(The Big Disrupt) Twitter: How Twitter unlocks the multi-billion dollar business it's sitting on

With the recent announcement of Twitter finally adding features such as super tweets and newsletters into their platform, our first reaction was “about time” then our second reaction was “this won’t work”.  As any long-term user or investor would tell you, Twitter is a great platform but it has been poorly run for a long time (that’s what happens when you let your CEO start a side hustle that’s larger and better managed than yours) and has only now made a serious attempt to monetize its platform and they’ve got already it wrong and it’s infuriating. 

One of best ways you know a great TV show will fall on its face is when the geniuses writing it don’t know their own show or what makes it valuable. Case in point, many were disappointed by the Game of Thrones terrible ending but for us, the writing was on the wall when it became clear, from at least season 4 onwards, the showrunners had no idea about the show they were writing. Jack Dorsey is smart and talented but we get the similar vibe about Twitter as its leadership seems aloof to what makes the platform valuable (SPOILER ALERT: it’s not tweets, we don’t care how much Dorsey’s first tweet went for). 

£2.5 million for this? Never has "who" mattered more than

"what" in the history of business

That aloofness has subjected Twitter to serious pressure from investors and competitors to establish a recurring revenue relationship with its users and to its credit has taken steps to with a new ecommerce feature which include newer formats and buy buttons and a new “super follows” feature that allows users to charge for content which is all well and good but Twitter are approaching its new changes wrongheaded as nobody values tweets, even good ones. 

There’s a number of reasons why these changes are unlikely to work but the number one reason why they won’t work is because they’re trying to move down the funnel (not the worst move. That would be entering the streaming wars with a pee shooter) instead of moving upstream. Twitter is highly aware that advertising is crappy business unless you’re Facebook or Google but it’s missing a trick by making changes to its format instead of its business model as the San Francsico based company are slowly (really  slowly) realizing that its users value its apps and tools more than tweets as most users would love an edit button (which twitter is planning to add) but we’d love a spellchecker and would pay for it (Twitter, please buy Grammarly before Microsoft or google does). Twitter already has string of great apps and if they created a suite of apps and tools and charged to access them, Twitter’s valuation and share price skyrockets. In one move, Twitter secures not only new subscription business but a highly lucrative vertical. 

Twitter can become a software giant and acquiring Grammarly is how it starts

In sum, Twitter’s future is (or at least should be) less Facebook and Google and more Adobe and/or Atlassian and the quicker it realizes it the better. To Twitter’s Investors, if you see the social media giant make another ill-fated horizontal acquisition (R.I.P. Periscope and Vine) or worse tries to move down the funnel with an ecommerce acquisition (Amazon. Need we say more?), exit your position, fast. 

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(The Big Disrupt) Twitter: Anaemic User Growth isn’t Twitter’s Only Problem

Despite Twitter beating wall street’s expectations by posting impressive revenue numbers and even a profit in its 2^nd quarterly report, the social networking company was punished by Wall Street as Twitter’s stock dropped 11% with investors less than impressed with its slowing user growth.

User growth has been a constant thorn in the side of Twitter’s executive team and has seem the company’s stock backslide an incredible 34% in last the three months[1]. This really shouldn’t be surprise as investors have consistently shown concern about Twitter slower user growth and the company’s senior leadership appearing to be short on ideas on how to tackle a problem that threatens its business.

What also maybe rattling investors is the company’s shrinking ad revenue growth which was at 72% in Q1 but is now 63% in Q2. It’s been pretty much downhill for the company since they went public as their Wall Street investors have been dismayed by Twitter’s ineffective product strategy and generally how the company has been managed which sealed former CEO Dick Costolo’s fate last month. Twitter is showing all the signs of a company in trouble with its high employee turnover among senior management as, according to the Financial Times, Twitter has lost “more than 450 employees -- 12% of the company's staff “

Any company that reports a turnover that high over a year signals that even Twitter employees aren’t sold on the executive team’s plans to turn the company around and was clearly under the impression that they were on sinking ship. Just yesterday Twitter lost two executives to Dropbox and Google which clearly shows that former and now current interim CEO Jack Dorsey clearly wasn’t happy with his product management staff but it’s hard to tell whether he wanted to show Wall Street that he’s taking action to fix company’s forlorn product strategy or the continuing brain drain that is their employee turnover.   

Nonetheless, it seems Dorsey is knows that Twitter has failed so far to market itself effectively and is currently looking for a Chief Marketing Officer to drive home Twitter’s value proposition to capture in key markets. However this only brings to light the state of the company as the Chief Marketing Officer role is currently filled by their Chief Financial Officer Anthony Noto. Why a company that struggles to market itself would let their CFO moonlight as their CMO is a mystery and gives credence to Peter Thiel’s well held opinion that Twitter is “horribly mismanaged”[2]. Twitter have been looking for a CMO for months now with no luck which suggests that the company is struggling to attract talent maybe because candidates take a look at the high turnover rate among senior executives and get the sense that they won’t get enough time to address the company’s user growth problem.

In sum, Twitter is not in good shape and whoever eventually takes over the reins from Dorsey is going to have his or her work cut for them.

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[1] R.Borison, 2015, Twitter Reputation for chaos is costing it employees,  http://www.thestreet.com/story/13233668/1/twitters-reputation-for-chaos-is-costing-it-employees.html

[2] S.Gray, 2014, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel: Twitter is “horribly Mismanaged”,  http://www.salon.com/2014/09/17/paypal_co_founder_peter_thiel_twitter_is_horribly_mismanaged/

(Interview) Benjamin Wallace Up Close

The Carnage report was lucky enough to catch up with Benjamin Wallace, author the the 'Dumb White Husbands' series and this was the result, enjoy!!!

What got you into writing?'

I can’t recall anything specifically that got me interested in writing. It’s just what I always wanted to do. I’ve always loved books, movies, comics, radio shows—stories of any kind.  And, to me, it just made sense that anything I  enjoyed observing might be something I’d enjoy doing. I was never comfortable just being a fan of something. I always wanted to try my hand at it  as well. This didn’t work out so well for my rock star ambitions and you’re probably aware that I’m not a world famous race car driver but writing and just plain making things up was something I never stopped loving.

 Do have any influences in your writing or work?

My influences come more from outside of the literary world. I grew up watching the comedies that always make the top 100 list and they, no doubt, shaped my sense of humor. Harold Ramis, Steve Martin, Pat Proft and all of those guys probably had more influence on my writing than Hemingway or Adams did. Them and the writers of SNL from the mid-80’s to early 90’s. I should probably throw a little credit to sleep deprivation as well.

In a blog on your site, you wrote about your time spent on marketing as opposed to writing, who do you think you could redress the balance?

Hopefully, I can. We’re about to launch a new advertising agency that will specialize in book marketing. We’ve been pouring over marketing surveys and have found a lot of interesting things that lead us to believe that we’ve been   marketing books the wrong way. Authors put a lot of time into blog tours, Goodreads and social media sites for very little return. We think a mix of  traditional advertising and new ideas can take the marketing burden off of         authors so they can spend more time writing.

What do you think about the current self-publishing revolution?

I can’t remember another industry shift that popped up and started granting so many wishes and making so many dreams come true. That is from the author’s perspective, of course. I know it was bumpy for readers for a few years, but it seems that the gold rush mentality has   faded and the authors that are left in the game are those that are truly      dedicated to the craft. I think this has lead to better books and a better experience for everyone.

 If there were changes you could make to the publishing industry, what changes would you make?

Can we tone down the snippy remarks from both sides? I could do with less snooty comments from the traditional publishers. And the indies need to drop the David and Goliath bit. After that we’ll all meet in the middle, shake hands as authors and marketers and figure out what works best from both sides to start connecting readers to great stories.

 What do you think of the use by authors of social media as it has been less than communication and more about selling?

This is one of things I was talking about in regards to our wasted efforts. Only   4% of readers have ever bought a book because of something they saw on Twitter. But, I’m going to say 132% of my timeline has become tweets about books. You can find readers on Twitter but it’s by being social and not blasting ads at them. That’s how you lose readers. We should keep social media social. It’s better for everyone that way.

Would agree that the internet has made marketers of all of us ?

Absolutely. With Facebook we finally get to present our friends with the perfect version of ourselves. We selectively share the message and photos of our life to help craft the world’s opinion of us. Except for the people that play    Candy Crush. They don’t give a damn what anyone thinks or who they annoy.(And I’m as guilty of that as the next person).

Do you have a particular writing process?

I’m what some people call a putter-inner. I outline pretty extensively and then I blaze through a bare-bones first draft as fast as I can. The second draft sees the addition of description and grown-up sounding sentences. Then it goes to my proofreader and my wife. They’re both great at finding things that don’t make sense I’ve tried writing a lot of other ways but this is the way that works best for me. It also helps if it’s dark out. I’ll usually hit a stride right when it’s time to go to bed, because my muse either hates me or loves coffee.

How do you fight procrastination, the scourge of  every writer?

I trick myself. There are a lot of things I like to do. I like to draw and I’ve convinced myself that I can draw things people like. When the words aren’t flowing, I’ll stop and draw something. Sure, I’m still procrastinating, but it makes me think I’m being productive. The fear of not moving forward frustrates me and makes me procrastinate even more. If I can convince myself  I’m getting something done, I avoid that downward spiral. I’m also pretty easy to trick.

What do you prioritize, character or plot?

My ideas almost always start with plot but the characters take over quickly.  My plots aren’t really unique. Few are. What I enjoy is taking a genre story and placing ill-equipped characters in the middle of them. Sure, I could write a regular zombie story with all kinds of awesome violence, but I find it a lot more fun to write a regular zombie story and throw three bickering suburban  dads in the middle of it. Their perspective is going to make it a lot more   interesting and unique than just another retelling of the Walking Dead. Funnier, too.

Most people can name the best book they have read, can you name the worst?

I hesitate to because I think that every book has an audience. That’s what makes the self pub revolution great. Readers can find the kind of book that speaks to them even if it doesn’t speak to anyone else. For years I went looking for funny books. There was Douglas Adams,  Christopher Moore and a few others but it was really hard to find funny novels. It turns out that funny is hard to market, so publishers didn’t really put a lot of funny fiction out there.

            

But that’s not what you asked and I won’t flake out. I wanted to start reading  Harry Turtledove’s alternate history books. I started with World War: In The Balance. I tried to read it several times and then just gave up. I couldn’t get past the writing or the story and the alien race probably had a Deux Ex Machina generator on their ship. I’m sure he’s great. I’m sure the book is fine. It just wasn’t happening for me. It’s really too bad that a bad book can’t be enjoyed on the same level as a bad  movie.

  Final Question, what are you working on now?

I’m finishing up the Dumb White Husbands vs Zombies story that I began as a serial this summer. After that it’s a sequel to Post-Apocalyptic Nomadic Warriors. That’s been a long time coming and folks are starting to get pushy. We’re also looking to launch the book marketing agency, Monkey Paw Creative, soon. Those are the main things, but I’m always playing around with something or other on my Facebook page and Twitter and   dumbwhitehusband.com and ... okay, I’m starting to act like a kitten with a ball of yarn, but, you have to trust me, it’s all fun stuff. If it wasn’t, what would be the point? 

Connect with Benjamin on twitter @BenMWallace. Check out and purchase Benjamin's best selling work at Amazon Here

(Celebs) Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom Divorce- She Speaks Out Via Twitter

Khloe Kardashian must have burning from inside until Sunday 25^th August. She could not hide it anymore; she had to burst out and what better place to do it than on Twitter.  The rumors have been there, and people were expecting her to announce the divorce. The marriage has on the rocks for quite some time now and some women have even confirmed the cheating allegations.

Khloe, a reality star spill her frustrations via Twitter; she said that could continue to sit as people spoke sh-t about her family. In her post, she insulted the people calling them the F word, saying she was too protective for that kind of sh-t.

Khloe has remained silent and hidden any signs that could reveal that her marriage may be in trouble. But her tweets have been puzzling; she and her family are the stars of a reality show, Keeping Up With the Kardashians. In one of her tweets, she told people to stop trying to figure her and instead know themselves first and two days later after this one, she posted saying only the strong would survive.

It’s not clear, but with this kind of an outburst, Khloe may be going through more that she is willing to share; only time will tell the truth of the matter.