The coming age of Twitter

Every few years we have gurus and shamans predicting that the next big thing in ecommerce, human communication, innovation etc surprisingly close to the IPOs of these 'next big things'. Last frenzy and orgasmic rapture was around 6 months before the Facebook IPO. At that time we (yes me included) were talking about the Facebook social graph and the impact on advertising and ecommerce. What followed was amusing, debatable to death and like my younger colleagues say "Meh". So then why am I writing this piece about the coming of age of Twitter? Maybe it is because I believe this time we have some story that is heading towards that 'googlian' moment when there is a cataclysmic shift in the balance of power. I might have cake on my face in 2 years time, but I want to take my chances.

My good friend and entrepreneur +ashish bhansali has always claimed that Twitter never had a business model when they went around asking for money. It is his excuse for never wanting to write a bplan for anything he wants to do. Not having a business plan ( assuming Mr Bhansali is correct about Twitter) might have been a good thing for Twitter. All this while they were just a microblogging site where one ranted, after the Arab Spring they have earned their stars as a tool for revolution (We Indians are making a mess of how we use it for political gains, that apart).

Earlier this year they launched Twitter Music, Yesterday they say they have acquired Trendrr - a company that harnesses the power of  real time data for media and advertising. In addition they have launched the 'conversations' view which allows for people to read their tweets as a threaded view. Most importantly they announced that they have a new man on board for ecommerce - a new that seems to be well planned considering the movements Twitter has made in the last 6 months or so.

Ecommerce on Twitter would be absolutely great considering we users have a natural tendency to buy impulsively things like movie tickets and digital goods based on recommendations and conversations around us. Twitter for the last one year has been my sole destination when I want to read about reviews of movies - when Dark Knight Rising was released, I spent a few hours just reading what people were saying. OKListen can use Twitter to track the next concert of their indie artists and advertise and sell track right on Twitter. Today most of this means that there are 2-4 steps in between interest, intent and actual sale. With Twitter removing that middle layer, it can mean better conversions.

My prediction is that there would be a new way of selling that would come to Twitter through its program for retailers who would be able to target users who have tweeted in the past about goods or services. A sort of a Flash Sale exclusively available on Twitter that can be completed right on Twitter itself using payment platforms like Gumroad. So potentially since I tweeted about buying a phone earlier this month, Twitter could track the tweet and crunch that data to throw up a good deal when I am shopping next and tweet saying that I am in a mall, or I check in. Since we are already slaves to broadcasting our every move, it would be self serving to use it to the advantage of a product that wants to claim my wallet at the time when I am agreeable to spending. I guess the next stage would be to integrate with the offline retail stores and complete the fullfilment cycle. You can opt to buy the phone after paying via Twitter or by getting a discount at the local store. The potential is huge. 

My predictions for Twitter are as follows:

• Flash Sales becomes the new buzz
• Twitter will end up buying Gumroad ( +Mohak Gambhir - hat tip for pointing this out)
• A square like POS solution in the next 2 years
• A messenger service that leverages the conversations feature
• Buy a social listening company to help brands track the chatter better

Twitter has already shaken up the news business, with ecommerce and entertainment being next, the age of twitter has arrived. I hope they do not muck it up.

Maybe now Amazon must be thinking of entering the social micro chat space :)

Image courtesy: presta-ecommerce.com 

Rejection slips

It has been exactly 2 years and 4 months since I last posted on PushBottonThinking. I was gainfully employed with Star TV when the last post about whole wheat bread was done. In the time since then I quit Star TV (disputed as usual) and joined Reliance Jio. Been quite some ride(No I will not write about my work). I bought a new car, cleared two loans, invested in some more, finished 4 courses on Coursera, been a decent father to my 7 year old girl, cooked every Sunday, drove 20000 kms. in 8 months, took two holidays in as many years, struggled to find my feet and give back as good as I got.

Somewhere along I got lulled into a rhythm - salary comes in every month like clock work, loans get repaid on time, jokes can be made about the 'two punch, one lunch' dejavu every day 6 days a week. The challenges of work are nice, finding my way around issues, people, politics and situations keeps me going back but that hunger goes away. Took up a challenge 14 months ago of beating the living daylights of my diabetes - I won by simply remembering to walk up 13 floors twice everyday and do 25 minutes of assorted stretching. Gamified the monthly spends and now I know exactly how much is required in any week and can plan things accordingly. In short there are no great insurmountable tasks that remain (barring bringing up a daughter).

And as is my habit I cribbed about this to a couple of friends and one of them (you know who you are, lady) reminded me about this blog and a novel that I have been threatening to write for the last 10 odd years. So over the next 3 weeks I will try to write 1500 words everyday. If I am able to put together 30000 words in these 3 weeks I will go on and finish the novel. And send it out to experience rejection. Its been sometime since I pitched anything to anyone. The last time I got rejected was because the person wanting to fund me found an excuse that my reputation was not clean. That cleared my senses and made me look for a job, that was almost 4 years ago. I am grateful for that rejection slip in the form of an email. It made me see reason. It made me understand that rejection slips are needed, the are divine love notes that slap you out of your hubris.

Coming back to the novel - if I am able to write and get someone to publish it, I would be making peace with myself. I will start believing again that big things happen in small ways. And maybe I will be tempted someday to start something new. ....maybe even write 2 posts every week here.

S