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Ian Hughes
This month's online editionThe end of Twitter is nigh . . . so, what’s next?
For those of you who follow my shenanigans here, you will know that last year I attempted a three-month tweet-fest, attempting to keep Facebook, Twitter and my Linked-in status up to date.
I tried and I failed – my prognosis was: "I don’t get it."
Since then, I have upgraded my prognosis. I get Facebook and I get Linked-in. But now I think I will be spared Twitter. This is good news. At a recent seminar a speaker, billed as the tenth most influential political blogger in the UK (so I should listen, right?) was saying how Twitter is a place to do business.
He cited how Dell had made $6m last year selling refurbed Dells through Twitter. He was also able to quote a random deli in Houston, Texas, that had sold a breakfast burrito. He went on to say that Twitter is a business tool.
For me, Twitter is a damage limitation tool . . . and that’s about it.
The only REALLY good news for me came from a question a lady at the back of the seminar, who asked whether Twitter was "a place where people could go for a good old bitch and, now business is moving in, won’t those people just go somewhere else?"
Answer: Yes!
And what will be left is a load of companies tweeting ‘click on this link’. Pah! A pox on all of them!
So, what’s the next Big Thing?
Have your say on the latest issues affecting our industry and the world of business. DMI columnist and ‘Master Debater’ Ian Hughes welcomes your comments on this, his latest rant.
1 response so far ↓
1 pbates // Mar 11, 2010 at 12:30 pm
Having attended two prominent marketing events in the past month, TFM&A 2010 and the Online Marketing Summit, I found attendees had only one subject on their mind: Twitter.
The question of everyone’s lips was consistent; is the hype around Twitter a passing trend, as many predict, or does it have a purpose beyond celebrity voyeurism and throwing your 140-character musings out into the void? What is clear is that many people are questioning the future of Twitter, its uses, and if it’s here to stay.
Granted, Twitter may not be as compellingly obvious a platform as Facebook or YouTube, but like all social media platforms, Twitter is evolving fast. But I believe, the real question is not whether it’ll still be around next year; the question is what will it be next year, and the year after and so on. The idea of sharing short updates with people you are connected to online is not a new concept, look at how successful email has become. We couldn’t live it without it now. What remains to be seen is whether Twitter becomes as popular or if it will be some other platform.
- Paul Bates, UK Managing Director, StrongMail
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