Is Twitter Worth It?

Salesforce has passed. Disney, other businesses have bowed out of the ‘who wants to buy Twitter?’ lottery.

Saving Twitter in 140 Characters

I’ve written it’s obituary, opined what I want from MY Twitter, and I keep coming back to this:

Twitter is many things to many people. Don’t fix it USE it – make Twitter a safe, friendly, useful destination unlike other social networks.

Then I deleted a big section on other social networks because Twitter isn’t Instagram, Snapchat or Facebook – and that’s the point.

The Many Faces of Twitter

  • The non-programmed real-time real people. AKA the minority.
  • The hate-spewing, trolling, jerkwad millions. That should be gone.
  • The spambot blind robo-tweeting marketers. Who ruin everything.
  • The ‘just here for the news’ peeps. Lots of lurking.
  • News, media and broadcasting. Push, push, eyeballs, clicks.
  • The few people who actually take the time to talk and engage. #TwitterChat crowd.
  • Brand watchers, customer service teams. Doing it right, or wrong.
  • Robots, spammers, scammers. That also need to be gone.
  • The funnies, the jokers, the celebs. Who keep us coming back.
Or totally worthless without a buyer? Credit: Someecards
Or totally worthless without a buyer? Credit: Someecards

FWIW this petition to sell Twitter to its users makes smart points about who, what Twitter is.

Twitter’s problems are known: its failure to stop online abuse is epic – and HUGE roadblock to any sale; the stagnant growth, limited use; the massive noise to signal ratio that makes it harder for new users to ‘get’ it.

From a business standpoint – growth, development, money – I think Twitter has become a delivery system, not a social destination.

Powers to the People

Let users make their own version of Twitter, so they get out of it what they want.

Custom options for a better layout – columns, grids, rhombus – whatever gets and keeps people there. Mobile + scrolling = yuck. Let people change the settings for better filters, controls, troll and abuse blocking. Make it an easy option to automatically block trolls, fake names.

I still say I have met more new, different people on Twitter than anywhere else. And if they could solve that, connect people from the moment they sign up, then Twitter would have something.

What do you think: is Twitter worth saving? How? 

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