggest cable TV company in the world and we weren't certain we should maintain a web page.
I'm not a "power Tweeter" and I don't--at the moment--have a strategy simply aimed at achieving a huge Twitter followership. But I think to be dismissive of the tool is to demonstrate a lack of research and knowledge.
I do agree that of all these social networks, Twitter is the most difficult to define and understand. I, for one, found it largely unmanageable until Bill Tamminga showed me TweetDeck (http://www.tweetdeck.com), and I think Twitter only becomes useful and manageable when used through third-party applications (you might also try http://seesmic.com/, http://www.minggl.com/, and/or http://www.twhirl.org/... but ye cats, throw a rock in any direction and you'll hit five more). This doesn't mean it's going to disappear; it means it has some challenges to address. Big difference.
And big differentiator, which makes it all the more likely that Twitter doesn't just survive, it thrives. It changes, but it thrives.
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