Twitter…Top or Opportunity?

Posted by Howard
on June 11th, 2009

Twitter is on the cover of Time magazine ….TOP.

Twitter is on Conan and it’s hysterically funny….TOP.

The newest buzz is that 80-90 percent of the Twitter universe has less than 10 followers, therefore the top is in. It’s good fodder for bloggers and mainstream media because of the battle for relevance and page views. It should mean NOTHING to entrepreneurs.

I watch my son 10 year old son surf the web without loyalty and it scares me. We live in an era of zero loyalty. ‘What have you done for me Lately’ is now measured in milliseconds. I guess Twitter is now partially to blame :) .

The Twitter stats are important, likely right to a point and make sense to me, but it’s always THE opportunity that matters to me. I trust my instincts about the platform and experience and NOT the analytics (great post Greg).

Soren and I believe that Stocktwits adds utility and context to a niche within Twitter and now the financial web. Other niches and communities will be developed.

The right kind of tags have also got to take hold. For the most part, hashtags are noisy and useless, especially if you want to build a business model.

Here is an example of an opportunity. When I was last in New York I was craving Mediterranean Food. I did not want to go to Yelp or use search. I asked my Twitter community.

Within 3 minutes I had 20 recommendations. I now have 10 plus Middle Eastern places to try from people I trust in Brooklyn, West Village etc…

All I can now think about is how to transfer the feedback I got from my 7,000 plus followers wiling to help me to the ‘typical’ Twitter user with 10 followers.

I have seen a few business plans and Soren has been thinking the concept through for stocks and rest assured there is a big market in help and questions.

If I am walking down the streets of any city, can ask a question and get back an answer or DM as if the whole Twitter Universe was there for me, I would pay for the service.

The developers and entrepreneurs need to start thinking about how to engage the fringe and NEW ways to engage the early adopters.

Because Twitter is such a great mobile product and platform, I am confident that developers/entrepreneurs will figure this out.

The Twitter ‘TOP’ is not in.

The information in this blog post represents my own opinions and does not contain a recommendation for any particular security or investment. I or my affiliates may hold positions or other interests in securities mentioned in the Blog, please see my Disclaimer page for my full disclaimer.