The Value of Twitter
A lot of my friends have recently been asking me “What is the point of Twitter?… Why all the fuss?”
So here’s my answer…
If Google owns all the important information in the world, Twitter owns all of our silly little thoughts. – Daniel Priestley
Do a Google search on the G20 Summit this week and the top hits are likely to be the official web site, the Wikipedia page and a major newspaper article.
Twitter search “G20” and you get minute by minute updates from people all over the world as they comment, debate and even get arrested at the gates!
It’s live and it’s bite sized chunks of info that could only be described as “Thoughts” (although twitter calls them “tweets”).
“Thoughts” are random, they occur in little chunks and they jump from topic to topic freely.
Thanks to Twitter, we are now gladly handing over our “Thoughts” to the internet to be searched and viewed freely, forevermore.
So what is more valuable, information or thoughts?
Clearly information is more valuable and Google will remain the biggest and most valuable internet company on the web but “Thoughts” are valuable too.
Humans love finding out what people “think” of something and in that context we want it to be live, streaming and up to the minute. Twitter can deliver this.
So the value of twitter (as a business) has more to do with “search” than it does “followers”.
What about the Value to me as a user?
If you love sharing your thoughts with people (and you may even get paid to do it) then Twitter is an excellent tool. You can build up a loyal following and keep them updated with everything from your business decisions to the news you are reading to the breakfast cereal you just ate for breakfast.
Wealth Dynamics Bio's
Wikipedia is an amazing resource for getting access to the stories of great entrepreneurs and investors. I have organised some Wiki links of top wealth creators by Wealth Dynamics Profile. Enjoy…
Creators
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Branson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_disney
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_jobs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JK_Rawling
Stars
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_smith
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Beckham
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elle_mcphereson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Newman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_%22Diddy%22_Combs
Supporters
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Katzenberg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Eisner
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meg_Whitman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Ballmer
Deal Makers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Murdoch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Katzenberg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Geffen
Traders
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_soros
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Lynch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Arnold
Accumulators
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Slim
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_allen
Lords
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_Albrecht
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakshmi_Mittal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingvar_Kamprad
Mechanics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Dell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_kroc
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Walton
The News Is In Your Hands
They say that no news is good news, but that was back in the days when just a few powerful people held the strings to the entire global media. That was then, this is now… today we live in a world where over 200Million people control the media that gets published daily – An army of Bloggers, Vlogger (Video Log), Twitter Posters and the like get to have more say these days than Rupert Murdoch.
So why does it need to be negative anymore. Social Media doesn’t require you to be sensationalist in order to sell papers or airtime. You can be truthful, authentic and if that means you share the good news as well as the bad then lets bring it on.
IN my recent video I decided to cover the stories of four business owners I know of who are doing things that inspire me. You can tell from my face that I was having a stressful day (which was compounded when I heard about another negative news story). When I made the video, I felt more balanced and was pleased to have focused my attention onto the people who really do deserve our attention … small scale entrepreneurs all over the world who ARE doing amazing things.
If you feel like sharing the stories of people who inspire you, I strongly recommend it.
iPhone Apps offer explosive opportunities
The number one selling iPhone Application last month was iFart. The modern day whoopy cushion, it allows its childish owner to select from a variety of sounds, set a timer and then prank an unsuspecting victim with the most humerous sound known to man (no I’m not being sexist, men do find this a lot more funny than women).
By my rough calculations, to be the number one downloaded iPhone Application worldwide, would require you to sell about 250,000 versions per month (although I can’t find the exact number). At 99c per download the iFart Application would gross its creator (who could very well be a 14 year old) close to $250,000 per month!
Now considering that this App might have taken all of a few days to create and Apples cut is only 20%, that’s not a bad ROI!
iPhone applications are big business. Techcrunch projects that a BILLION downloads of iPhone Apps could happen in the first 12 months of the App Store being open. That would make it as big of a success as iTunes.
The difference is that iTunes music store has a library of 10Million songs however the App Store has just “10,000 Apps and Counting”. That’s a lot of cash to go around.
The californian gold rush of 2009 might just be finding silly little ways to entertain and delight the 15M+ iPhone users worldwide. So, if you hear your 14 year old making terrible sounds in their bedroom, fingers crossed they are recording it.
Is Keeping Your Corporate Job The Poison Chalice?
This month is the third solid month of mass layoffs since the house of corporate cards began to fall. Hundreds of thousands of highly skilled people find themselves looking for work, hoping for a fast break that will prevent them from defaulting on the loans that prop up the “good life”.
But as the shocking news spreads about these disastrous layoffs lets not forget that behind it all there is a whopping big secret…
…Hardly anyone really wants their corporate job to begin with!
Movies are made, books are written and songs are sung about people who break free from the office shackles to pursue a greater and more fulfilling purpose with their life.
They go on to start their own small businesses, run marathons through the Sahara, volunteer for charity, act in a musical, audition for a play or even sell widgets on ebay between play time with the kids.
Sometimes people need to be pushed from the nest in order to discover their brave spark and to see their value.
I can guarantee that there will be some green eyes peering at those “unfortunate folk” who are packing their desks and taking their first steps into the uncertain, bold new world that lies beyond the homogeneous days of meetings and reports in a corporate cubicle.
Are you the president of the online world?
Many small businesses have attempted to run an online campaign for their business with mixed results.
In all my life I have never seen a more flawless online campaign than that of David Plouffe leading up to the presidential elections.
David Plouffe is the campaign manager for Barack Obama and frankly he has harnessed the power of the internet better than any business or organisation I have witnessed.
Beginning with Barack’s home page where you will find a box on the bottom right hand corner called “Obama Everywhere”.
Here you will find ways that you can link to the Senator on 16 major web sites.
You can join his club on Facebook, you can watch his video’s on Youtube, You can Digg him, Flicker him, Twitter with him and connect with him on the social network that matters most to you.
Never before have people had so many ways to feel completely connected to a politician in a real and relevant way.
Sure enough, he is a charismatic man however don’t miss the powerful ways he has demonstrated to use the internet to develop and maintain connection to the marketplace.
So…
Are you on facebook and myspace?
Do you have a video on YouTube?
Do you blog on relevant sites?
If not, you might just be missing out on being elected as the president of your industry.
PS: Just so you can see how well run this campaign has been here are the stats….
USA Alexa Ranking
McCain 594
Obama 174
Youtube Stats
Videos Uploaded: 1442
Subscribers: 94,727
Channel Views: 16,733,657
Videos uploaded: 300
Subscribers: 23,115
Channel Views: 1,634,271
Facebook
Barack Obama 1,997,276 supporters
John McCain 555,715 supporters
There is a new breed of Entrepreneurs coming up through the ranks… watch out.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4PuJmDEJ384
How old were you when you first “Googled”?
Chances are you were an adult. You didn’t Twitter at school, email friends links to YouTube videos or write on their FaceBook walls to arrange a weekend get together.
If you did grow up doing all of those things and you stumble upon entrepreneurship you are going to be a very different breed of business owner.
For these people, ecommerce is more natural than walking into a store … finding a freelance web designer in India is easy … and scaling your business to 10,000 customers a month is probably not being ambitious enough.
Apple, Microsoft, Virgin and Dell are just four examples of student businesses that hit the big-time and led the trends over the past three decades. If you want to know what is coming in the next 30 years, keep your eyes on the businesses forming around your local campus.
Follow your passion when you feel it bite.
At age 22, photographer and filmmaker, Rob Steward set off to make a documentary about something he was passionate on, Sharks.
Five years later he had sunk all of his money into the film, been arrested on attempted murder, chased by the mafia and had come close to death several times (none from sharks).
What he stumbled upon was one of the greatest environmental crimes of our time and an issue that no one would champion. The mass decimation of shark populations is linked to the high price of shark fin soup in Asia. It is big business and over 100 million sharks are finned alive each year for it.
Rob’s film was released in 2007 and won 26 awards and found distribution all over the world. His story was picked up by the media and his message has caused waves of change.
Rob’s courage to follow his passion has paid big dividends. His message has been heard, his film making career is powering and he has won well-earned admiration all over the world. Be sure to see “Sharkwater“.
No News is Good News
1. Meet-up with friends you haven’t seen for months
2. Excercise your body
3. Read a book, listen to music, listen to personal development programs,
4. Cook a meal
5. Learn a new skill (Dancing, Kung-fu, Painting)
6. Volunteer your time at a charity
7. Make the news!
Is the Climate Crisis the greatest opportunity of our time?