Friday, January 8, 2010

Does the Times Proclaiming "Why Twitter Will Endure" Mean We're in a Twitter Bubble?

I worry when I see articles like the one by NYT's media critic David Carr.

Carr is a smart reporter, understands technology, and is a Twitter user (@carr2n). But my concern is that an article like "Why Twitter Will Endure" may mean we're officially in a Twitter bubble.

Going mainstream is not a bad thing, and Twitter is not like some underground band that's selling out, and will lose its cred.

But don't forget: Twitter still hasn't figured out its business model. And there are lots of companies offering free services in the Twitter eco-system that have not figured out how to monetize Twitter or their own services yet, either.

When clients ask if Twitter is the equivalent to CB Radio in the 70s, I tell them no -- for many reasons, includnig some Carr cites, and including the fact that you don't need specialized equipment, just Internet access and a keyboard.

But somehow someone's got to monetize it or the platform won't be able to endure; it'll just move on to the next thing, much the way Friendster flamed out and was overtaken by MySpace, which seems to have been overtaken by Facebook.

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