Twitter Just Killed Itself and I'm Glad

Twitter announced today that it will derive revenue from ads. It's their plan to capitalize on their extreme growth since their 2007 inception. Personally, I think this will kill Twitter and I can't say it will be a bad funeral. Hopefully, someone will start another site just like it that will remain free. There's just no need to monetize every single thing in this world. Tying the almighty <insert your favorite currency here> to this service will surely kill it. So long Twitter and thanks for all the 140 character nonsense.

Here's how it will work: If you search for a word, then the company-sponsored tweets show up at the top of your twitter list. The concept is called "promoted tweets" and it's dumb. Really dumb.

But, I'm glad that Twitter is doing this because I actually hate Twitter. I think it's a silly obsession for too many people--mostly marketing types who'll jump onto any bandwagon they can find to help promote their products. Movie studios have tried to promote their movies via Twitter and research has shown that it's had little effect on attendance or enthusiasm for a movie.

I hate Twitter. If you hadn't gathered that already, I want to make it explicit. In my humble opinion, people who sit and watch Twitter for more than a few minutes a day are poor wretches with nothing better to do with their time. Similarly, Facebook is another big waste of time. People who spend all their time in these "social media" outlets fall into one of three categories: Losers, Marketing Types or Kids.

The value of so-called social media outlets is questionable. What made us think we need this nonsense?

Mark Zuckerberg was a fool for not accepting the billion dollars for Facebook when it was offered. He did accept a $240 million buy-in from Microsoft for a 1.6% stake in the company. I don't know who's dumber on that one, Microsoft for paying it for such a small stake or Facebook for allowing Microsoft to buy in.

I think what people fail to realize is (and we all should have learned something from the stupid dot com bubble of a few years ago) that companies like Twitter and Facebook have no real value to them. They are completely virtual. They have no real assets. They produce no products. How many times do we have to learn the same lessons?

What do you think of the monetizing of Twitter? Does it spell certain death or new breath?

[ptaylor98]

Twitter's monitizing thru ads is not a bad thing, if it keeps the service alive. Twitter is better than email--it provides real-time communication. And, yes, it has its fair share of marketing types, losers and kids. But it is a valuable tool for communication and news. Long live Twitter!

[jay 11]

There is still some value in twitter as a micro-blogging platform. That's really it tho. If you like someone or something and want to stay connected with updates, then twitter fills that void.

I don't know if opening up an ad platform tailored around twitter search results will kill it. Facebook was able to start serving ads without too much of a backlash but they are a much different beast than twitter - which is largely accessed via API, RSS, and mobile apps. That said, the ads shouldn't really interfere with it's core user base who are mostly just "following" feeds. Instead, this is more of a gamble on how it will effect the display of its real-time search results. Might take some getting used to but ultimately, I don't think this is a stake in the heart for them.

[hnasr]

Google is using ads and it didn't die. I think twitter will use a smart Ad technique based on your tweet preferences. Hence you get ads for things you tweet about.

[InsightsDigital]

People come with the expectation that every thing that is online is free. Twitter has been providing a service and should make some revenue - yes, the method may not be agreeable to everyone - but at the same time - it has to stay afloat so the Fail Whale wont appear too often.