Narrative: Twitter is Stuck

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    Twitter’s marketing chief shows off vibrancy in her pitch – Mashable (Jan 13, 2017)

    Twitter CMO Leslie Berland spoke at CES about what Twitter is doing to grow its business, and it gets at the root of Twitter’s current problems. The good news is that Twitter seems to have a decent understanding of why it’s stuck when it comes to user growth – people don’t know what Twitter is for, they think it’s a social network, and they think they have to tweet themselves to get value out of it. The problem is that Twitter hasn’t done very much yet to address these three issues effectively, and you could argue that’s Berland’s job now, to the extent that marketing includes product. But of course Twitter has famously had separate heads of product, and Jack Dorsey himself seems to want a strong role in that domain too, which may be part of the problem (that and the inability to retain those heads of product).

    via Twitter’s marketing chief shows off vibrancy in her pitch – Mashable

    Jack Dorsey Says Twitter Needs An Edit Function – BuzzFeed News (Dec 29, 2016)

    Jack Dorsey sought user input on what Twitter needs to do next today through Twitter itself, and one of the big requests was an editing feature, which it appears he’s inclined to support. He also conceded the company needed to do more on harassment, which continues to be a big turnoff for potential users. And yet I suspect the changes Twitter needs to make most won’t be suggested by existing users because they relate to on-boarding and capturing a new slice of users that don’t currently see value in Twitter or find it too hard to use.

    via Jack Dorsey Says Twitter Needs An Edit Function – BuzzFeed News

    Check out live 360 video on Twitter | Twitter Blogs (Dec 28, 2016)

    360 video has been mostly the province of Facebook when it comes to social networks, but Twitter (and Periscope) is now getting in on the action too. It obviously lends itself well to VR consumption too, though the focus for now is consumption through traditional channels. At a time when the things I feel Twitter most needs to do remain undone, it nonetheless keeps releasing new features, especially ones focused on live and video. I’m not sure how much this will move the needle as far as monetization or user growth, however.

    via Check out live 360 video on Twitter | Twitter Blogs

    Twitter Embraces Its Role As A Media Company – BuzzFeed News (Dec 28, 2016)

    Facebook has notoriously struggled with its identity, resisting until very recently the temptation to call itself a media company, and with good reason – media companies command far lower valuations than tech ones. But Twitter seems to be embracing its future as a media player, with a focus on news (or “live”) and video. This piece cites several new hires the company is planning to make as evidence of this shift in strategy and perhaps identity.

    via Twitter Embraces Its Role As A Media Company – BuzzFeed News

    Here are all the Twitter executives who flew the coop in 2016 – Recode (Dec 21, 2016)

    This is definitely part of the Twitter is Stuck narrative, one that I have argued for myself. Twitter seems unable to retain senior executives, and late 2016 saw a real exodus from management ranks. I suspect 2017 will make or break Jack Dorsey as CEO – the paradox here is that he seems to want to control product, but is also running two companies at once, leaving him unable to dedicate enough time to the project while also squeezing out those who could devote the appropriate resources to the job.

    via Here are all the Twitter executives who flew the coop in 2016 – Recode