New move from Twitter today! With its most current valuation closing in on $8 billion, Twitter is currently looking for $400 million in additional funding. With good chances to close the new funding round, an estimated $200 million in revenue and no apparent hurry to go public, it still needs to continue ramping up its revenue stream.
Through its blog (see post below), Twitter announced today that it would be moving tweets from select companies and promoted tweets (currently only appearing in the list of trends) higher up in our timelines. Twitter did make sure to remind its blog readers that either type of these “plugged” tweets — it calls them “Timely Tweets” — could easily be dismissed, since:
“We put our users first and strive to create products that enrich the Twitter experience for every Twitter user. We’re excited about this next step and look forward to your feedback.”
I personally always appreciated Twitter’s efforts to imagine a new business model out of the age old eyeballs advertising model. This move of prioritizing corporate tweets does make sense given the very short lifecycle of a tweet, short of serious engagement and retweeting from followers and the twittosphere. Companies should see more clicks and retweets as a result… or will they?
A few questions come to mind:
- Do the “select companies” risk losing followers as a result of them into their followers face in slightly more forceful manner?
- Will this push companies to better the quality of their tweet and engagement to avoid the above or at least prevent the reader to dismiss the timely tweets?
- What might this move do to its brand image as an open and unfiltered and open network? Not only for its current users but for attracting more users.
With 200 million users “only” Twitter is still far behind Facebook’s 750 million, but with an average 350 billion tweets currently being delivered each day, Twitter is going strong (see infographic below)… and something must water whomever’s mouth is forking up an additional $400 million in funding.
What do you think the benefits or risks of the “Timely Tweets” move are for Twitter?
Twitter Blog: Timely Tweets: Now easier to seeShare and discover what’s happening right now, anywhere in the world.
