Mathew Ingram has a great post up on ‘Does the World Need Another Twitter ‘. I responded that the world already has more Twitter’s, they are just very niche, like Stocktwits .
It seems that everyone that uses Twitter is an armchair Twitter CEO. Lat year I wrote about the tech/web blogging phenomenon of ‘ Armchair Entrepreneurs ‘. I wrapped it up with :
There are at least 10,000 armchair Twitter CEO’s. Shit, if I was Twitter CEO I would have sold out $600 million ago to Facebook or floated a small IPO at the time, bought Bit.ly, Tweetdeck and Stocktwits.
Some people hate the phenomenon but I love it. It makes me smarter at running my business and advising other entrepreneurs. We have real-time playbooks.
Because I love broadcasting my insane thoughts, Twitter became the platform for me. If my audience stays here along with the potential to be discovered and discover new people, I will. I can’t control that. I want Twitter to succeed, but I also am conflicted. It’s like my mother-in-law driving off a cliff with my new 4g iphone that I never backed up….
I also love talking stocks all days and because Twitter was unreliable, we built Stocktwits. That’s my platform now for broadcasting to both Stocktwits and Twitter as we push to and pull from Twitter.
I guess the best question about the value and need of Twitter is the pain that would be caused if it were gone tomorrow. For me, if Twitter were gone tomorrow, I would miss the musings of a few hundred people that I follow, but so many companies would step up fast and a new leader would quickly emerge. Stocktwits would still be Stocktwits.
I asked Soren, my partner who has managed the buildout of Stocktwits to chime in and he wrote me this:
I think it’s pretty clear that there will be more then one Twitter. If fact, the world already has more then one. We here at StockTwits built our own messaging platform so that we could control our own destiny, as well as add vertical specific features and functionality that Twitter won’t and shouldn’t add.
More will follow this path:
1) It isn’t terribly challenging to build your own platform. Technology exists today that didn’t exist when Twitter build it’s platform. MongoDB, Cassandra, Hadoop, RabbitMQ, node.js, Redis, and on and on have all either been created or vastly matured since Twitter build the foundation of it’s own platform.
2) Twitter is still having problems keeping it own platform running. Personally, I see no excuse for this at this point. Facebook has faced far greater scaling challenges with basically none of the problem that still plague Twitter.
3) Twitter’s moves to “fill holes”. All of these moves make perfect sense for Twitter from a business perspective and that’s why I don’t buy the ‘I’m shocked!’ meme. The heart of the issue is that Twitter is trying to be both a service and a platform and that’s a very hard line to walk. Again, Facebook has pulled this off, but Twitter is in a far different position. 70% of it’s content is coming from API developers. I’m not sure what the Facebook numbers are on this, but I can’t imagine that it’s close to that high. Twitter IS a platform whether or not they want to admit it.
Given these issues, it seems to me that an open, federated network platform for real-time status updates is all but guaranteed. The platform needs to be agnostic, stable, and free from the burden of monetizations. To be honest, I’m puzzled on a daily basis that it’s not already here.
What say YOU! ….
Twitter appears to simply serve as the foundation / platform for innovation. This innovation is quickly superseding the original intent of the platform, itself, creating more highly sustainable value.
lets hope
that mother-in-law quote is priceless.
ONLY IF SHE DOES NOT READ THIS POST
that mother-in-law quote is priceless…….
you said it not me :)
its hard being this conflicted. i like the peopple, i hate the strategy.
raising all that money just screwed things up but thats what happens in the
big leagues.
Twitter appears to simply serve as the foundation / platform for innovation. This innovation is quickly superseding the original intent of the platform, itself, creating more highly sustainable value.
lets hope
soren is always right on
free from the 'burden of monetization' in the sense that DNS, IMAP, POP are free from the burden of monetization. The platform is there to allow people to build and monetize services on top of it.
that mother-in-law quote is priceless.
that mother-in-law quote is priceless…….
ONLY IF SHE DOES NOT READ THIS POST
Howard – if Twitter disappeared i would miss your musing and rantings – oh wait, no I wouldn’t – I would still get your updates on Facebook, RSS Feed, StockTwits, and every other personal publishing platforms that you broadcast on – we live in a multichannel world – great perspective.
you said it not me :)
its hard being this conflicted. i like the peopple, i hate the strategy.
raising all that money just screwed things up but thats what happens in the
big leagues.
Howard – if Twitter disappeared i would miss your musing and rantings – oh wait, no I wouldn't – I would still get your updates on Facebook, RSS Feed, StockTwits, and every other personal publishing platforms that you broadcast on – we live in a multichannel world – great perspective.
It might not be very hard to build your own platform, but it’s very hard to scale it. Personally I wish Twitter had stuck to the platform strategy so communities like StockTwits could focus their innovation on stocks not servers.
Agree with Soren’s statement of need for an ‘open, federated network platform’ – which is exactly what Twitter should be – perhaps they still can. But their mission seems to have become muddled – plus I’m not sure anyone can be free from the ‘burden of monetization’.
How’s that for armchair?
soren is always right on
free from the ‘burden of monetization’ in the sense that DNS, IMAP, POP are free from the burden of monetization. The platform is there to allow people to build and monetize services on top of it.
sort of a catch-22 here – developers will flock to a platform after it scales and proves itself as a heavy user base, but successful platforms need cool apps to continue their long-term growth. the awesome thing about stocktwits is that it has such a niche interest that’s sticky enough to hold on its own – daytraders are glued to the computer every day as much as bloggers are, if not more.
It might not be very hard to build your own platform, but it's very hard to scale it. Personally I wish Twitter had stuck to the platform strategy so communities like StockTwits could focus their innovation on stocks not servers.
Agree with Soren's statement of need for an 'open, federated network platform' – which is exactly what Twitter should be – perhaps they still can. But their mission seems to have become muddled – plus I'm not sure anyone can be free from the 'burden of monetization'.
How's that for armchair?
that's the
The lifestyle what thread said is really very nice , we know a new method about household. In fact there are so much knowledge about household life in this forum, I often come and learned much new knowledge which I never known before, another I got some other excellent websites about fashion and newest trend! Dior homme shoes
If the activity has been a history of Somerset Gucci shoes, anyone have the appearance of anchor in some exotic seas as Gucci Belts Bags dressed in white linen
and bristling with habit handle, a bag with separate handles covering, in absolute terms each carnal possession for a stay in General.In the absolute Apple whims
parties acclimate and brutal added acceptable baggage is alleged to. Why not step back overall you want? cheap Gucci Belts Bags is a loose acceptable choice. Double
fabric, amber covering plate and equipment fire, gold is around adult and quality. Able to 21.3 inches in length, and 11.8 inches at Acme are amply for transport. Of
course, it is great. Of course, added bodies global adjustment in a Gucci handbags small accept. Of course, made you attend as an array of drying clothes. But these
bodies added to sleep at night or liquidation of cutting the abovementioned condition sweater three nights in cheap Gucci Sale a row, and at the end of the weekend
Memorial Day is handed bottomward on their hips.There are so many but the Discount Gucci Belt Bags is a classic IT bag. I think this bag should be called Madonna
because its re-invented itself so much.. Gucci have re-invented it again for their Cruise line with bright vibrant colors blue and pink.They are also multi-purposes,
which is good to use.Our website provides large number of different Classic Gucci Bags Sale. Here we recommend Gucci Belt Bags.Take action to buy it.If you are
interested in it,take action immediately.We hope you will satisfy with our porduct.Gucci archetypal Italian appearance brand’s different cast of history, creating a
different style, archetypal design, Gucci belt Bags, personalization options, no amount how you accept it, it will accompany you the best match. gucci briefcases,it
took on a altered name afterwards there were successors.The Gucci belts Bags was a abundant assuming .We address out items by Express Mail Service(EMS) according to
your demand, amalgamation clue cardinal and clue website provided. Welcome Our gucci store.
http://timberlandrolltopboots.onlyblog.net/2011/04/25/cheap-gucci-bags/
http://shoestimberland.oldright.com/2011/04/25/cheap-gucci-bags/
http://live-drive.ru/timberlandwaterproof/2011/04/25/cheap-gucci-bags/
http://timberland.imoocity.com/2011/04/25/cheap-gucci-bags/
http://timberlandproseries.honmag.com/?p=228
http://math-lib.org/blogs/timberlandbootswomen/2011/04/25/cheap-gucci-bags/
http://earthkeeperstimberland.smallkitchenreviews.com/cheap-gucci-bags/
http://www.shawlsmall.com/earthkeeperstimberland/2011/04/25/cheap-gucci-bags/
http://www.lsddesign.nl/timberland6inchboots/2011/04/25/cheap-gucci-bags/
http://timberlandclothing.9daybody.com/2011/04/25/cheap-gucci-bags/