Not as though it's ever going to happen, but suppose I were at a party one night and Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google happened to be there. I would love to corner him and get him a glass of wine or scotch or whatever it is that CEOs at large corporations drink, and suggest to him that he buy Twitter.
I know, I know. I'm not the first one who has ever come up with this idea, but to me, it's not about the ridiculous growth of Twitter or the millions of eye balls on the Twitter site or the opportunity to stretch out those Google Ads into social networking. It's not even about search in the direct sense. It's because the two systems would complement each other so well.
Can I Call You, Eric
I have the feeling Eric Schmidt doesn't really stand on pretense, so maybe I would call him Eric (or Mr. Schmidt; that's cool too) and I would give him my elevator pitch. Google is great for doing research, right? You enter a few keywords and get back a site, picture, video, blog, whatever you're looking for that will get you on your way. But what if you have a specific question? In fact, just the other day on Twitter, Pete Yorn wanted to know how to make turkey burgers that weren't dry. He got his answers and tweeted a few minutes later:
ahh thanks....twitter...better than google? it' like "ask the audience" lifeline.
That's when it hit me, Eric (er...Mr. Schmidt, sorry) that you should buy Twitter. Sometimes you want to do general research, but sometimes you just want to ask your friends (the virtual equivalent of the studio audience) and Twitter gives you that ability.
Twitter is more than that...
But Twitter is great for so many things like communicating and publicizing, for information gathering and making friends. It's so powerful and if you put it together with Google, you could have something really special. (Can I freshen that drink for you Eric?). If you doubt me look at the Facebook redesign. They are clearly trying to capture that conversation of Twitter inside their social network.
Of course, they have a mini rebellion on their hands from users who don't like the new design, but I like it. In fact I like it a lot. Why? Because it reminds me of Twitter.
I know you said on the Charlie Rose show recently that you weren't interested in buying Twitter. I get your stock value is down. Your ad revenue is down. The economy kind of sucks right now, but you have a rich company there and when it comes down to it, it's all about the ad revenue isn't it? And what better way to get more of it than to combine your powerhouse with this growing phenomenon.
I know you probably get a pitch about every five minutes. Can't go to a party without someone giving you their next big idea and I apologize for intruding, but I hope you'll give the idea some thought. Catch you later. I think I see Mark Zuckerberg over there and I've been dying to talk to him.
