Twitter is grabbing more new customers

53% of Twitter users have been a member for less than a year, compared to just 19% for Facebook. This fresher base could prove an

advantage to Twitter moving forward.

Jagan Tanikella &

R.Aishwaryaa

THE ENTREPRENEURS AT TWITTER: BUILDING A BRAND, A SOCIAL TOOL

OR A TECH POWERHOUSE

Twitter is a micro blogging service that allows subscribers to send

“tweets” of 140 characters or less to their “followers”

• One of the hottest technology companies since Google and Facebook

• Cited as being an influential factor in socio-political events

• About half of Twitter’s user base came from the United States

• The service has attained its current level of popularity based on referrals, extensive and free media coverage, and the fact that it employed an open source platform, which encouraged the development of third-party applications by others

• Twitter’s user numbers has fallen rapidly

• The company should eventually adopt a money making business model in the long run

The major problems focused in the case study (2009-10)

The Key insight was that users would not need to enter the address of each recipient separately, every single time a message was to be sent.

The definition was “A short burst of inconsequential information” and “chirp from

birds”

Why the name “TWITTER” was chosen

• It is essentially a broadcasting system that allows users to transmit short bursts of information to lots of strangers as well as to friends.

• It is built a web interface created using an “open source web application framework” called Ruby on Rails and using Startling as the primary message queue server.

• It is not a proprietary technology, as it offers the option of integrating other web applications or web services with Twitter via an Application programing interface (API).

How Twitter works

How twitter differed from other online chat forums and Facebook

• A person can interact with Twitter entirely from a mobile phone, but participating in a chat room usually requires sitting at a laptop or desktop computer.

• Some online services charge for access to chat rooms. Meanwhile, the Twitter service doesn't charge users to send messages from their mobile phones or the Twitter website, or charge users to read other people's messages on the Twitter website or have those messages forwarded.

• Chat rooms often have moderators and codes of conduct. You can be kicked out of a chat room, but you cannot be blocked from using Twitter under ordinary circumstances.

• Easy to make new contacts and extend your social circle beyond your friends.

• Simple, uncomplicated user interface.• Highly interactive. Allows you to communicate directly

with your customers and address their comments or concerns.

• Posts, or “tweets,” enjoyed by your followers are often rebroadcast as re-tweets.

• You can search all posts on Twitter for key words relevant to your business.

• Twitter users are usually open to making connections with people they don’t know.

Promotion

Direct

Internal

Indirect

Inbound Signaling

Venture Capital Invests in Twitter

• Twitter is expected to see $259.9 million in revenue in 2012, up from $139.5 in 2011.

• Over the next couple of years, the company’s revenue is forecast to reach $399.5 million in 2013 and $540 million by 2014.

• Twitter has been identified as a possible candidate for an initial public offering by 2013.

• Some investors in Twitter include Institutional Venture Partners, Benchmarks Capital, Union Square Ventures, Spark Capital, Digital Garage, Bezos expeditions, Insight Venture Partners, etc.

• Twitter continues to mesh its short-messaging service into Apple products, which are responsible for a big chunk of Twitter use.

• For its part, Apple has woven Twitter into devices such as the iPhone and, more recently, the Mac computer.

Apple Discussed Investing in Twitter

• “Where you have audiences you will make money” -E commerce was an avenue the company could explore

• “We can give people stuff for free, but not forever” –licensing tweets to partners

• Somehow Emulate Skype

Potential Routes Discussed

• It was broken—literally• It was growing like crazy• It had no plan to make money • Waves of spammers and hijackers• New users couldn’t figure out how to use Twitter• Twitter didn’t know how to promote itself• Twitter did not have a rich media interface• It couldn’t prioritize search results in any way

nor could it aggregate information for users

Business Model

Twitter believes putting Promoted Tweets in users timelines will be its big moneymaker.  

Twitter suggests users follow people whom the people they follow follow.

• An appropriate number of employees• A business plan• A rich media interface• A stable-enough platform to plan for

the future.

Late 2012 is the real beginning of Twitter

• http://sproutsocial.com/insights/2011/03/facebook-vs-twitter-pros-and-cons/• http://www.pibblesnme.com/2012/08/twitter-following-ers/• http://blog.tweetsmarter.com/twitter-downtime/twitters-seven-big-problems/• http://haacked.com/archive/2007/06/02/twitter-solves-the-chat-usability-

problem.aspx• http://venturebeat.com/2012/01/31/twitters-revenue-expected-to-nearly-double-in-

2012/• http://online.wsj.com/article/

SB10000872396390443343704577553953443264394.html• http://www.crunchbase.com/company/twitter

Referrals