As we have discussed in earlier blogs, people have been looking at ways to make money with Twitter; mostly using it as a “real-time” advertising medium.  For example; Kogi Korean taco truck, L.A.’s culinary obsession.  They send Tweets to let everyone know where they are going to be and their customers flock to their location.  Well now it’s time for Twitter to make its money.

There will be two “pillars” to Twitter’s business model, Chief Operating Officer Dick Costolo said at the company’s Chirp developer conference in San Francisco. The first; promoted Tweets, which lets advertisers pay for sponsored tweets that appear at the top of search results for certain keywords.  The second pillar will be commercial accounts which will allow a business to pay for a Twitter account in return for detailed analytics tools and the ability for several people to post to the same account, currently in beta testing. 

I am not sure how “Promoted Tweets” will work since some businesses, i.e., Kogi Korean, are already creating their own promoted Tweets.  Promoted Tweets show up today only in searches, Costolo said, (not quite right).  Location-based information will likely follow, he said, allowing Starbucks to show a Promoted Tweet to users in a particular city, for example (already being done).

It’s a simple plan but, Twitter has the tendency to be a commercial anyway.  Secondly, how do they plan to post advertising on something that users believe is an ad-free service.  It also begs the question of what is Twitter going to do with the personal information it gleans about users’ habits and interests from their Twitter feeds.  A goldmine of personal information; Twitter feeds reveal so much about peoples’ interests, taste in music and more.  Costolo called it a “real-time social interest graph” — a pool of valuable information about the topics its users are currently interested in.  A potential backlash may occur if they don’t respect users’ privacy.

Twitter will split the revenue it gets from Promoted Tweets 50-50 with third parties that take part, after it has subtracted various infrastructure costs and other expenses that will probably amount to 8 or 9 percent, he said.

Twitter will sell Promoted Tweets initially using a traditional CPM model, in which advertisers pay for the number of times their sponsored tweet is viewed. But it will soon move to a more complicated model that Twitter calls “resonance,” which has to do with how many times a tweet is viewed, retweeted, replied to or marked as a favorite.

These guys are pretty smart.  They are rolling all of this out at an intentional slow pace.  This will provide for feedback and adjustments to their plan on the fly and eliminate any shock factor if they just ‘crammed’ it down tweeters’ throats.  Regardless, the folks at Twitter have created quite a system and have patiently waited for their payday.  One thing is for sure; Twitter is Going to Make Money Off of You; Are You Going to Make Money Off of Twitter?

—Marty Hudson

PCWorld’s article from April 17^th discusses the slow down of Twitter’s growth.  I am not certain the “slow down” of growth equates to Twitter going away.  After all, its popularity sky-rocketed over the last year or two; theoretically, something can only add users for so long and we just run out of people.  So, the fact that Twitter’s growth went from 20 percent at a peak in 2009 down to .15 percent at the end of the year doesn’t mean its going away; it merely means its not adding users at the same pace. 

In a blog several weeks ago I talked about Twitter sustaining itself as it currently exists.  My opinion is it needs to evolve into something else.  (http://www.medicalgpsblog.com/?p=77)

In support of this was a comment left on the PCWorld site: “I continue to lose interest day by day. Why? For starters, it’s populated by spammers and 99.9 percent of my DMs are junk. Secondly, more and more people are using Twitter to broadcast only what they want to say, not engage in conversation.”

Check out the PCWorld article: http://www.pcworld.com/article/194451/has_twitter_lost_its_tweetness.html?tk=rss_news

I also blogged about using Twitter in business and how that may be the sustainable market. (http://www.medicalgpsblog.com/?p=94)

In next week’s blog we will discuss this a little further and focusing on a PCWorld article about Twitter’s new business model.  In the meantime, how do you use Twitter?  What do you thing about PCWorld: “Has Twitter Lost its Tweetness?”

—Marty Hudson

We started looking at some of these statistics when Google announced they will discontinue support of IE 6 on March 1.  To continue to use some of Google’s services, users will have to upgrade to at least IE7.  Recent cyber attacks, via a flaw in IE6, against Google and other companies have created this move from IE6, but there remain a high number of users continuing to use IE6.  Personally, I believe whatever browser you use, you should upgrade to the most recent version. 

Google set the baseline for other browsers; with Firefox 3.0 or higher, Chrome 4.0 or higher, and Safari 3.0 or higher. “…you may find that from March 1, key functionality within these products–as well as new Docs and Sites features–won’t work properly in older browsers,” Google said.  Google continues to drive a lot of how the internet is accessed and utilized.  This kind of gives me a flashback to my blog back on December 15^th, “When Will Google Take Over the World”. 

Stats for January 2010, from Net Applications, shows IE users make up 62.2% of internet browsers.  This is down from 62.7% in December 2009.  Firefox users are also down slightly from 24.6% to 24.4%.  Chrome continues to grow and is at 5.2% in January, and Safari is staying level at 4.5%.  IE 8 (22.3%) actually passed IE6 (22.1%) users during the month of January.  IE 7 users follow at 14.6%.   

This prompted me to take a look at what browsers MedicalGPS users access our website and tools.  Comparing January 2010 to January 2009, here’s what I found.

                                                  2010               2009

Internet Explorer                      68.09%            82.39%

Firefox                                     21.88%            11.90%

Safari                                         6.89%             4.57%

Chrome                                     2.38%             0.31%

Other                                         0.76%             0.83%

A further analysis of just IE users shows how the versions of IE have changed from January 2009 to January 2010.

                                                  2010               2009

IE7                                          46.19%           68.53%

IE8                                          27.63%             0.75%

IE6                                          25.85%           30.68%

Older IE                                    0.33%             0.04%

Internet Explorer will continue to lead the pack for the foreseeable future, but as other browsers become more sophisticated, secure and competitive we will see Internet Explorer Still No. 1…But Fading.

—Marty Hudson

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog “Do You Tweet – Or is Twitter a Passing Fad?”  Well I got a few responses, but I have also talked to a number of people about what they think of Twitter.

A key point of the blog a couple of weeks ago is that 84% of those using Twitter are over 25 years of age.  Of course, this is business people, professionals and the buying public.  My conversations have confirmed the whole idea of tweeting, “I am heading to the mall to buy some socks,” has faded.  It was a novelty, but no one cares.  The idea that no one wants commercials invading their lives has been confirmed.  That’s why we have TIVO to skip commercials and satellite radio to avoid them altogether; however, it is not 100% true.

We, as a 21^st century consumer, want to select the ‘commercials’ we receive; technology allows us to do that.  We have turned commercials into information.  As I said, I don’t tweet, not yet anyway; however, I do rely heavily on the internet to find sales, specials, promotions, etc, on what I am looking for.  I just don’t want it coming to me until I am ready to receive it.  Some companies offer emails to promote what you are looking for; such as, Buy.com, Slickdeals.net, and Dell will send you emails on their specials.  Now these are available all the time, either email or web page, and sales typically last for a few days.  But still, Twitter brings something different.

Prime example; Kogi Korean taco truck, L.A.’s latest culinary obsession.  They send Tweets to let everyone know where they are going to be.  Taco trucks are nothing new, but you don’t always know where they are going to be and the truck has to rely on others not having other plans.  Kogi tweets where they are going to be and their customers have flocked to their location.  It’s a commercial, it’s information, it’s letting people know something they need to know right now.  By the time you look for it, it will be gone.  Maybe this is what will keep Twitter around.  We will see as it continues to transform into its most valuable use.  If it is truly valuable, it will hang around; if not, it will die.  Society will decide.

In the meantime, get on the bandwagon.  Forget the social media aspect of Twitter.  The real question is; how can twitter improve your business?

—Marty Hudson

Well, with all the buzz this week over Google’s blog about their Google Phone, I thought I might as well jump on the bandwagon too.  The buzz is that Google has provided their new Google phone, Nexus One, to their employees around the world for them to test and provide feedback to Google.

What’s so special about Nexus One?  For one it’s supposed to be an HTC phone (with no HTC branding, but a Google branded phone) that will be thinner than the Droid and the iPhone.  Secondly, it is to be sold direct to customers, not via a provider contract; it will be an unlocked GSM phone. In the U.S., that means service will come from T-Mobile and possibly AT&T, no Verizon.  Third, it will provide Google Voice, VoIP, allowing you to utilize wireless networks to talk utilizing Google Voice.  Not real sure how this will work, but it appears the phone will be able to switch between a wireless service provider to a wireless network when available.  It seems you may be able to reduce your cell phone plan to the lowest possible option and save money, especially if you are in hotspots to take advantage of Google Voice a majority of your time.  Question: Can you elect not to connect to a service provider at all and utilize the phone at home, in office, or wherever a hotspot exists; thereby costing nothing for service?

Of course this opens a whole other set of questions and potential problems.  Will that drive the cost of internet service higher?  Will the cost of internet service be based on usage, creating a set of ‘plans’ you will choose from when purchasing internet access?  Will that increased cost eliminate ‘free’ hotspots we have all been enjoying the last few years?  How will the FCC get involved in this? 

Obviously this presents a lot of interesting questions and even more opinions.  Of course, you can get all the information and opinions you could ever want simply by ‘Googling’ it.  There are articles and pictures of the Nexus One on the web; again, just ‘Google’ them.  

My point in all of this is Google itself.  Everywhere you look it seems Google has its hand in it, and the list just keeps growing.  Check out this website, www.googleworlddomination.com, which was actually authored in December 2004, about how Google will take over the world.  It includes a countdown clock to the ‘takeover’, which at the time of this writing was 5 years, 2 days, 10 hours and 51 minutes.  There is also a video link at the bottom of the page which is a fictional account of how Google will take over the world.  The video is several minutes long, but kind of fun to watch.  But it all comes down to one overriding question, “When will Google take over the world?”

—Marty Hudson

Do you tweet?  I don’t.  I don’t have a reason why I don’t tweet; I just haven’t found a reason to tweet.  I did a little looking around on who tweets and this is what I found.

Approximately 64% of those who tweet are between 25 and 54 years of age.  20% are 55 and up; only 16% are under 25 years old.  Now I was always under the impression that young people (teenagers) started this type of fad.  I viewed twitter as a type of social networking.  I don’t think that is necessarily the case.  Teenagers use Facebook, MySpace, etc, for social networking.  To them social networking is keeping up with the most important aspect of their lives, their friends.  They want to interact, share photos, personal characteristics, and leave comments.  Twitter is less about socializing and more about an overall conversation and allowing the ‘public’ to follow along.  Teenagers really don’t have anything to say on twitter.  They primarily use twitter to follow celebrities.

So, who uses twitter?  A large part of those using twitter are businesses; be it individuals or a company, it is being driven by business with the intent of promoting their business, products or services.  In other words, twitter is more of an on-gong commercial than anything else.  Even those teenagers using twitter to follow celebrities is nothing more than a commercial promoting the celebrities business.  As it is said, “any promotion is good promotion.”  Keep yourself in front of the customer. 

Now really, who do you know wants to follow someone tweeting things like, “I am going to the grocery store to pick up some bread.”  No one is going to follow that for very long.  Everybody wants something.  They want to know what company is having a sale, what celebrity is making an appearance; they want to know something about what they are interested in.  And if someone is interested, someone is going to figure a way to promote and profit. 

So, if we TIVO television shows so we can skip the commercials, how long are we going to invite commercials onto our phones and PDAs?  To me twitter is more of a promotional tool than social media.  The retention rate of twitter users is bouncing between 30% to 40% over the last few months.  That trend will not sustain twitter.  Twitter will need to find a better use beyond promotion.  Just my opinion.

Let me know yours.  Do you tweet, or is twitter just a passing fad?

—Marty Hudson