Firing Dick Costolo from Twitter would be a huge mistake. There has been a lot of rumbling about firing Dick Costolo from Twitter … on Twitter.
While the company continues to become more and more culturally important (think: police protests) and their revenue soars, they’ve had a bit of a problem with user growth. Caption: Steady user growth isn’t enough for some investors. Sit tight, video will make this go supernova. Prediction: Within 18 months of releasing their YouTube competitor (coexister?) , Twitter will at least double their monthly users, double their time per user, and triple their revenue. [ Click to Tweet (can edit before sending): ] I know, it’s a big claim. For background, I know the video space very well. I’ve been playing with Twitter’s new video product for the past month for my podcast This Week in Startups. . [ You can see some of those channels at youtube.com/mahalodotcom, youtube.com/xhit, youtube.com/mahalovideogames and youtube.com/watchwellcast. 7 simple reasons:
Twitter's Marketing Problem. Twitter’s unconventional path is well-documented at this point.
From failed podcasting company to playground sketch (actually, probably not) to a revolving door of CEOs fueled by founder and board infighting has emerged what is, even after yesterday’s stock plunge, a $23 billion company. And, more importantly, a product absolutely beloved by many of its users, including me. You could argue it’s the canonical example of how nothing matters but the product. Maybe. One of the most common Silicon Valley phrases is “Product-Market Fit.” The only thing that matters is getting to product/market fit…I believe that the life of any startup can be divided into two parts: before product/market fit (call this “BPMF”) and after product/market fit (“APMF”). I think this actually gets to the problem with Twitter: the initial concept was so good, and so perfectly fit such a large market, that they never needed to go through the process of achieving product market fit.
So why not embrace the complexity?
Growth of Twitter Fueled by Media Coverage. One hundred million voices. Five years ago, Twitter came to life when @jack sent the first Tweet to his seven followers.
Now, 100 million active users around the globe turn to Twitter to share their thoughts and find out what’s happening in the world right now. More than half of them log in to Twitter each day to follow their interests. For many, getting the most out of Twitter isn’t only about tweeting: 40 percent of our active users simply sign in to listen to what’s happening in their world. Twitter’s global reach gives a voice to people around the world and as far away as the International Space Station. After launching Hindi, Filipino, Malay and Simplified and Traditional Chinese in the coming weeks, Twitter will support 17 different languages.
Our 100 million active users range from passionate early adopters to recent converts. The Trouble Bubble. We founded Twitter, Inc. in March of 2007 and while we have long said it's about the users, not the service, we have nevertheless enjoyed favorable media coverage.
What took so long for somebody to write the article that says we are falling apart? The normal press cycle is to put a company on a pedestal and then knock it down. It's much more interesting that way. Twitter has had so many ups and downs you'd think we would have had more negative press. Trouble @Twitter. Boardroom power plays, disgruntled founders, and CEO switcheroos are clipping the wings of this tech high flier.
By Jessi Hempel, senior writer FORTUNE -- In March, shortly after Jack Dorsey went back to work for Twitter, the company he co-founded four years ago, he did a Q&A session with an entrepreneurship class at Columbia Business School. As students tapped away on their laptops (were they sending tweets?) , Dorsey, 34, answered questions about his commitment to his new gig as Twitter's product chief. Dorsey laughed lightly and replied, "You know, we're just individuals.
There's no shortage of drama at Twitter these days: Besides the CEO shuffles, there are secret board meetings, executive power struggles, a plethora of coaches and consultants, and disgruntled founders. One of Twitter's earliest and most avid users, Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk), confers with company co-founder Dorsey. Just two years ago Twitter was the hottest thing on the web. Twitter: Consider This Your Intervention. This is the post I haven’t wanted to write for weeks.
This is the post no one wants to write. No one wants to say Twitter is in trouble. That’s like shooting your best friend’s dog. But I’m increasingly convinced that Twitter is operationally in trouble, for a lot of the same reasons that Fortune’s Jessi Hempel outlines in her cover today, and other reasons I’ve been hearing about for months. The signs: 1. So what does the company do? 2. But at a minimum, a company centered around a surging, beloved, disruptive product needs a full-time, in-house C-level executive who is focused 100% on product– not only 40 hours a week, but every second of every day.
Twitter Turned Down A $10 Billion Offer From Google. 7 Things That Could Have Killed Twitter, But Didn’t.