Twitter Worth a Billion in a Year? hmm more like Jaiku

Link : How Twitter Could Be Worth A Billion In A Year



Recently there have been some interesting conversations going on around the web about the possibilities of what Twitter could become.

Well after reading it I thought compelled to share some thoughts on this subject. First Nate's whole premise is off kilter because it is defendant on Twitter's ability to overcome it's recent scaling issues and loss of it's of respect from the community.

Nate's main point was to use Twitter as a micropayment service. Here is where I think Jaiku (cough cough Google) has the advantage. Google Checkout has already been playing around in the mobile arena for the past year. Now this alone should not be news worthy but I came across an interesting post about Jaiku founder Jyri Engestrom.

"

• Verbs for social objects: we need to think about the verbs that people perform on objects. E.g., Flickr’s aggregation of what people have done with your photos. We should be surfacing the available actions.
• World of Warcraft's information methods for everyday life: “Imagine a physical world where we have as much peripheral information at our disposal as in WoW.” Not just “boring update feeds.” Innovate, especially on mobiles. We will see this stuff in the next 24 months. Some examples: Maps: Where my friends are. Phonebook: what are people up to. Email: prioritized. Photos: Face recognition.
• A new take on social search: Detecting nodal points: “What should I be aware of that’s happening around me? Was what just happened significant to someone on the network.” And then deliver it to people at just the right time, perhaps via push. “Discovery is becoming social.” “It is the end of the era of search,” i.e., of querying for stuff. From browser to search to share (citing former ceo of paypal). From pagerank to “facerank” where what counts is friends in common, physical proximity, shared taste, shared objects."

Google has been very quietly getting ready to open a big ole can of whoop ass directed at Twitter. Remember Google could have bought Twitter but why didn't they?? Because they saw the potential in Jaiku as something much bigger than a micropayment service. Imagine and interconnected stream through this new service that incorporates email / video / maps / shopping etc.. on a platform that is truly stable and scaleable and monetizeable.

All of this running on Android equipped phones and piercing through all of the open social partner sites as well.. It's just a matter of time.

Cisco ... Isn't this what Twitter does?

The Human Network: Hollywood


Saw this commercial and the first thing I thought of was.. hey Cisco bought Twitter cool!! I wonder how many people fall for this stuff...

Is Twitter blowing up?

I have to admit I have been on sort of a Web 2.0 hiatus for the past 4.5 months since launching our new site. In the last week or so I have been inspired by much of the exciting news in this space as well as in Mobile scene too.

So I decided to start using my Twitter account again..now when I say use what I mean is post. I utilize Twitter in a data streaming way and love it. I get updates from Techmeme, Jason Calacanis , Danny Sullivan, Search Engine Land, and of course one cannot live w/ out live Redsox casts via Twitter.

Today I read a great article over on Steve Spalding's blog on "How to use Twitter" in which he listed some great applications like....

ServerMojo - Monitors your web server and will send you update notifications via Twitter.

Remember the Milk for Twitter- Remember the Milk (rtm) is a popular GTD web application. By adding the rtm Twitter member as a friend you can send commands to your account via the Twitter interface. This is particularly useful if you are using Twitter by SMS when you are out and about and you only have your mobile phone and no Internet access.

SugarStats - If you are diabetic then check out SugarStats. This site allows you to monitor your sugar levels and gives you all sorts of graphs and charts. Plus you can send in your data via Twitter.

Twitter by Voice = Jott.com send a Twitter update by speaking into your phone--your voice gets
converted to text and sent out to all your followers.

Foamee.com is a fun IOU system built on Twitter that helps you
track who you owe beers to (and vice versa). All you have to do is
follow the account "ioubeer" and then send it @replies. So, say
you owe me a beer for helping you change a flat tire, this is what
you'd send to Twitter:

@ioubeer @biz for helping me change that flat tire

Then, your IOU will show up on the front page at foamee.com.

I also came across Guy Kawasaki's post regarding his Twitter app that feeds his Truemors site.. really slick if I say so myself..


I wonder how developers will leverage some of these apps via Open Social and Facebook Api's...hmmmmmm there are so many facets of Twitter.. there are business applications, social and now even health and safety values being equated too it...

I actually wrote about Twitter being used in an Emergency situations after the tragic events at Virginia Tech last spring. But it looks like Twitter really has scaled in this capacity during the recent natural disasters in California.

I just see Twitter creating so much value lately? Is it just me or has it been this robust for awhile now?

Hypocriacy brought me out of retirement

Awhile back a set a Google alert for Blendah. Well today it payed off big time... In my inbox came this little tid-bit from from someone that wants to make $10k off this idea but calls me out for squatting on Yelp...hmmm do you smell something here? I do ...The irony of the whole situation is that Twitter has a policy of turning over Trademarked names to their rightful owners.

Maybe this is what I needed to get back in the game.. things have been a little hectic since launching our new "Wholesale Autoparts Club" w/ a splash of Web 2.0

clipped from blogs.claritycon.com From the 10K Monkey Idea Lab: Yelp + Twitter = Yelpitter Anyway regarding Yelp / Twitter. I was thinking about my old school IRC days in college and chatbots. I think there could be two fun ways to use Twitter and Yelp together and incorporate some chatbot functionality.. Yelp Review via Twitter What I think would be cool is to have a new Twitter user, let's call it Yelp. 1 When reviewing a restaurant, you would just add Yelp as a Twitter friend and direct message them the name of the restaurant. Yelp/Twitter would auto respond back to ask what you thought of the restaurant. You can then respond back to Yelp/Twitter with the review and it's added to Yelp. 1It appears someone has squatted on the Yelp twitter name. Has Twitter squatting become the newest form of cybersquatting? Thanks for trying to ruin Twitter Tom@blendah.com

Twitter should have thought of this ???

As you may or may not know.. I am a "Twitter" Fan.. I love the bridge that it builds to maintain relationships over most forms of communications in easy and unobtrusive manner. Twitter should also be praised for their openness towards outside developers that has made a significant impact on the service itself.. So why no "White Label"????

I have reviewed quite a few of Evan Williams interviews and he hasn't really let on about a possible business model for Twitter..In one article in Business 2.0 he talks about Corporate accounts but I have yet to see any implementation on that end...I think that they should offer "White Label" services.. I for one would def. pay for a branded version of Twitter's features for our startup..

Companies like Reddit and Ning seem to thrive on these kinds of b2b services...


It seems with such an influx of new services out there that these companies would look to form partnerships that would help both parties grow...

Anyways my .02

clipped from blogs.zdnet.com +2 4 votes Worthwhile? Facebook has added a number of enhancements to its 'status' functionality which include features which are strikingly similar to the micro-blogging service, Twitter. According to the official blog, Facebook now: displays a user's friends' three most recent updates on the home page has a dedicated page to display all your friends' updates at once has an RSS feed aggregating all of a user's friends' updates offers the ability to subscribe to a friend's updates via SMS offers the ability for a user to update their status by sending an SMS to Facebook starting with the "@" character

Could Web 2.0 have helped?

Today I worked from home ... and couldn't help but helplessly watch the tragic events today at Virginia Tech ... As I was watching the reporting there were so many different versions of what was going.. whether it was the mass email that went out to the student body around 9am .. but as one student said that most students don't check their email that early..to all of the word of mouth news that was being reported.. I wonder if a tool like Twitter was being used for the school as kind of like an "Amber" alert .. where the students would subscribe to the school and the school would push pertinent info to students via email / sms / cell / web etc... Twitter was hailed as great tool at SXSW .. which is a large event w/ allot of people using it in the most effective way.. using this for a school or organzation seems like a easy way to contact mass amounts of people quickly.

It breaks my heart to know those kids where in their classrooms completely vulnerable to todays actions w/ little or no advanced warning.

Instead of placing blame on anybody.. I think that the conversation should be on how can we "minimize" events like this in the future..

My thoughts and Prayers go out to all that were affected today..

clipped from www.msnbc.msn.com MORE COVERAGE • Video: ‘He shot our teacher’ • Video: Gunshots ring out • Timeline: How it unfolded • Officials react to tragedy • Were you a witness? • School shootings: 10 myths

Twitter as Business Promotion Tool

Since I have been playing w/ Twitter for the last couple of weeks...I have been thinking of ways to leverage this service for our new start-up which will be a member based. I have talked about this as a tool w/ friends... and have used this same example that Woot has utilized so brilliantly. This is a great medium for Woot due to the high tech user adoption of Twitter.

My challenge will be to get my core demographic of 17-28 yr old males that are automotive enthusiasts to adopt Twitter as communication tool...

clipped from twitter.com Drops Woot is one of my favorite sites. Not only do they have an awesome name but every day they post a single item for sale a ridiculously low price. The item is only available for 24 hours or until it sells out (which it frequrently does). So how can you stay on top of the latest phat lewt? With Twitter! A couple days ago, the folks at Woot let us know they were gonna use the Twitter API to let folks know what's for sale that day. As far as we know, Woot is the first to use Twitter like this; as a way to let people keep on top of what's being sold. Very cool. Now someone needs to get the Nintendo Wii on Twitter so I can find out when I'll finally be able to get one.

Twitter + Helio Buddy Beacon vs. GPhone + Dodgeball

For the past week I have been Twitterized ... I know I know.. When I first heard about it...I thought big deal.....but it is a really unique tool. I am especially interested in using this service as a communication toll for our new start-up...which is a member based e-commerce site. I can envision having one of our members sending a tweet out to the community when their $2800 turbo kit he bought arrives at his house or a member tweets about a great or bad experience thru our service or just an update on his or her project car...Ok enough w/ my rant....I really like Twitter :) ...

That brings me to my point :) ..... I have been looking at getting a new cell phone ... and I have been impressed by Helio's offerings. They have this cool feature called "Buddy Beacon" which allows you to broadcast your location (GPS) to your friends and vice versa...and you can easily turn it on and off. It also has Google Maps built in hmmmm... that got me thinking. There already is a version of Twitter using Google Maps which would add a set of tools that Helio doesn't have. Helio is the self proclaimed Web 2.0 phone company and has already landed deals w/ Boing Boing and Myspace. Why wouldn't Twitter like to join the club? This would be a great way to monetize the product on their end and kepp it free for it's users... That would be an awesome service...and would presumably be a huge blow to Google's property Dodgeball .... or would it? Allot of people are saying Dodgeball is dead... but could this be a service that Google is waiting to expand w/ their much anticipated venture into the Mobile Phone Market. Things that make you go hmmmmmm.

What would you rather have ?

Viral Threads ???

I know that I am in the middle of a startup as we speak...so I shouldn't be thinking about anything else right? Can entrepreneurial ideas be spawned from current ventures effectively? Well today was the straw that broke the camels back.. I saw this post today regarding getting Twitter shirts made for the SXSW conference.

I sent an email to Threadless regarding a possible contest for our startup when it launches to kind of help us really let our customers define our brand and be involved right from the beginning. In the email I sent I pointed out how I could bring a new demographic to there site and would be really excited to offer a great prize for the best design. I got back a cordial reply simply stating good luck ... but we already have other contests going on.. I totally understand their stance .. they are a really busy company that is really focused on the users driving the community ...which I agree w/ 100%...no advertisers..

So the dim lit light bulb went off in my head.. What if their was a social driven marketplace for web communities and sites that their users could create and vote for their favorite designs. Think of the viral nature in which people could find out about other sites and more importantly more about the community in that particular community. Think of sites like Twitter , Meebo , Digg , MyBlogLog, Reddit, Search Engine Land, Technorati , the list goes on and on... I know that the communinty made up of tons of other communities could drive different themes for times during the year. Also think of the contests you could have between rival sites: Pageflakes vs. Netvibes or GotVmail vs. RingCentral or Meebo vs. EBuddy , Twitter vs. Dodgeball etc. etc...

The sites themselves would have to sanction the contest's in order to use Logo's for use. As a business owner this would be a no-brainer for me as viral marketing tool...The ability for a community to help define a brand is quite powerful. Plus I like wearing cool T-Shirts...I see implementing the social networking tools as a great bridge to gain traction.

Here is where the rubber meets the road... I do have some close friends that own a silk screen business ...so I made some inquiries on the actual cost and breakdown of this process. It is totally doable and their are margins to be made are acceptable. The question is what business model would I follow.. Do we split revenue w/ the sites? Do we charge an inclusion for sites? or do we have a monthly subscription for advertisers/partners . .. Needless to say I have friends that are extremely talented in web development so I have no doubts on that end... The big problem is how can I juggle both startups... could I implement a Woot style format where it would be a sale a day..to curtail time spent on it.. I think that I could handle the PR/Sales aspect of it..

Just thinking out loud... :)

Social Commerce ???

I have been thinking allot about how to incorporate Social Networking into our new E-commerce based membership startup...forums/classifieds/member pages etc.. are all the likely suspects. The problem is that we have to build a vibrant community first..so how do we do this and get some sense of relationship building?

It seems like their are multitudes of options out there whether it be a tools Meebo, Twitter, Stumbleupon, Me.dium and leveraging other social networking sites like Myspace , Facebook , Youtube and Flickr.

This can get intimidating quite quickly but I think that I have come up w/ a scenario that will make it easy for members to interact w/ our staff and other members in an efficient manner.

Can you have a site that incorporates a mix of Social Networking tools but doesn't have the typical infrastructure i.e forums, chat rooms, member pages?

Could we mesh the ability to use tools like Meebo which blends all major IM's (Gtalk,AIM,YIM,MSM,Jabber) together in a web based widget instead of using LivePerson?

Second would be how can we take that to the next level..a blog would be nice..but our demographic audience are primarily 18-27 males.. so we need to keep it short and simple. I came across this article from Lifehacker regarding real world applications for Twitter. Twitter is an application where you can post quick blurbs about daily happenings in your life and are sent via Sms, IM's or Blogs.

The key in my mind is somehow to use these tools to make a bridge between our site and the big boys i.e Youtube/Myspace/Facebook/Flickr.

Our strategic marketing plan is to develop relationships in community forums that are specific for our startup. Could we find a way to incorporate a community based off of Me.dium
that would give our members and fellow enthusiasts to socially surf? Maybe this is taking it to far.

Let me know what you think I should do regarding a "Social Networking Strategy"