Today, I'm offering the Twitter community a glimpse into their future. [Correction - A glimpse into the future of Twitter if it were up to me!] You see, for a few months now this idea has been festering in my head and the troublesome part is that I can't spend the time to make it happen. So, I bring it to you, my fellow tweeters. It is up to each of you to decide.
If Twitter is truly "for the tweeters" then founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone should be open to it, right? Well, no such luck on my part, yet. I've tried to tweet and email the twitter leadership to no avail. I can certainly understand why. Everyone has their ideas, but I've yet to see one that doesn't impose on you, the Twitter user. Maybe the support of my fellow tweeters can turn the tide? Here Goes...
The Starter Tweet
My guess is almost everyone who joins Twitter thinks the same thing once they sign up. Now what? You've heard your friends buzzing about it. You've seen it on CNN but, "What do I do now that I'm here?" The answer: Engage. The difficulty: How?
Introducing, Tweet Rocket - Your Twitter Launch Pad. (This is just a conceptual name. It doesn't exist, yet!) If you've ever created a MySpace account, then you know "Tom" (Tom Anderson), your first friend on MySpace. He's there for several reasons, one of which is to help you understand how to interact with users. This is where Tweet Rocket blasts new users into the "twitterverse" giving them a little boost into what's out there.
How it Would Work
Each user that signs up would automatically be following Tweet Rocket. A simple click on the "Rocket" reveals a menu of recommended tweeple, organized by category - ie. News, Entertainment, Politics, Sports, Celebrities, whatever...
Just as you would flip through the t.v. channels or sections of the newspaper, Tweet Rocket would put the most popular tweet streams right at your fingertips while still enabling you to determine what content you want to follow.
Service, not Sacrifice
It's been suggested that Twitter put a cap on the amount of tweets, charge for corporate tweeters, throw ad content in the mix, etc., The problem is, all those things would take away from the users' experience. Tweet Rocket would provide users a service. Twitter could capitalize by charging a fee to be among these Twitter elite listed on Tweet Rocket. Advertising could be done on the master page - ads that Twitter could charge a premium for, since it touches virtually every user at some point. At the same time, it's not intrusive to the users' individual accounts and tweets. The twitter blog could live here as a place to keep users in the loop should they choose to follow.
So, there you have it. I promised myself I wouldn't spend to much time on this post, since it doesn't directly relate to PitchEngine, but sometimes you just have to get things off your chest. My passion will continue to be rooted in the evolution of media relations.
The Twerdict (aka Verdict)
What do you think? Would this have helped you as a brand-new user? Do we sacrifice anything as users with something like Tweet Rocket? Or would you rather see a fee for tweets, limitations or something else?
If you like the concept, or simply dislike it, please retweet and use the hashtag: #tweetrocket Let's see if we can't shed a little light on how we would monetize our favorite micro-blog platform on behalf of it's founders.
Tweet me! @pitchengine (don't forget #tweetrocket)