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The future of Twitter is as a protected essential public utility

This week’s blog post is thanks to my close friend and persistent colleague Sally Falkow of Meritus Media.  Sally sent me a series of questions about what I think the the future of Twitter will be in light of a fourth quarter revenue miss based on analysts’ expectation.

SF: What’s your take on the future of Twitter?
CA: Twitter isn’t going anywhere. It’s become an International dial tone, like the internet itself, like your phone service or your AM, FM, and Ham Radio spectrum. Twitter will become protected some way or another becoming, effectively, a protected essential public utility.

Twitter is an essential commodity that benefits the State Department, Open Source Intelligence (NSA, NRO, CIA, FBI), and Corporate Intelligence (NASDAQ, DOW, etc). There’s too much good, free, intel — remember the Real Time Web? It’s still a thing!

After all this time — and now, with amazingly powerful tools like Palantir’s Gotham and Metropolis — it’s still one of the most amazing sources of International, filterless, geolocated pulsepoint providing real time access to “stupid people” organizing protests (instead of using secure channels), and so forth.

So, they really can’t lose it. It’s seriously way too valuable. Maybe In-Q-Tel (IQT) can buy it. It’s also a super-valuable communications channel for our current President, and he would consider any attack on Twitter as a personal attack on his 24.6M followers.

And if Trump is really a billionaire, maybe his dynasty can buy it. Or maybe it can be nationalized by an Executive Order.

SF: This announcement of a big Twitter loss in the last Quarter has raised doubts
CA: Maybe this is a play for a leveraged buyout. Maybe someone has discovered that Twitter is the #1 channel for @realDonaldTrump and @potus to communicate directly to and with the world. More valuable than CNN, MSNBC, and possibly FOX News — at least when it comes to total eyeballs.

Don’t forget that volatility doesn’t necessarily mean vulnerability, it could just mean corporate raiding.

SF: Will it last or go the way of MySpace?
CA: Facebook, Insta, and Snapchat can’t do the same thing that Twitter can do, all these years later. And I don’t see another one coming up. Know why? Because Millennials and Gen Z like their small little chat apps a lot more than they like their live outloud and share with the world model of Twitter. Bieber could leave Insta but he would never leave Twitter — I mean, 91.7M followers!

SF: If it does go away, how will that affect brands who do customer service on Twitter?
CA: Facebook and Instagram — and maybe also Snapchat and Pinterest — are better investments for brands. Their advertising offerings seem to be more effective. And then there’s YouTube, too, right?

So, aside from the fact that the Twitter handle has become a de facto internationally-recognized contact number second only to the URL, there are other sexier and stickier channels that people devote a lot more time to.

But everyone knows that they can actually get liked, retweeted, and responded to by their favorite brands and celebrities and influencers — or somebody repping them — and that’s rarely the case on Facebook.

SF: And the public who have grown used to a fast response via Twitter?
CA: Not going to happen. It can’t. It’s too useful to despots, strongmen, warlords, intelligence agencies, and authoritarians. And too useful for Wall Street, as we have seen as a direct result of Trump’s filterless chastising of anyone and everyone who displeases him.

SF: Or those who use it as a news source?
CA: Yeah, the real time web just isn’t the same on Google or Facebook or anywhere else. Twitter really does still have the pulse. I feel like normal consumers use Twitter less as a news source, outside of celebrity news, than actual media outlets and so forth, although the app and the web interface is evolving to become a better and better filter with a much-improved algorithm.

I asked Sally for her permission to share this here first, but her article will be published later this week with a little more analysis (and I assume the input of more experts than just me). So, be sure to check out Sally Falkow’s blog, The Proactive Report, later this week in order to get a much bigger picture than I can offer. Be sure to check Sally out on Twitter, @sallyfalkow, LinkedIn, SlideShare, Facebook, and even Google+.

Feel free to own the yacht but hire a crew if you’re not yet seaworthy. If you get my drift and want to adopt the yachting lifestyle yourself but either don’t have the mad sailing skills yourself, don’t yet posses a world-class crew, and don’t know yet where to go, then you should give me a call or reach out me by email — so I can help you pilot your vessel now, in the tranquil blue-green shallows of the Caribbean, as well as in the roughest seas and into — as well as out of — the storm.

If you’d like to chat more, call me at +1 (202) 869-3210 Ext 0001  email me, or feel free to self-schedule a 15-minute call, a 30-minute call, or a 60-minute call with me.

If you want more of me, you can read my stuff at Biznology, my website, my company site, Gerris Corp, and sometimes on Socialmedia.biz and Business2Community.

 

Chris Abraham

Chris Abraham, digital strategist and technologist, is a leading expert in digital: search engine optimization (SEO), online relationship management (ORM), Internet privacy, Wikipedia curationsocial media strategy, and online public relations with a focus on blogger outreachinfluencer engagement, and Internet crisis response, with the digital PR and social media marketing agency Gerris digital. [Feel free to self-schedule a 15-minute call, a 30-minute call, or a 60-minute call with me] A pioneer in online social networks and publishing, with a natural facility for anticipating the next big thing, Chris is an Internet analyst, web strategy consultant and adviser to the industries' leading firms. Chris Abraham specializes in web technologies, including content marketing, online collaboration, blogging, and consumer generated media.  Chris Abraham was named a Top 50 Social Media Power Influencer by Forbes, #1 PR2.0 Influencer by Traackr, and top-10 social media influencers by Marketwire; and, for what it’s worth, Chris has a Klout of 79 the last time he looked. Chris Abraham started doing web development back in 1994, SEO in 1998, blogging in 1999, influencer engagement in 2003, social media strategy in 2005, blogger outreach in 2006, and Wikipedia curation in 2007. Feel free to self-schedule a 15-minute call, a 30-minute call, or a 60-minute call. If you want to know the services that Chris offers check out Services If you want to work with Chris use the Contact Form You're welcome to follow me via Social Media You can learn more about Chris over in About Chris writes a lot so check out the Blog Chris offers webinars so check Events

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