Friday, February 10, 2017

Twitter just made me want to buy something.



Despite the President's constant use of Twitter, the platform is not doing well.  It just reported its 10th consecutive quarter of lower revenue, and its stock price declined by 12%. (Poletti, 2017)

But I can't help wondering if there's an opportunity here that the company is missing.

Back in 2013, Pew Research noted that the typical Twitter user was an 18-29 year-old educated minority in a well-paying job, slightly more likely to be male than female.  (Bennett, 2013)

But a discussion with my NYU students last fall indicated that few of them were on it. 

Here's a blog with their comments...


It seems pretty clear these days that the most active Twitter users appear to be those engaged with politics -- in all likelihood a different audience.  And if indeed the platform is now attracting an older, more educated, wealthier target, that should be even easier for them to monetize. 

Which gets back to me.  Reading tweets on news sites got me interested enough to reengage with the platform.  When I did, they served me ads for The New York Times.  How appropriate.  And effective.  I am now a new subscriber.  Apparently I am not alone.  The Times has experienced a ten-fold increase in subscribers since the election.

Now if Twitter can just figure out how to make it work for them, they might survive.


Poletti, T. (2017, February 10)  Twitter tanks and becomes fodder for M&A chatter again.  marketwatch.com.  retrieved February 10, from

Bennett, S. (2013, August 6)  Who Uses Twitter?  Young, Affluent, Educated Non-White Males, Suggests Data.  adweek.com.  Retrieved February 10, from

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