Apple Considered Purchasing a Large Stake in Twitter

[shulerg]

1. Kill Ping

2. Make the iTunes app leaner and more responsive

3. Twitter is not worth $10 billion except in the casino dimension run by Wall St filth.

-Currently, they make the bulk of their money on "promoted tweets/trends," so companies pay to get people "engaged" with their brands on Twitter by putting their feeds up front. Also, search engines pay to have Twitter links show in their results. Problem is, just like clicks with FB, there is no linkage between social media ads and actual buying behavior. But we're not privy to their numbers since they're not public. So Twitter's $10 billion value=bubblenomics.

-Twitter=90% celebrity gossip and ads, 9% annoying foodies, 1% meaningful interaction. I suppose that 1% is worth the hassle for some, but, like FB, when the herd leaves, it will die.

-Filtering (on Twitter, FB, and increasingly, Google) is an insidious way to limit discourse. Better discussions happen on 4chan/b.

...but hey, I get why Apple feels like they might need a foothold here. And why not, they have nothing but money and the time to spend it. Might just be best to chop it up for the underlying tech and roll it into their software portfolio.

 

[chaosconan]

1. Kill Ping

2. Make the iTunes app leaner and more responsive

3. Twitter is not worth $10 billion except in the casino dimension run by Wall St filth.

-Currently, they make the bulk of their money on "promoted tweets/trends," so companies pay to get people "engaged" with their brands on Twitter by putting their feeds up front. Also, search engines pay to have Twitter links show in their results. Problem is, just like clicks with FB, there is no linkage between social media ads and actual buying behavior. But we're not privy to their numbers since they're not public. So Twitter's $10 billion value=bubblenomics.

-Twitter=90% celebrity gossip and ads, 9% annoying foodies, 1% meaningful interaction. I suppose that 1% is worth the hassle for some, but, like FB, when the herd leaves, it will die.

-Filtering (on Twitter, FB, and increasingly, Google) is an insidious way to limit discourse. Better discussions happen on 4chan/b.

...but hey, I get why Apple feels like they might need a foothold here. And why not, they have nothing but money and the time to spend it. Might just be best to chop it up for the underlying tech and roll it into their software portfolio.

Where is the stats for Science, and Technology. I follow science and technology twitters.

 

[iScott428]

Apple investing in Twitter would be a great thing because twitter actually has a business model that can expand and make MONEY. Unlike Facebook which has no real business model, Twiiter built that in from the beginning. Notice the 10$ jump in apple stock at the end of the day, that is due to the positive reaction to this news.

Facebook is more of an unregulated wiki service while twitter is a microblogging information portal. Sure most of the stuff people post on twitter is useless Justin Bieber garbage but breaking information also hits twitter before any other source. Often CNN does not have a story up yet but they sent a tweet informing of the public of actual breaking news.

As an early adopter of Facebook and a late adopter of twitter I can see the pros and cons of both systems. Personally Facebook is now very annoying as it used to be a social network; now the line is very blurred and it has become just a network of businesses, family and friends. Social networks are at their prime aspects are secluded groups, Twiiter is not trying to be that but rather a service of information where facebooks flaps in the wind with little direction. IMHO.

 

[nostresshere]

Twitter, like Facebook will go through lots of changes, some good, some bad down the road. Apple would be well served to stay out of that mess.

Just my two cents.

(of course, I wanted to short Facebook before it even came... stupid idiot, I did not)

 

[shulerg]

Where is the stats for Science, and Technology. I follow science and technology twitters.

Lol, yes, bit of hyperbole on my part. I count science and tech under the "1% meaningful interactions."

 

[Jb07]

I hope not. I love Twitter, and if Apple makes it anything like Ping, I'm done...

 

[David Menzel]

If they really want to buy a stake in one social network then in Twitter. For me personally it is the best and only independent of all "social" networks. Facebook is a little bit complicated with all it setting features and Microsoft has already a minority stake. Google+ is really fascinating -> but it is Google's social network. Twitter is a very nice and very easy to use network. I am using it to remain informed about all different kinds of news about my personal interests (general news, single journalists, bloggers, hobbies, ...). As I said it is a very easy to use network and the only independent network of the big ones. I have to repeat it: If Apple really want to buy a stake then in Twitter.

 

[quietstormSD]

Oh Apple, we all know you are quite possibly the WORST company to run a social network so don't even bother trying.

LoL agreed. I think Apple buying Twitter would be disastrous for both companies

 

[rmwebs]

If they really want to buy a stake in one social network then in Twitter. For me personally it is the best and only independent of all "social" networks. Facebook is a little bit complicated with all it setting features and Microsoft has already a minority stake. Google+ is really fascinating -> but it is Google's social network. Twitter is a very nice and very easy to use network. I am using it to remain informed about all different kinds of news about my personal interests (general news, single journalists, bloggers, hobbies, ...). As I said it is a very easy to use network and the only independent network of the big ones. I have to repeat it: If Apple really want to buy a stake then in Twitter.

Whilst I agree that twitter would be the most logical choice, I wouldn't want Apple investing or getting involved with ANY social network. They dont seem to be able to get in the right mindset for that kind of thing. When you think about it, Apple are more of a 'do it and its done' company, in that they will make something, and let it stagnate, or only do the bare minimum.

Such examples of this are the Dashboard, Ping, iTunes, all UI related stuff, MobileMe, etc. Obviously this is likely because by the time they release some of these things, they already need all hands working on the next big thing, but they just wont commit to anything at all.

They never did any kind of updates on Ping, so it was doomed to fail from day 1. There was no plan or strategy, almost as if their heart was never in it.

---
Moving on to why Twitter is likely the best social network for ANYONE to invest in:

Facebook: Facebook has over the last year or so been flagging. They have had a string of failed/poor upgrades that have added little to nothing in terms of usable value. Their poor mobile apps have caused problems and it seems that they are now desperately trying to find new sources of revenue with the 'app store' launch.

G+ is obviously out of the question, however its doomed to fail due to Google not marketing it correctly. That said, its a much nicer interface than Facebook.

 

[MCP-511]

Please buy it and shut it down. Thank you.

 

[SirHaakon]

I don't get people who complain about twitter. You can follow tools who don't even technically run their twitter (Ashton Kutcher) or experts in fields you're interested in. Personally I follow legit journalists and people I find funny. I get value from it daily.

Or you could just subscribe to them on Facebook and not have to check two sites. The difference is, on Facebook, you can actually get into meaningful conversations and not just have one way interaction.

Twitter is useful for public figures, corporations, bands, and the like who want to "blast" bits of information to as many people as possible (of course, they could just do this on Facebook as well - and not be subject to an arbitrary character limit). For the average person, however, I find Twitter to be next to useless.

 

[samcraig]

Nice that everyone dodged that bullet. No thanks. Don't want or need Apple to either own or have any more influence than it already has on twitter or facebook.

 

[carmenodie]

Who cares!!!
My girlfriend sits her little *** on Facebook for hours just talking sh**. I find that type of social business boring! But to each his/her own.

 

[dru`]

Perhaps this was Apple's way of greasing the wheels for 'integrating' Twitter into Mtn. Lion notifications, Sharing.

My problem with Ping is it insisted we use real names tied to credit cards. Not only no but HELL NO!

 

[!¡ V ¡!]

answer, kill Ping. Hello iTweet.

iTweet = Ping and iMessage (text,photos,videos)and, iTMS.

You read it here first.

 

[StyxMaker]

And I don't get people who don't get people who complain about Twitter.

I dislike Twitter because it is too truncated. I need more space to rant than 140 characters.

It's a great tool to learn to write concisely.

 

[StyxMaker]

Lol, yes, bit of hyperbole on my part. I count science and tech under the "1% meaningful interactions."

I don't care what 99.999% of tweets are about. I only follow the people/organizations I'm interested in, and most of the time read the news I'm interested in on Twitter first.

 

[PhoenixMac]

I like twitter because it is filtered news I care about. And being able to tweet about products, good/bad and having the companies reply back without me talking directly to them it's great!

 

[MattInOz]

What could be interesting is if Twitter took on a big investor like Apple to turn themselves into a tweet-sourced search engine. You can already sort of do this with twitter but it doesn't get presented well enough for everyday search.

 

[Aussi3]

What was everyones gripe against ping? What was so bad about it?

 

[zhris]

What was everyones gripe against ping? What was so bad about it?

Nobody knows; that's exactly what was so bad about it. For me, Ping was a sidebar in iTunes that I could click on bands I liked. It was basically the 'Like' button in Facebook, without... the rest of Facebook. Unless I'm missing a *whole* lot, I fail to see how that even falls under the definition of 'social network'.

 

[Aidan5806]

I've got this kinda feeling that, assuming apple wanted to enter the social business, twitter would most likely be the launching point. Twitter uses many of apples principles. And I can imagine a great way to integrate it with icloud iOS and osx.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

I would hope Apple does not get involved and owning that much of twitter. Apple more than likely would screw it up and kill it trying to lock out everyone but Apple products.

 

[jamesnajera]

Apple investing in Twitter would be a great thing because twitter actually has a business model that can expand and make MONEY. Unlike Facebook which has no real business model, Twiiter built that in from the beginning. Notice the 10$ jump in apple stock at the end of the day, that is due to the positive reaction to this news.

Facebook is more of an unregulated wiki service while twitter is a microblogging information portal. Sure most of the stuff people post on twitter is useless Justin Bieber garbage but breaking information also hits twitter before any other source. Often CNN does not have a story up yet but they sent a tweet informing of the public of actual breaking news.

As an early adopter of Facebook and a late adopter of twitter I can see the pros and cons of both systems. Personally Facebook is now very annoying as it used to be a social network; now the line is very blurred and it has become just a network of businesses, family and friends. Social networks are at their prime aspects are secluded groups, Twiiter is not trying to be that but rather a service of information where facebooks flaps in the wind with little direction. IMHO.

What is Twitter's business model? Seriously, I am not joking. I do not understand how Twitter makes money.

 

[entropys]

I don't really like to follow people. Companies, yes, but no person deserves that much of my attention. I don't find Twitter very annoying (since I don't use it), but Facebook has a way of annoying people who don't use it with its groups and online chat. If people want me to make a Facebook account to message them, I just have to say "Sorry, I don't use Facebook.".

Oh, but the whole trend of putting the pound (#) sign in front of stuff is stupid. Isn't it supposed to denote a category on Twitter? People seem to put it in front of random things.

#grumpyoldman
#getoffmylawn