Comments on: CM Conversations: Evan Williams

By: Laura

Laura — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:47:32 +0000

How does the economy impact twitter's business plan/strategy?
Twitter has affected this election; could it positively affect the economy - how?

In the short term, do you think people will be focusing less on learning new applications or has twitter hit a critical mass of adoption?

By: John Battelle

John Battelle — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:42:01 +0000

@Ed yes it’s this week. Thursday in fact.

By: Ed Shaz/NextInstinct

Ed Shaz/NextInstinct — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:12:13 +0000

John,
When is this interview? I see that the conference starts Wednesday morning, is that when you'll be interviewing Evan?

By: Book

Book — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 07:22:28 +0000

At some point, twitter will have to focus — and it looks very much like it’s primarily marketing, advertising and public relations crowd that’s using it. 30,000 blog readers in terms of engagement? Is Twitter tracking things like frequency of visits and how people interact with each other.

By: Leona Laurie

Leona Laurie — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 05:54:44 +0000

I’d also like to know about how Twitter’s audience is weighted against the audience in other social media. For example, if someone has 1500 Twitter followers, is that as good as 30,000 blog readers in terms of engagement? Is Twitter tracking things like frequency of visits and how people interact with each other and how long they stay on the site? If I post a message on Twitter, how would the amplification compare to a message posted in a MySpace bulletin?

By: Laurel Papworth

Laurel Papworth — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 02:15:35 +0000

Twitter agency (twitteragency.com) is a crowd sourced agency of 100+ twitterers addressing giving tips and hints on marketing in Twitter.

I'd like to know how Ev feels about the ecosystem they have created.

By: David Damore

David Damore — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:46:29 +0000

How about creating a Twitter Business Plan Challenge #TBPC?

This would allow the large Twitter community to think of IDEAS to increase revenue and profits for Twitter. They would create a business plan [IDEA] for Twitter to execute. Judging would involve a highly distinguished panel of savvy business people [suggested members of the panel include... Guy Kawasaki, Seth Godin...]

This plan could have a big pay off if...
1. The plan is strategically sound and uncontrolable factors do not adversely affect the results
2. The plan is executed with precision
3. The plan successfully drives usage of Twitter in a way that increase revenue and profits and does not increase costs materially.

Using a contest like this is outside the box. It will draw diverse teams that will develop unique IDEAS for making Twitter more successful.

Please review this with your brain trust, evaluate the soundness of the IDEA and #MakeItHappen.

ATB,
David Damore
http://twitter.com/Admore

By: Nitin Borwankar

Nitin Borwankar — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:45:41 +0000

Question for Ev:
Given that so many people are using Twitter to send messages to each other via @ and DM, how do you see Twitter evolving to supplement/displace the role of email.

By: Leona Laurie

Leona Laurie — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:39:37 +0000

At SXSW 2008, iJustine did interviews with people in the street as the music crowd, playing on the divide between the IT and music crowds by asking music IT buzzword-laden questions. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHkfSNjPwtI – Twitter comes in at about 1:50)

I agree with “Book” above about Twitter being flooded with Marketing and PR types, and I wonder whether the company has a plan to actively court other audiences– like the music industry.

By: Nat Torkington

Nat Torkington — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:33:39 +0000

Clay Shirky said, “social software is anything that can be spammed”. The web’s been spammed and it costs a lot to work around the spam. Email has been spammed and it’s arguably much less effective now than it was 15 years ago as a result. How long can Twitter stay ahead of the assholes, given that spamming is an incented behaviour in a free medium with many viewers?