We’ve confidentially submitted an S-1 to the SEC for a planned IPO. This Tweet does not constitute an offer of any securities for sale.
— Twitter (@twitter) September 12, 2013
I hope this doesn’t spell trouble. Trouble for me and well other millions on the platform. The reason I’m freaking out or I think many people will freak out is because of what going public has done to Facebook in terms of the users’ experience and treatment, for example.
I feel Facebook (and Instagram) now serve the shareholders first. Because hundreds of millions (I know it’s over a billion but it’s my blog) of people are somewhat dependant on the platform they now do as they wish.
I used to get upset about Facebook and Instagram’s changes but it doesn’t bother me much now. I’ve decided to more on my blog than other social media networks. This makes apps like Pressgram more viable and desirable.
It is Facebook’s house and they can call the rules. Why should I be upset about that. Either I use their platform or I don’t. OR, I just wise up about how I use it.
If Twitter goes the “disregard-your-users-for-the-sake-of-shareholders” route could it create space for another platform, like Pressgram, with a philosophy to serve community.
I like Twitter. Way more than Facebook and I would hate to see it go the route of serving shareholders with a disregard or disdain of the people on the platform.
Perhaps Twitter has learned from Facebook’s mistakes and will not repeat them. The story of MySpace and other social media platforms tells us that the mighty do fall and sometimes that they can’t get up. At least nowhere close to where they were.
What would it mean for the users. For starters, it might mean a better platform with a capital injection from going public. On the other hand, it might just mean users become pawns for profit.
Could this mean more aggressive advertising strategies? Perhaps Twitter has found other models of revenue besides advertising. Well they do have other means… but I can’t help but wonder, which strategies will impact users based on their experience and interaction on Twitter.
Clearly this is not an overnight decision. There is no way such a decision is made lightly.
Perhaps Twitter feels they need greater arsenal to compete with Facebook. It would be no surprise to me that Twitter is looking to have greater resources to take on Facebook.
No doubt this aggressive move to go public has a lot to do with growing Twitter…
I’m not Wall street analyst and I can only speak into the sentiments of users, being one of them…
These are mine… What are your musings?
I think it’s a good move given the culture at Twitter to keep users in mind first. ALso, I see it as less of a risk when compared to Facebook because Twitter as a platform is fractional in terms of size.
Also, brands are well aware of the value Twitter brings to their business – this was not the case with Facebook. For example: BMW wants to reach a specific market, so they create a Facebook profile and gear content appropriately. In turn, anyone particularly interested in BMW would likely “Like” their Facebook page, and this takes aways the need to pay Facebook for targeted advertising, which before OpenGraph, was still “wall-gardenned” to Facebook and its applications.
Its easier to take notice of Twitter’s value proposition, and thus its easier for potential investors to make decisions. Just my thoughts.
interesting. do you think going public will compromise the “user first” culture though?