<p> <p>"What are you doing?" Twitter starts with this simple question. People are curious about... More >>

<p> <p>"What are you doing?" Twitter starts with this simple question. People are curious about what their friends are doing. Calling may be a simple solution, yet people cannot call every single friend of theirs and ask what they are doing. Twitter provides the solution to this dilemma. Simply called "micro blogging", Twitter allows users to post the message limited to 140 characters and disseminates those posts to their followers - their friends, co-workers or anyone else.</p> <p>Micro blogging tackled a niche amongst seemingly-saturated typical blogs and social networking sites. Specifically, limiting the post's length to 140 characters successfully differentiated Twitter from other blogs as it accommodates relatively instant and intuitive postings. This feature also contributed to increased user accessibility. For instance, compared to writing a paragraph about the movie you watched yesterday on your blog, positing one short comment like "Watched the movie, Dark Knight. Seriously, Heath Leader rocks!!" is a piece of cake. Additionally, this kind of characteristics perfectly fits to new kind of web approach via mobile devices such as iPhone and Blackberry. Through mobile devices, people can connect to the web anytime they want. However, it is still very uncomfortable to both read and write a lengthy essay on mobile devices. Twitter's short message, therefore, perfectly fits to this new way of internet access. Already realizing its eligibility for mobile devices, Twitter is actually providing a service to post and read posts through SMS messages, in addition to its regular web service.</p> <p> </p> <p>Twitter has not yet found profitable business model. Nevertheless, it surely placed itself on the dominant position in the market. Twitter currently reports over 700,000 users and estimates it will reach 1 million by April, 2009. To web 2.0 services like Twitter, having a considerable number of users beforehand means a lot because of so-called "Networking Effect". When everyone else is already using Twitter, new comers will not have a choice but to join Twitter. With the predominance in the market, there are a number of ways to generate revenue. It may simply insert text ads along with regular twitter postings. It can also develop user-targeted advertisement algorithm utilizing the pool of personal preferences embedded in short messages. Witnessing brilliant technology it has so far introduced, I strongly believe that Twitter will certainly find the way to make profit and the profit will not be small.</p> <p> </p> <p>As a side comment, I would like to introduce interesting phenomenon in Twitter which I believe even Twitter management team had not expected to happen. At the time of the tragic terrorist attack in Mumbai (Bombay) last November, Twitter was the first place to report the terrorist attack and constantly served as the source of updates and announcements afterwards. It was even faster than regular news media like AP and CNN. This surprising phenomenon led people to consider Twitter as one of journalism source and even coin the term called "Twitter Journalism". This incident seems to demonstrate the possibility of Twitter to develop into new type of collective intellect. The way to utilize it will be up to developers.   </p> </p> <br><span class='add_review'>On 12/24/2008, Andrew added:</span><br> << Less

As Andrew pointed out, Twitter has a lot of people who use it - almost 700k per the numbers he provided. And to make th... More >>

As Andrew pointed out, Twitter has a lot of people who use it - almost 700k per the numbers he provided. And to make things better, people are addicted to it. Twitter has entered the public consciousness. So what is not to like?<br /> <br /> I won\'t comment on Twitter as a service in detail except to say that while there are probably a lot more adopters to come, but like blogging, people will jump on the bandwagon initially and then many will tire leaving a smaller group of active users. And many will be hit in the face with the realization that nobody cares what they\'re doing right now and so nobody is following them.<br /> <br /> The bigger problem with Twitter, however, is that there is no revenue model nor does there seem to be one developing in the near future. And this should worry you if you are an investor or employee at Twitter. Coolness does not pay the bills. Moreover, any attempts at charging Twits (is that what you call people who use Twitter?) or somehow doing anything for-profit runs the distinct risk of alienating the very people who are so active on Twitter. Going from free to charging for a service is not an easy proposition.<br /> <br /> If they get to 1 million subscribers and let\'s say each customer is worth $20, that implies Twitter is a $20 million company. That\'s great money but not nearly big enough to warrant all the attention that Twitter gets. And $20 per user is generous as presently each Twitter\'er is worth $0.<br /> <br /> Twitter is a classic example of a cool technology which is a terrible business. It is a technology/service that is built to be sold as there is no hope of it ever really be a solid standalone business. There is already lots of talk of Facebook acquiring it, but the built to flip strategy is a risky one in general and one which may be made worse by the current climate. <br /> <br /> I do ultimately think Twitter has a high chance of being acquired as someone will get infatuated with the technology and overpay for it. Cool often can get you a nice premium sale price. With or without an acquisition, I don\'t think anyone will be talking about Twittering or micro-blogging in a few years. Fads come and go and so will Twitter. << Less

For a while I have been talking about Twitter on ChubbyBrain, and suddenly realized that it would be a shame not to post... More >>

For a while I have been talking about Twitter on ChubbyBrain, and suddenly realized that it would be a shame not to post an independent review of Twitter, especially because it offers such an excellent insight into the current state of the market for social web companies in the micro-blogging space. The one question that Twitter thought it would ask itself when it becomes \"cool enough\" was \"How do we make money ?\". Now, there is nothing wrong with that if you know that when you do really become cool enough, you will have an apt business model at your disposal and you will also not have any competitors that are as cool as you are threatening to take your user base away. These were two assumptions, which as any social web analyst would agree, are totally unrealistic given the \"fickleness\" of the social web market today. Twitter precisely made these assumptions and ended up paying for it. George Colony, the CEO of Forrester Research puts it aptly: you have to re-earn your customers\' loyalty every day as a new toy will grab their (customers\') next fifteen seconds of attention. The \"fifteen seconds\" bit is really becoming a reality because of initiatives like Plaxo Pulse, which attempt to help users export their contacts and content from one network to another. Now, given this scenario, apparently Twitter attempted suicide by jumping into the market with all the tech but no business model. A good question would be, what then is a good business model for companies into micro-blogging today. This question is hard to answer since the most popular model -advertising isn\'t quite a fit here, as the scope for exposure to ads is limited in the microblogging space. See my review on Jaiku (http://www.chubbybrain.com/companies/jaiku/reviews/ruchirj) for an example of a sustainable business model in this space. Some networks try to create texting incentives for their users by allowing them to use mobile phones as micro-blogging interfaces. However, Twitter failed to do this too, as it couldn\'t foresee that when its userbase grows considerably, outbound SMS-based posts may cost dearly especially since it did not have substantial partnerships with global telecom network operators. See my review of 3Jam (http://www.chubbybrain.com/companies/3jam/reviews/ruchirj) for more details on this. All in all, I agree with Amy (as I have earlier) that cool tech + no revenue model = problem and am appalled to see a company like Twitter, which has now more than 700 K addicts today, struggling hard to survive. <br /> <br /> << Less

Twitter is an addiction. Its userbase has been growing exponentially, and it's one of those websites where people tend ... More >>

Twitter is an addiction. Its userbase has been growing exponentially, and it's one of those websites where people tend to stay on the site for hours a day. It's less a "social-networking" website than it is a "microblogging" service, which is both its novelty and its allure. Twitter has developed a cult-like devoted following and is already the dominant player in the microblogging market. If you factor in Silicon Valley's longstanding tradition of trying to cultivate enormous userbases before turning a profit, then it wouldn't be a stretch to say that Twitter is already well underway to becoming the next Facebook. No exaggeration. << Less

Twitter's coverage by the news media has been getting a lot of attention these days. Since its creation in 2006, Twitte... More >>

Twitter's coverage by the news media has been getting a lot of attention these days. Since its creation in 2006, Twitter's popularity has grown exponentially. It's now estimated there are 4 to 5 million users worldwide.<br /> <br /> So how does this media darling make money? Well, currently it doesn't.<br /> <br /> Don't let the attention-grabbing headlines fool you. Twitter still has not announced a business model. There are no ProTwitter accounts. There is no TwitterWords advertising program.<br /> <br /> The hype surrounding this web2.0 social-network service revolves around the large number of users. Twitter has built-up a customer base so big that investors are anxious to see how it will reach out and extract revenue. But this is inherently Twitter's biggest risk: finding a way to monetize the service.<br /> <br /> The obvious way to make money would be for users to pay a subscription fee, or to accept unsolicited tweets from advertisers. Yet if the free service disappears, the user base would surely evaporate quickly.<br /> <br /> Even Twitter CEO Evan Williams doesn't know how to monetize the service. "We will make money, and I can't say exactly how because...we can't predict how the businesses we're in will work," he said in a recent interview. "We think Twitter will make money. I think it will take some time to figure it out."<br /> <br /> If the CEO cannot even articulate how Twitter can generate a profit, what hope does this company have?<br /> <br /> Revenue model aside, Twitter's competition is also a big risk. Twitter's technology is very simple and not patented. This creates a low barrier to entry for any competitor to replicate the service. Facebook, Skype, or AIM could easily create a similar service within their interface which would make Twitter easily substitutable.<br /> <br /> Bottom line: despite the large user base, Twitter is not a realistic or sustainable business. << Less

Just dont know what makes this work. Its just getting popularity as a social media gig which are now increasingly being ... More >>

Just dont know what makes this work. Its just getting popularity as a social media gig which are now increasingly being used by SEO guys to help promote various websites. And the technology is clumsy too. <br /> <br />Can figure out when and how such sites will make money. Particularly with ad revenues drying up and probably staying dry for the next 2 yrs. Would like to know if Twitter is getting revenue share from mobile cos!! << Less