In this video I’m speaking to two different audiences. One is the Valuetainer, the entrepreneur that follows Valuetainment for content around entrepreneurship. The other one is an individual. He’s the founder and CEO of Twitter and Square. He’s a billionaire, recognized by MIT, by educators and by entrepreneurs around the world, Jack Dorsey. My intention for this video is to show the value of Twitter, and what needs to happen so Twitter can avoid being the next Myspace.
First, let me explain to you why I love Twitter, and then I’ll get into how Twitter can avoid being the next Myspace.
#1: Presents Both Sides of an Argument
Any time a controversial topic takes place, whether it's political, sports, or business, and anytime anything major happens, whether that be earthquakes, disasters in the Middle East or anything else, if I want to hear both sides of the argument, I go straight to Twitter.
Here’s why. When’s the last time you saw somebody post 50 different messages on Facebook in five minutes? You don't see that happening. If someone does that, they are viewed as weird or obsessive. Do you know what happens if you send fifty messages in five minutes on Twitter? They just call you a Twitter user. There's nothing wrong with that. So if you want to hear both sides of an argument, Twitter is great for that.
#2: Breaking News
I go to Twitter for breaking news. News is talked about immediately, whether it’s about who passed away, a company on the brink of collapse, sports news, trade, the election and more.
#3: Tracking Trends
Three, is tracking trends. It doesn't matter what word I'm looking for. A lot of people tend to go to Google. I like to go to Twitter because I want to see what word is trending, who’s using it, and what they’re saying about it.
#4: Customer Service
Listen in here for how I’ve used Twitter to get better customer service.
#5: Following Celebrities
Next, Twitter is great for following celebrities. People Magazine today is done. Twitter has become the new People Magazine.
#6: Short: 140 Characters
140 characters is like reading a short blog. So if I’m busy and need to go somewhere, Twitter’s a great place because I get what I need in a short period of time.
#7: Outreach to People Interested in Your Product
Twitter is a great place to reach out to people interested in your product. For instance, if you sell a product that helps dogs that itch so much they hurt themselves, Twitter allows you to search for and then reach out to the owners of dogs that have this problem. You then have a customer you never had before. You can’t do this on Facebook, but you can on Twitter. This is very powerful for small businesses.
#8: Marketing and Branding
You can use Twitter for marketing, branding and to send traffic to your site.
Twitter Stats
So now let’s look at some of the Twitter stats:
- Twitter has roughly 3900 employees
- In quarter one of 2016 they did roughly 600 million dollars
- Last time they turned a profit was quarter four of 2015
- Twitter shares right now are roughly $18
- In 2013 shares were roughly $68
- Twitter is worth approximately $5 - $8 billion
Why Isn’t Twitter Selling?
The following companies recently came out and said they’re not interested in buying twitter:
- Google and Disney said they’re not interested (on October 5)
- Apple said they were never interested (on October 6)
- Salesforce said they’re not interested (on October 14)
What is Twitter?
One of the biggest questions people ask is, “What is Twitter?” Is Twitter more like MySpace? Or is it more like Facebook? Is it more like Yahoo! Or a new organization? What is Twitter? I don't know what Twitter is.
It’s important for what Twitter is to be clear because once that happen, the buyer and how to pitch to the buyer are identified.
What Happens When Something’s On the Market Too Long
If you put a house on the market and after three months to a year the house hasn’t sold, people start asking, “What’s wrong with the house?” It could be there’s something unsafe happening in the community, the schools are bad, or something is messed up in the house physically. Maybe crime has increased. But there’s a reason why the house hasn’t sold.
In this case, sometimes the best thing to do is to take your house off the market, fix it up, and then bring it back to the market 12 months later.
I think Twitter needs to go off the market. And Twitter needs to have a strategy session with a team of people that see things from a different perspective. A lot of times when things are going well, a person like Jack that is running things hears how amazing things are, similar to how I did at the beginning of this article. It can be difficult to live up to that expectation. There’s so much pressure you forget what it means to be open minded. You start having holes.
It’s like a general that’s known for being the most incredible general in the world. They become so big and good and then all of a sudden, they start thinking that everybody's expecting them to be perfect. Then they stop asking an important question: “What do you think?” Then they get hit, and sometimes they lose the battle, and eventually they sometimes lose the war as well.
Arguments to make for Twitter
Right now out of the seven and a half billion people on earth, 2.1 billion consider themselves to be active on social media.
In the same way that Coca Cola’s CEO Roberto Goizueta looked at how to expand Coca Cola’s market share, Twitter needs to look at how to get more of those 2.1 billion people that are on social media.
The good news is, Twitter is doing very well with those aged 12-24. There aren’t many 14-year olds talking about Facebook. They talk about Twitter and Instagram more than they do Facebook.
Numbers wise, according to a Chief Marketing Officer survey, companies are going to more than double their marketing budget, from 11% to 24%, not with T.V., and not with print, but with social media. A big chunk of that can be spent on Twitter. But it’s important to have a strategy for that.
World Leaders and Journalists are on Twitter
83% of world's leaders are on Twitter. I will tell you right now, that whether or not you like Donald Trump, he ended up becoming the Republican nominee by beating out 16 other candidates. And he has a fighting chance against Hillary.
The question is, what percentage of his influence has to do with Twitter? Think about it. People always make fun of him and say, he's so Twitter friendly, and he’s like a little kid. And he says, look, it's all about media, and Twitter's a big platform. And because he’s a better Twitter user, he has a shot at becoming the president. If you take Twitter out of the equation, he’d have less opportunity to go viral.
Next, journalist make up 24.6% of verified accounts on Twitter. What does that mean to Twitter? That’s leverage. Journalists need Twitter. If Twitter goes out of business, they’re hurt. That is a very, very big selling point.
What Twitter Needs to Do to Succeed
#1: Purge
Twitter needs to do exactly what Instagram did with their users when they purged many of the fake followers in 2014. There were people who had 100,000 people following them and it went down to 17,000. That happened with many, many people.Then all of a sudden, Facebook bought Instagram.
Twitter also needs to clean house. That would show authenticity and transparency to both investors and users. If Twitter cleans house and there are no more fake accounts, people will say, “Wow, there’s lots of credibility on Twitter,” which is something people don’t say today.
#2: Focus on Businesses
Twitter needs to find a way to focus on businesses. Businesses spend money. And if a business spends $10 million on Twitter and because of it makes $15 million, they will do that every month. It’s purely math. Because of that, if I was Twitter, I would put a big focus on businesses.
#3: Bring in Solid Talent
Listen in here for how Facebook turned things around when Mark Zuckerberg hired the right talent, and how Twitter should do the same.
#4: Recruit a Killer in the Marketplace
I would be actively recruiting killers in the marketplace to become heroes. When AIG was about to go out of business, they called one man, the former CEO of MetLife, Bob Benmosche. Bob was at his vineyard in Croatia, with only three years left to live.
They called him and said, "Hey, we need you to come and see if you can do anything with AIG." He said, "Look, I'm on my deathbed, I've got three more years to live, I'm enjoying myself. I'm having fun here. No way in the world."
But they sold him on possibly being the person that saved one of the biggest companies in the world. History books would talk about him as the CEO that turned everything around for AIG.
Three Additional Ideas for Jack Dorsey
I have three additional ideas that are very, very unique. I believe they’re proven and will work. And I have one idea on who to sell to.
I’d be happy to sit down with Jack Dorsey and his team and share these ideas. I use Twitter. It needs to stick around, and if I can find a way to contribute toward it, I’d love to to so.
A Message to Valuetainers
Valuetainers, if you agree with this video and article, I need you to tweet to Jack. His Twitter account is literally @Jack. Tweet him and ask him to watch this entire video and then meet with me. Jack, if we hear from you, great! And if we don’t hear from you, I wish you the best of luck.
[bctt tweet="@jack - watch this video and then meet with Pat." username="patrickbetdavid"]
With that being said, if you have any thoughts or opinions on Twitter, comment on the bottom. And if you haven’t yet subscribed to my YouTube channel, click on the button below to subscribe.
Sources:
http://linkhumans.com/socialography
http://kpcbweb2.s3.amazonaws.com/files/90/Internet_Trends_2015.pdf?1432738078
http://www.v3b.com/2015/05/things-you-need-to-know-this-week-may-31-2015/
