So I woke up and today there have been talks about Google acquiring Twitter. I hope that it is not true.
Scobleizer says don’t do it, and I say please don’t do it.
Because it won’t be the first time Google acquired something “Social Networking” and screwed it up. A few examples:
(1) Google’s shot at the social network thing “Orkut“, didn’t take off. Of course Orkut was done in Orkut’s 20% time, and Orkut is an engineer from Google, so if you are devoting 20% of your time in Orkut, and 80% of your time making money for Google, its another thing. Orkut is of course popular with Brazilian teenagers, but who else remembers Orkut?
(2) Then Google tried its hand at acquiring Dodgeball, which actually feels a little like Twitter, then shut it down but that was before the founders left because Google “didn’t fit into what they wanted Dodgeball to go”
(3) Google acquired Blogspot, the wonderful invention of Evan Williams who incidentally is also heading the Twitter team. After he left Google. Then Google didn’t do anything about it. And then all over the world, came wordpress, typepad, livejournal, and the works.
Do you even know what is Google Friend Connect????
… I could name a couple more but thats not the point.
The point is. Twitter is now a hot topic because it has become a thing for business. Imagine I’m at the Pizzeria across the street, and it has this great new wonderful “Bacon topped pizza with special duck sauce”. It is fantastic. I twitter my friends, who are on on my Twitter follow list, along with some internet marketing spammers, some tech guy who blogs and you kind of get the idea. Some tens of thousands of people on my (imaginary) list reads it, and the next hour ten people who live near me, go visit the Pizzeria with the wonderful pizza. Of course similarly, the Pizzeria, is on Twitter. And “Jack Batwing #pizza” searches for “Jack Batwing pizza” to know that this pizza is so well-received that it should be a permanent fixture on their menu.
And because Twitter is accessible from EVERYWHERE – mobile phone, iPhone, Internet, IM, whatever. It makes it all the more easier for someone to microblog.
So scale the pizza example hundreds of thousands of times over. And there you have it. An easy way to know about reviews. Straightaway.
—
Of course you need to get the user addicted first.
—
So thats the point. And that’s not just the point. Twitter recently added search. And a gazillion people searching within Twitter has naturally made Google… afraid. So Twitter has the ability to be huge. Big. Insanely Great for businesses as a sideline to just being just a spammer sort of thingy.
And thats why I’m afraid. Because lets just look at the Business Model of Google. And social networks. Sure, social networks attract a ton of users. And social network is also a “fabulous” buzz word which marketers use. But users do not necessary translate to money. For now, if I want to buy an eBook, the first thing I’ll go-to is Google Search. There are a gazillion of Ads next to where I’m searching, sure. And I might click on one of those ads, and it might cost the advertiser one buck and Google of course gets a fraction of that. Do you go “into” your social network like FaceBook to check out the eBook? Most likely the majority of the people ain’t going to do that. Our social network is for friends. And friends are great because we are more likely to trust a friend before I buy something. But the point is: Where does it all tie in?
And thats also probably the reason why Google has so often neglected the social networks it has acquired. So we have Blogger. Where do you want to put the ads? Okay, so now we have a ton of people using Blogger, and there is this tiny search bar on the top to “search”. Where does the ads come in? And back to the same point: Where does it all tie in?
So yes. So there comes my point. Google is a great engineering company, they have brought the desktop to the web, and should continue to do so. I love their search, email, chrome and documents. But they ain’t doing so well in Social Networks, and it would sux if they entired the Twitter space, then realised that due to people not going in there “TO BUY”. In fact, most Twitter update systems ain’t for buying – do you see ads appearing in Twitter widgets on people’s blog? Twitter ads in Twitterific or Tweetdeck? Twitter ads to your mobile phone? I mean that would well, sux. And if you sux, you will lose the users which was the first point in the first place.
So, I think that Google should not acquire Twitter. Twitter should look for a different business model, because chances are, Google will screw this up if they realize that the money isn’t coming in from Twitter and then they direct their engineers to something else. And you’re realize that Twitter, the hottest thing in 2007/8/9, has become the has-been in 2010.
I have some idea of a business model, but hey, we can’t let the post run too long can we? (Of course it would be kind of funny to know what would happen to this design guy if he did end up working back at Google-Twitter)
