How Twitter Could Monetize

Published
by
Matt
on Jan 5, 2009
in social media and twitter
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Twitter, at this moment, is not very different from a charity or non-profit. They’re providing a (great) service for no cost, and are not generating any revenue. Seeing as the dot-com bubble has already burst, this obviously won’t be able to continue forever. Here’s some ideas I had, in no particular order, on ways that Twitter can generate some money.

1) Tweet Blasts
The most obvious way for Twitter to make some money is to offer a bulk tweet delivered to it’s user base. The way I would set this up is to offer a tweet to everyone ($$$), to a smaller random number of users ($$), and an even smaller random number of users ($). The best uses for this type of advertising would be the traditional products with mass-market appeal like movies, fast-food, or cars.

I know this is very “old marketing”, spray-and-pray type of stuff, but hey, if it pays the bills and keeps Twitter free without overdoing it, I’m all for it.

2) Targeted Tweet Blasts
This one is a little more focused, makes a little more sense, and would take a little more time than just general or random Tweet Blasts. The one play here would be to leverage people’s Bio information to target them based on things like location or interests. Terms like “Charleston, SC” or “avid gamer” could be used. This would make sense if you were promoting a local restaurant or a media (game, music, movie) release.

The other angle you could take, and this might be tough, is to pull a tweet cloud for each user. This way you can see that someone spends all their time talking about “Apple” or “Philadelphia Phillies” or “Snowboarding” even if it’s not in their Bio information.

3) Headliners
If you checked the web version of Twitter today, you would see a warning for a phishing scam above your timeline. This is, again, not much better than a billboard, but would still be a high profile place to put a one-line ad. One problem here is that it would only reach web users.

4) Tweet Cloud Contextual Ad Blocks
Now here’s a sweet, sweet internet advertising mashup. The first thing that would need to happen here is that Twitter would have to institute ad blocks on individual profiles. My best guess would be to put them on the right side of the timeline, as people usually do their custom background graphic on the left. Next they would have to figure out which users Tweet cloud to pull the data from. Is it the user of the profile that you’re visting? Or is it your data? And what happens if you’re not a Twitter user or have limited data?

5) Charge A Membership Fee
I’d rather it not come to this. But I’d pay it. Twitter is totally worth it.

Did I miss anything? Am I way off base? Let me know!

Note: I don’t necessarily endorse any/all of these ideas, it was just a brainstorm.

7 Things About You (Just Kidding!)

Published
by
Matt
on Dec 22, 2008
in etc.
. Comments

So by now, you’ve probably got the feeling that I’m a popular guy. How popular, you ask? So popular, in fact, that I’ve been tagged for the “Seven Things” meme by two people! So please, make sure to thank Brian Branca and Scott Monty, for all this wonderful knowledge.

1. I can feel the rain coming. Not because I’m psychic or anything, but because I have no cartilage in my right knee. After a series of snowboarding, football, and lacrosse accidents, and their subsequent surgeries, I’m now on the fast track for early onset arthritis! Hooray!

2. I don’t really watch TV. With the exceptions of a few shows and sports, TV is take it or leave it for me. I know some people love it, but I could never really plant myself on the couch and watch for a few hours. Which leads me to my next one….

3. I do, however, play a lot of video games. In the absence of TV, video games are one of the ways I fill my downtime void. Xbox 360 and Wii are my systems of choice. If you’re on Xbox Live, my tag is Situation3.

4. I’m still adjusting to the south. I moved to Charleston, SC about 3 months ago to live with my girlfriend and I really love it. The area is great, the people are (almost all) really nice, and the weather is hard to beat. On December 20th it was 75 degrees. That’s ridiculous!

5. I’m an idea guy. Sometimes I wish there was a job where my main responsibility was just to think of cool ideas. I have no problem coming up with stuff, it’s just executing that’s the problem. I have absolutely no ability to do anything with packaging, horticulture, cloud computing, or a number of other things, but I sure do have ideas.

6. If you’re buying at Subway: 12″ oven-roasted chicken breast on Italian herb and cheese. Cheddar jack cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, banana peppers, ranch, chipotle sauce. Absolutely every time.

7. I planned on going to law school from the time I was 12 years old. Seriously. I know, I don’t know any other 12 year-olds who want to be a lawyer either, but that was me. Everything I did academically was done with the purpose of going to law school. Until, that is, I decided that I didn’t want to go 12 days before I graduated from Penn State. And the rest, my friends, is history!

Now on to the hard part, finding 7 people who haven’t been tagged yet this late in the game. Let’s give it a shot and See if they’re up for it.

Ashley Boquist
Jen Miller
David Armano
Tom Jeffrey
Chris Simpson
Kaitlyn Wilkins
Jon Burg

Simple Social Media Truths

Published
by
Matt
on Dec 18, 2008
in social media
. Comments

1. Everyone thinks they are a social media expert.
2. Everyone is not a social media expert.
3. Not every company should have social media initiatives.
4. We’re all still figuring this out.
5. Conversations are important, but not as important as some people will have you believe.
6. Traditional advertising isn’t dead and won’t be for a while, if ever.
7. Blogging is hard work.
8. Twitter will not make or break you.
9. Don’t always cave to the mob.
10. The barriers to action are now so low that it’s incredible easy to act without thinking it through.
11. If you speak your mind, you are going to piss someone off eventually.
12. There’s no excuse to not be listening to the conversations online.
13. If the words “unless we get caught” are part of your plan, quit now.
14. Purists, Pessimists, and Doomsayers are almost always wrong.
15. The wrong way to do things is always the easiest.
16. There is still a ton of potential in this space.

I Get It Now!

Published
by
Matt
on Dec 16, 2008
in Communication and etc.
. Comments

Lesson of the day: Make sure your market understands you.

Social Media and the Preunion

Published
by
Matt
on Dec 15, 2008
in social media
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So my 5 year high school reunion was a couple weeks ago. I couldn’t make it, but a handful of my friends did. A few nights afterward, I was talking to them about it - typical “How’s Person X and Person Y doing” kind of stuff, and as they answered, I realized that I kept saying “Oh yeah, I know!” each time.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I didn’t even need to go to the reunion to see what everyone was up to, how they were doing, and who got fat. My reason?

Facebook.

It’s not that I’m some sort of post-high school weirdo stalker, but with the Facebook news feed you can’t help but see what’s going on with other people. And when you know what’s going on with them, it kills the opportunity for that awkward small talk you always start with when you haven’t seen someone in years.

“So, I saw you went to Penn State.”
“Yeah, and you were at Northeastern, right?”
“Mmhmmm…..so……”

Has this happened to you? How’s this going to change things?

Thoughts on Video Game Advertising

Published
by
Matt
on Dec 12, 2008
in Advertising and gaming
. Comments

Greg Verdino got me thinking a little more about in-game advertising with his rock solid slide show that he posted on his blog this week. I was going to do this as a comment, but figured it would just work better as a standalone.

So, on to the thoughts!

  • First off, in-game advertising is a good idea. Yes, I honestly believe that. It just has to be done right.
  • Like Verdino says, it’s not all about billboards and posters. But at the same time, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with them. For games that try to mimic “real life”, I think that “real life” type advertising would fit in. Still that doesn’t mean it’s going to be effective at all, just like that “real life” thing.
  • The opportunities for advertising in video games reaches far beyond just in-game material. Look at the new avatar system that Microsoft implemented for the Xbox 360. Why not create some branded t-shirts or jackets and give them away so people can put them on their avatar? I’d totally have my avatar rock a Polo shirt, a PSU jersey, or Phillies hat.
  • What about sponsored game giveaways? Take a popular, downloadable Xbox Arcade game, make a special version with a Brand-sponsored interstitial, and give the game away. If the person is connected to live, they could even receive updated ads. Lots of possibilities here.

    • I’ll stop here, but I could do this all night. Seriously.

    What say you?

Two Types Of People (And The Middle)

Published
by
Matt
on Dec 8, 2008
in Blogging and social media
. Comments

When it comes to people who care about Social Media (everything from blogs to Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, etc.) there are generally two types.

People that know the basics, and people who are still learning them.

And, in general, people who know the basics are looking for more advanced stuff, and people still learning will soak up as much of that as possible.

Yes, there is a small “middle” section in that group. A segment of people that have a good grip on some, but not all, of what they want to know. But I think that group is constantly in flux, because with a lot of social media, once you “get” the way something works a lot of other things suddenly make sense.

This segmentation matters because you have to understand who you’re talking to.

If you’re a social media blogger, you have to decide if you’re going to cover the basics (and do a great job like Mack Collier, Chris Brogan, and Jason Falls) or push the envelope with higher level thinking (like Alan Wolk, Greg Verdino, Paul Isakson, and Valeria Maltoni).

If you’re writing instructions, or explaining your new web service, you have to understand if people get the concept of “friending” or “tweeting”.

I’d like to think that I fall somewhere in the middle on this blog. Where are you? What kind of content do you look for?

In Case You’d Like To Work With Me

Published
by
Matt
on Dec 8, 2008
in Uncategorized
. Comments

My new business cards. (Mini-cards from Moo.com)