Posts Tagged ‘twitter’

Why Buy The Cow When You Can Get the Milk For Free?

Monday, June 8th, 2009

We’re all about entrepreneurship and business plans that riff off existing concepts in a new, smart way, but does this business plan make sense to you guys? Super Chirp is a service that’s charging people for “premium” Twitter streams. That is, you pay for them. Bear in mind, these are the same tweets you can get for free if you’re willing to take the time to surf the site yourself yourself, the pay-tweets are just condensed and packaged for you. But will people actually pony up for the service? Before you decide, here’s more on how it works, via TechCrunch:

“Unlike Twitpub, where publishers have to create a new Twitter account, Super Chirp works through direct messages (Twitter’s private message system). That means publishers can leverage their existing Twitter accounts to promote the paid streams. Users subscribe to the content on the Super Chirp site, pay via Paypal, and then get the messages via DM. They can also visit Super Chirp to see all those paid messages, and sort them by publisher.”

While the service is targeted at celebrities—who have fans that are hungry to read their Tweets in real time—we’re still not sure it’s a wise business model. Something feels inherently off about charging people for something they can already get for free, even if it is slighty repackaged. Are we wrong?

(Image via TechCrunch)

Tags: business plan, twitter
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Twitter Gone Wrong.

Friday, May 29th, 2009

When it comes to social media, we have a mantra for small business owners: if you don’t know your Facebook from your Twitter, or if you just plain don’t know what you’re doing, tread lightly when it comes to using it as a marketing tool. Not only can it be a giant time suck that diverts your attention from more proven marketing tactics, but it can also go horribly, horribly wrong. Just check out this recent exchange between a Time Warner Cable employee and a customer, who was trying to give the rep advice on how to improve customer loyalty. That’s exactly how Twitter should work for small business (or any business, actually): it allows businesses to connect with customers in a new way. Apparently TWC got it twisted. Here’s the exchange, via Consumerist. jchrisetenbury is the customer and jeffTWC is Time Warner’s official Twitterer:

“@jeffTWC: Please RT: working on customer loyalty programs and would love your ideas/input—raffling an iTouch on Thurs to constructive suggestions

jchristenbury @jeffTWC I have a whole handful, where do I send them?

jchristenbury @jeffTWC I want to choose and pay for the channels I want. (I know this is not a TWC decision but TWC has the clout to push it)

jchristenbury @jeffTWC I want the CS reps to listen when I tell them I have already rebooted my computer and its not on my end. #customerloyalty

jchristenbury @jeffTWC I want a bill that I can understand that doesn’t have cryptic misc. charges. I want to know what the charges are #customerloyalty

jchristenbury @jeffTWC I want Higher internet speeds. the US has the lowest speeds of all.

jeffTWC @jchristenbury Thanks for your tips here – but we’re not really addressing industry problems with this, just creating a marketing tool”

Er, just a marketing tool? At least pretend that you’re using Twitter to connect with customers, because if you don’t, you (and your company) end up looking like opportunistic half-wits. Here’s the screengrab:

We’re guessing TWC has learned their Twitter lesson…

Tags: small business, twitter
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The Genesis Of A Successful Start-Up.

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

While it’s fascinating to get inside the head of a successful start-up’s CEO to find out how it all went down – from idea to inception – those glimpses are rare. But today at the All Things Digital Conference, Twitter founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone provided a unique inside look at the Twitter story, including how they got the initial idea and how they brought it to fruition. Fast forward in about 30 seconds (after they discuss a few of Twitter’s problems, including its retention rate) for the meat:

Tags: start-up, twitter
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Twitter: A New Business Plan.

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

For once, we have to give Twitter some credit. While the “micro-blogging” site has yet to figure out a viable business plan, they hinted at one this week, with co-founder Biz Stone saying in a blog post that they intend to shy away from advertising and instead are considering charging for various tools:

“For a long time, we’ve said that we think there are interesting opportunities related to commercial usage. Businesses and individuals are getting value out of Twitter and we may be able to enhance that. We’ve just begun exploring in this area-early ideas include account authentication, management tools, and discovery mechanisms. We’ll keep you posted.

“The idea of taking money to run traditional banner ads on Twitter.com has always been low on our list of interesting ways to generate revenue. However, facilitating connections between businesses and individuals in meaningful and relevant ways is compelling. We’re going to leave the door open for exploration in this area.”

He added that, “traditional web banner advertising isn’t interesting to us.”

Judging from the response Stone’s comments got, you would have thought he’d suggested that the sky isn’t actually blue. His statement incited a hullabaloo in the media, with many analysts scoffing at the idea that you could make money without following the standard advertising-as-primary-revenue-stream business model. Take ComputerWorld, who posed the question: “Twitter says no to ads; So how can the site survive?” We don’t get it. Isn’t advertising—or the lack thereof—one of the growing woes of web-based businesses right now? If the recession has demonstrated anything to web entrepreneurs, it’s how flimsy the advertising-based business model actually is. Just look at MySpace.

So while we’re typically loathe to give Twitter any credit, we think they deserve some for showing some innovative thought. They’ve come right out with an idea that’s long been considered taboo on the web: it’s not unreasonable to charge consumers for a service. The trouble with web-based businesses, and particularly web 2.0 start-ups, is that they got things twisted: consumers now believe that they should get something for nothing. For lack of a better expression, we think it’s time to break free from that box and applaud Twitter for daring to go there. While the start-up faces an uphill battle if they want to convince consumers that they’re offering real, tangible value, akin to purchasing something in a store or buying a service, we don’t think it’s impossible.

Do you?

Tags: business plan, twitter, web 2.0
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Twitter Not All Cute Birds And Smiling Whales For Biz.

Monday, May 11th, 2009

The great Web 2.0 revolution has presented all sorts of handy little tools for small and big business owners, marketers, or anyone with a business plan and something to sell. But along with the gifts it offers business owners who know how to use them, Web 2.0 has served up its share of pitfalls too. Take the florist company, FTD who learned the hard way this weekend that Twitter isn’t always a business’ best friend. The florist is generating all sorts of negative buzz on Twitter today after apparently mixing up multiple mother’s day orders, reports TechCrunch, and it ain’t pretty:

“FTD.com still hasn’t delivered the flowers I ordered Wednesday to my mom in the hospital, and they still haven’t replied either. Grrrrr.”

“FTD had two days to get RA’s mom her mothers day flowers and they FAILED. I am SO waiting this 15 minute hold time to rip someone a new one.”

“FTD resolution was terrible; solution to missed Mother’s day flowers;send flowers tomorrow & discount the service charge!”

Perhaps not surprisingly, 1800-FLOWERS is also getting its share of negative tweets today. However, they’ve got a rep on Twitter trying, it appears, to do some damage control (screen grab from TechCrunch):

While we’re guessing that there wasn’t any mass system failure on either company’s part—these sorts of things are probably part and parcel of a big day for florists—Twitter has shed light on the problem. What’s interesting is how the two businesses are responding differently to the complaints—and how it appears to be impacting their Twitter rep. According to Twendz, which tracks tweets, only 33% of tweets about 1800-Flowers are bad, while a whopping 63% of tweets about FTD are negative. Yowch. The other question, of course, is whether ill will on Twitter can trickle out into the mainstream media, and public consciousness. Judging from the fact that we’re writing this blog post, we’re guessing that the answer might be yes…

Tags: small business, twitter, web 2.0
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Entrepreneur Tweets, Gets Funding, Media Swoons.

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

We spend a lot of time beating Twitter up, mainly because, well, it’s Twitter and everyone is hyperventilating about it and the jury’s still out on just how useful it really is for small business and someone needs to call b.s. on the hype. But even as a Twitter-for-small-business cynic, we have to admit that this story is pretty amazing. T.A. McCann, the CEO of email management start-up, Gist, recently sent a (totally innocent, we’re sure) Twitter to venture capitalist Brad Feld of the Foundry Group asking for running routes in the Denver area. Having read Feld’s blog, he knew the VC was an avid runner. And since this little story ran in the Wall Street Journal, you’re probably starting to see where it goes:

“The two ended up running twice together on McCann’s trip in November. This was long before Gist was raising money. McCann gave the firm beta accounts with the service and received substantial positive feedback, he said.

While there were other interested investors, McCann said a big plus in selecting Foundry Group as an investor was how well they were known for blogging and being active in social media—and their interest in email,” reports WSJ.

Gist went on to secure $6.75 million from Foundry. So you could say (as the Wall Street Journal does) that Gist’s new funding began with a simple Twitter. We have a hard time believing that this is anything more than just a one-off, but still, it’s a good story, and, hey, it’s as good a way as any to get a VC introduction. Has anyone else had a fortuitous Twitter experience?

Tags: funding, twitter
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Twitter-Lite.

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

Despite much of what you read in the blogosphere and on the Internet, Twitter primarily remains a site for tech geeks, early adopters, the cool kids, and your friends who like to be in the know before everyone else. While there’s no question that the site’s popularity is rapidly growing (especially since Oprah became a Twitterer) and that you should be aware of it, don’t beat yourself up if your small business doesn’t have a presence on the site yet. Most don’t.

You’re not quite off the hook yet, though. Even if you don’t know anything about Twitter, and don’t care to (we get the impulse, trust us), there is one thing you should be aware of: Twitter Search. The feature works just like Google, except it trawls Twitter users’ tweets for any mention of the word or phrase you type into the search field. So say you’d like to find out quickly if anyone on Twitter is saying something about your small business. Just type in your business name, and search. Real time results pop up instantly and include the good, the bad, and the ugly. It’s also great for mining anecdotal information about a market for a particular business. Plus you can search for your own name too, just like Google. Don’t pretend like you don’t want to…

Tags: small business, twitter
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Angelo Mozilo Prompted Me To Start My Business. Because I Resent Him.

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

We’re not naming names, but someone we follow on Twitter posited the following today: “Is ‘corporate resentment’ a factor in the spike of entrepreneurial interest?”

We can’t quite figure this one out. It’s like asking whether the Swine Flu is responsible for an uptick in Ford sales (people are scared of the Swine Flu; people get angry at Mexico for not doing enough more quickly; people thus show their solidarity for the U.S. by purchasing more American cars! Wait…). That is, it doesn’t make any sense at all.

Who disagrees?

Former Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo.

Tags: economy, entrepreneur, twitter
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If Reason Won’t Work, We’ll Scare You Into Using Twitter.

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

Even if you’re not all hip to the new media like Twitter and Facebook, and even if your small business doesn’t have an official presence, here’s a pretty solid reason why you should get with it: consumers are probably talking about your business on social media. Yes, we already made this observation the other day (or actually, we stole it from someone else), but we think it’s worth mentioning again after stumbling upon a list of businesses that got burnt by social media over at Silicon Alley Insider. While not all of these fails could have necessarily been remedied by a business simply trawling Facebook—think Domino’s PR crisis last week—it’s clear that it behooves a business to know what’s up before a story hits the local news. Here are some of the most egregious biz screw-ups in recent social media history:

-Domino’s Pizza found itself in the midst of a PR nightmare last week after two employees filmed themselves, ahem, putting cheese up their noses and blowing mucus into sandwiches that were delivered to customers. Domino’s fired the employees, but not before a million people watched the YouTube video.

-Pain-reliever Motrin got killed this past year after “Twitter moms” went ballistic online over what they perceived was an offensive ad featuring a mom, a baby, a baby sling, and an aching back. While we still don’t get the brouhaha over the ad, Motrin certainly got the message: after hearing about the rabble being roused on Twitter, parent company Johnson & Johnson quickly pulled it.

-Exxon Mobil found out the hard way in 2008 that it’s better to get involved in social media before your imposters do. “Janet,” a woman claiming to be part of the oil company’s PR machine, posted a variety of “press releases,” “news,” and other information about the company on Twitter without Exxon even knowing it. More than 300 people signed up for regular updates from Janet, reported the Industry Standard, before anyone learned about the hoax. No wonder: most of her posts sounded like the sort of thing that might come from a company mouthpiece: “”I believe we are the first major energy company here (on Twitter). Exxon Mobile is trying to lead the way in corporate citizenship,” and “”Exxon Mobil reduced its Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 5 million metric tons from 2006 to 2007!” But then there was the other stuff: “”Although the Valdez spill was tragic, it was only 10 million gallons. Compare that to the 73 million in the Nowruz Oil Field in 1983.” Yeah.

We think you get the point. But if you’re still not convinced, check out the entire list of businesses that got punked by social media here. We expect that to scare you into submission. It did us!

Tags: , idiocy, social media, twitter
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More Twitter For Your Small Biz.

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009

While we’ve taken a lot of convincing, we’re beginning to believe that everyone’s favorite new Internet toy, Twitter, may actually have more use than Ashton Kutcher promoting, um, himself or Perez Hilton ranting about Miss California. While we sort of hate ourselves for even talking about Twitter, we have to admit we were wooed by this handy list of “Six Ways You Should Be Using Twitter (that Don’t Involve Breakfast)” from Lifehacker. While not all the suggestions are useful for those of you who spend more time on your business plan than you do reading US Weekly or hanging out on Facebook, a few seem like actually useful, legit ways for a small business to use Twitter to their advantage:

-”Instant, Real-Time Search Results” and “Monitoring Something You Care About”. These two go hand-and-hand as far as small business is concerned. Want to find out what customers/Twitterers are saying about your business? Type in your company name to get fast results. This also serves as a great resource for finding out general info for anything related to your start-up’s industry.

-”Ask Questions, Get Answers.” Thinking about serving a new line of hot pink frozen yogurt at your ice cream shop? Want to find out if people are grossed out—or if they’ll buy? Just ask the Twitterverse. One thing there’s no shortage of on Twitter is people with opinions.

-Lastly (this one seemed the most dubious to us), “Twitter as a Productivity Command Line.” We’ll let Lifehacker explain:

“Whether you want to add a new event to Google Calendar, a new to-do to Remember the Milk, or a new note to Evernote, you can do it all via Twitter.”

Can anyone else think of any ways a small business can use Twitter to their advantage? Give us your tips in the comment section below.