If I Were Twitter’s Agent: Assessing the Social Media Tool’s Rise and What Would Make it Flop - Jory Des Jardins - MediaBizBlogger

For months I39ve been pondering a column on Twitter but I wasn39t sure what to say about the uberpopular microblogging service other than that it has enjoyed a digital ascension to superstar status faster than the Jonas Brothers But like anything that becomes popular in this way without a prolonged climb to the top or an afterthefact appreciation common with quotsleeper hitsquot Twitter will likely have to contend with an identity crisis when the bloom is off the rose other services jump into the fray and its investors or buyers start to demand a business modelAs someone who loves to read TMZ and TechCrunch I can39t help but see parallels between startups and starlets Interestingly Hollywood provides some interesting comparisons and maybe even some lessons for Twitter as it maturesIndie beginnings Those who Tweeted each other two years ago at SXSW Interactiveamp8212the annual digital industry event where Twitter had its first promotional push beyond the superinnergeekcircle have bragging rights similar to those who can boast they saw Jake Gyllenhaal play Hamlet in the high school play Sure he might have been quirky but you knew he was going somewhere It didn39t hurt that Twitter had successful Web venture vets Evan Williams and Biz Stone at the helm but considering the number of hot Web 20 companies being touted at the time that eventually folded one couldn39t be absolutely certain that another service that required people39s already divided attention would thrive to the point of being habitforming I mean if you had seen The Outsiders back in 1983 would you have been able to predict which of those guys would go Supernova and which would star on a VH1 Celebreality show If you could maybe you should ask Henry Blodget for a staff jobStints in rehab Twitter has had its service issues over the last two yearsdowned servers and lag time during busy periods Its early adopter user base may have complained but they also knew that was the price of using a new product But the pressure of expectations is mounting and eventually users won39t tolerate anything less than a Googlelike service levelparticularly if they39re paying for itLindsay Lohan could only show up late to so many film sets Let39s hope Twitter can be like George Clooney more grounded capable and impactful as he became more successfulAnd let39s hope that Twitter will be the Denzel Washington of Web giantsable to bring in audiences without needing to live in the limelight The public bore witness to Yahoo39s dalliances with potential MampampA partners and the breakups at this point Iamp8217m as confident they will merge with Microsoft as I am of Kate Hudson and Owen Wilson staying together We39ve seen Facebook involved in embarrassing incidents and have to publicly apologize Have too many of those and you lose some leverage permanently As talented and repentant as Mel Gibson may be many still see the guy in the mug shotCasting against type This comparison refers to the practitioners of Twitter many of whom might have had only the best intentions of expanding industry best practices just as I39m sure Keanu Reeves felt he was developing himself when he took on a British accent in Bram Stokeramp8217s Dracula Some outofcharacter stretches workwitness Tom Cruise39s manic turn as a film producer in Tropic Thunder or Holly Hunter39s move to televisionbut without authenticity the effort flopsTake character microblogging a cousin of its predecessor character blogging which involves creating Twitter accounts for fictional people in an effort to generate a community of followers behind a brand But if that brand hasn39t yet engaged that community it can39t work Getting followed by Glenn Close39s Damages character Patty Hewes was disconcerting itamp8217s not dear Glenn who is actually Tweeting but rather someone I donamp8217t know blogging as someone else Jane Fonda on the other hand who blogs and who actually READS other people and WRITES her own tweets That39s radActing directing cutting an album and starting a signature perfume line In our incessant attempts at justifying Twitter as the Ginsu of platforms amp8230it can distribute corporate messaging in seconds and encapsulate a CRM strategy for FREE But that39s not all we try to twist it into what itamp8217s notamp8212the genesis of a marketing strategy Ask yourself the next time you turn to Twitter to solve your marketing issues Should Paris Hilton act or Scarlett Johansson sing Twitter can help promote campaigns but many will agree it should not be the campaign Twitter doesnamp8217t allow for context itamp8217s a tap on the shoulder not an explanation of why you should buy somethingAnd when considering some of the new Twitter offshoots that are being built ask yourself do I NEED this tool What value is being added Do we need one more aggregator One more keyworddriven search tool Everyone is jumping on the Twitter bandwagon but are these attempts wasted cameosamp8212there for show but no real purpose Lauren Conrad hopes we think we need another celebrity fashion line but when our time and money really get squeezed we realize we donamp8217tJumping the Shark and the Comeback New business models are circulating but the jury is still out on their 1 effectiveness and 2 appropriateness It39s possible that the models that emerge will compromise Twitter beyond repairUberblogger Robert Scoble tested the waters by including an Amazon link into one of his Tweets for the Amazon Kindle Trendwatcher Louis Gray reported that Daring Fireball blogger John Gruber quotmade nearly 6000 in just over a week by encouraging his blog visitors to buy Mac OS X 105 from his affiliate link instead of directly from Applequot These experiments at monetization are interesting now but if replicated by the wrong people could Twitter become one big contentdepleted link farmOther sectors of the Twittersphere have not been selling product per se but influence Disney recently compensated SavvyAuntie founder and microblogger Melanie Notkin for promoting a marketing initiative via her Twitter feed something she likens to a Sponsored Conversation an acceptable practice in the Blogosphere if disclosure and pay for one39s work not one39s endorsement are in play But Twitter isn39t set up for subtlety with a 140character maximum allotment disclosure and confusionfree messaging are difficult to achieveMeanwhile some social mediasavvy companies are getting into the action by launching corporatesponsored Twitter landing pages or even offTwitter feed aggregators But are landing pages and extra sites to visit where it39s really at for Twitter39s users Chopping the Twitter chicken a thousand different ways is potentially useful but it remains to be seen if it can actually be done profitably effectively and without community resistanceIt seems clear that users accept an adsupported model in most instances so why isn39t Twitter just going down that path Are they being so innovative that they risk implosionMickey Rourke reinvented himself by losing it all and then reestablishing his talent from the base point of who he was a beatup man seeking redemptionidentical to his Academy Awardnominated character in The Wrestler I donamp8217t recommend Twitter commercialize itself to the point of ruin in order to achieve a similar redemption but I do suggest that it reestablish its grassroots foundation before it has to and remember what made it successfulThen Twitter would be legendary amp8230 like Paul NewmanAs cofounder and President of Strategic Alliances for BlogHer Jory Des Jardins is an innovator in online advertising women39s media and Internet entrepreneurship Jory can be contacted at jorybloghercomRead all Joryamp8217s MediaBizBlogger commentaries at Jory Des Jardin MediaBizBlogger

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