Comments on: Did Twitter Miss The Best Valuation In History?

By: Moon Hussain | Experiments In Passive Income

Moon Hussain | Experiments In Passive Income — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:45:17 +0000

Wow, great analysis on the valuation of Twitter. Obviously, it’d be safe to say that their going to be around, but yes, I’d like to know where the business model is for this things. I wonder what kind of plans the Twitter team has to stay afloat amongst the competition.

Good one, Niall!

By: sean

sean — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:01:56 +0000

Twitter will be around for a long time to come , its an essential part of the internet community like Google . Its fun and serious all at the same time just like life and takes all sorts . You can even tweet to your idols , money isn`t everything , viva la tweet!

By: Case Ernsting

Case Ernsting — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:22:12 +0000

I agree with many of your speculations. (Summer was definitely the height of Twitter’s popularity and Facebook will never give up the fight.) But I’d like your thoughts on the enhanced user experience that these growing pains are producing. You mentioned the Twitter lists, for example. When Facebook was a fledging college network in 2006, they provided tons of crazy features and programs to their user experience, and while not many of those features remain, the lessons clearly do. Facebook learned from their risks and I think Twitter will as well and continue to grow in a few months.

Also, I tend to believe Biz Stone and Co. had a plan when they turned down 500 million. If they were smart enough to get Twitter to the forefront, I want to believe they have a business plan up their sleeve. But that benefit of the doubt can only last so long I suppose.

By: Niall Harbison

Niall Harbison — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:23:01 +0000

Facebook will become more than a social netowork as time goes on. It will get really interesting when they start to accept payments etc! There is just way more to do on Facebook and I guess that is what Twitter is trying to copy but just not getting there!

By: Niall Harbison

Niall Harbison — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:21:24 +0000

YEah well I have always thought that Twitter could make some money off the 3rd party apps and to be fair they are what makes it so good. IT would never have taken off as just a website! The fact is though that those 3rd party apps are making money now and Twitter ain’t

By: Niall Harbison

Niall Harbison — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:16:28 +0000

Well as Paddy says above I think they are following fairly noble goals by trying to see it out to the end and not cash in early

By: John McLachlan

John McLachlan — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:12:26 +0000

This is a hard one to call. On a personal level, I like twitter / not so crazy about Facebook, but Facebook is proving more effective for conversations with what I do. The sheer size of the Facebook user base makes it pretty compelling. I think facebook has more depth to it which will likely work in its favour over the long haul.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:59:57 +0000

Good read Niall. Have to agree with you on adding features for the sake of it, I like the simple nature of the service but I am unsure if it is for everyone. Facebook allows users to publish more types of content and hence attracts more users and more repeat users. Another issue I think for Twitter will be the amount of people using 3rd party services such as TweetDeck to manage their accounts, once you register on twitter.com, why do you need to go back?

By: Niall Harbison

Niall Harbison — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:23:53 +0000

Yeah it’s true that everybody has different goals. Not sure if you know but I used to work for Paul Allen (co-founder of Microsoft) as a private chef and he had all the money in the world and lots of yachts but lost the business purpose in his life after getting out of Microsoft early. I am sure the Twitter lads have taken a good bit of money off the table already just in case it all goes horribly wrong. I am sure like you say they probaly see themsleves in the same light as the guys in Google as in they are changing the world with their service rather than just to make a bunch of cash!

By: Rendy

Rendy — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:19:25 +0000

I think they are in a comfortable position. At least for now. I am not sure about the goals and culture of twitter and where they are heading. That is pretty worrying.

You can check me out on twitter. @markidguru

By: Paddy

Paddy — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:39:00 +0000

Money isn’t eveything. I’m sure the Twitter founders would be much happier at the end of the day having raised their baby themselves and watched the world take it for a wild ride over 2009 and beyond, seeing it become one of the most popular internet services of the last few years. I think internet entrepreneurs are of a different breed than old school business types and aren’t always just looking out for the optimum point in which to sell and make the most money. The term ‘exit strategy’ is so horrible and the new school guys from the likes of Twitter and Google have a bit more integrity and love for their product, I would hope.

By: Niall Harbison

Niall Harbison — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:41:08 +0000

There is a certain amount of a learning curve and even the early adoptors will tell you that they didn’t get it at first. I think it was about a month from my first visit to me actualy using it proprly. I defo think there are very different crowds on FB and Twitter. FB is for all my personal friends whereas Twitter is a mixing pot of all sorts of interesting people

By: Ronan

Ronan — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:10:05 +0000

For me, twitter is the plaything of us. It’s ours. Us who blog ourselves and comment on other blogs. It’s a way for us to connect. It’s a way to share links with our online friends.

For everyone else, my physical real-life friends, it’s just a series of facebook updates. It doesn’t allow them to share photos, chat in real-time, or much else.

That’s why I can see twitter levelling out, and more or less staying as is. I know many people who’ve signed up, but never returned. It’s inevitable. Not even Stephen Fry and Alan Carr can keep them tweeting.

By: Niall Harbison

Niall Harbison — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:09:12 +0000

Well that is good news. The one thing that I always wished was that my close personal non techy friends were on it. I see huge potential if they were far beyond people who you know through the web. Good to hear that the youth are embracing it although the big issue there is obc privacy and security. Not sure how man parents want their kids broadcasting their every movement and thought down to a very precise GPS co-ordinate!

By: Niall Harbison

Niall Harbison — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:06:39 +0000

Oh it will defo survive there is no doubt about that because it has a lot of users but from a business perspective i really think they could have sold out and been living a very comfortable life at this stage if they had cashed in!