Twitters Billion Dollar Mistake

Twitter tested a new system with replies that you can read more about that here at Read Write Web. This may be twitters greatest challenge and possible achilles heel. Especially if they don’t start listening to their users before they execute new interfaces and policies. Remember what I said in my articles about Some Point and One Day Marketing? The minute your idea of value differs from your customers is the hour you lose business. Every hour you don’t change that difference secures a day of failure. Twitter must learn from their failures. Failure in twitter land is NOT listening , surveying or even asking your 10 million users their thoughts on changes that both affect and effect them.

I am amazed. I believe in the opportunities of change as well. But this is a really dangerous way to test your site, credibility, and money. Especially when you haven’t been bought out and have no monetization. Plus their retention rates are sinking.

Its bad enough that twitter management was criticized for being social media whores when they allowed celebrities to disingenuously gain millions of followers though first time sign ups. Twitter management has to realize that Ashton Kutcher, Oprah and yes even iamdiddy (Sean Combs) are NOT the reason they are receiving  billion dollar offers.

Its the young students who talks to their friends at night about school and shares links. Its the work at home mom who is trying to support her family and depends on twitter to build her business. Its the tech geek who has shared a ton of open source resources for FREE in the hope that he or she will get more freelance business. Its people like @Hetty4Christ who has had several brain surgeries and talks on twitter to feel better. The majority of users are actual people on twitter.

These are the people twitter needs to ask before they institute any changes that relate to users. At least do a survey. Another pattern I have noticed is that they never seem to post any of these changes on their Twitter status update area. So not only don’t you (twitter management) care about what other people think but you also could care less if they discover it?

What we are witnessing is a billion dollar mistake. Forget the Alamo twitter needs to remember the internet where todays hit is tomorrow memory. Taking your users for granted is like taking the blood pumping in their veins for granted.

Game up or game over.