Monday, May 12th, 2008

Twitter as a Proof of Concept, and the Earthquake in China

When I try and explain what Twitter is to people, a blank stare usually follows. Next is: So how do they make money?

The best response that I can come up with (ie: it ends that thread of the conversation) is that it’s a proof of concept and that they’re still trying to figure out their model and their users are still trying to figure out the value offering.

I keep seeing the value proposition of Twitter coming up here and there.

At Blog Carolinas, Andy Beal gave a great example of how a family could use a private account to send text messages to everyone at once with updates/questions like “I’m at the grocery store. Does anyone need anything?”

When I was on a road trip last fall, we Twittered (with almost no followers) for recommendations of what to do in Seattle. 20 minutes later, we were told exactly where to go and what places to see. Without that type of connectivity, that night would have been one of the more average nights, rather than one of the craziest nights we had on the entire trip.

BrightKite seems to have potential at giving new value to Twitter’s base functionality. By utilizing text messaging and online messaging at the same time to distribute real-world locations, it’s certain to add a whole new dimension of functionality to Twitter’s offering. I’m already seeing Twitter messages scroll by of random meetups that wouldn’t have happened if BrightKite hadn’t been used. (Speaking of, anyone have an extra invite they want to send my way?)

Today, an earthquake at 7.8 on the Richter Scale hit China and Beijing today, in what has already killed thousands, and is sure to be even more devastating than we currently know. Robert Scoble points out (still waiting on a source for this) that the USGS was three minutes behind the first Twitters of the earthquake, which you can see here.

It will be interesting to see what pieces of the Twitter puzzle get brought together and what comes of it in the next couple of years. It obviously has a significant value proposition. Hopefully, we’ll see a revenue-generating model that suits users, developers, and companies.

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Filed under Value, Social Media, Social Information Media, Social Networks, Exploration
by Ben Willsat 11:23.

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Tuesday, March 11th, 2008

The Other Side of Free! The Necessity of Reciprocity for the Creation of Value

I think that Chris Anderson’s Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business idea is a great insight into the future of marketing and advertising, especially online.

As the cost of starting a business has been all but eliminated, for a multitude of reasons (competitive advantage, vying for attention, etc) that savings gets passed to the consumer. As value in a business/offer is created over time with its customers, an expense for the service, directly to the customer or otherwise, will then be justified.

Today, Seth Godin points out times when “Free” actually creates less value.

When a business takes into consideration the dynamics of value with regard to its offering, it must consider that value is what is being exchanged in the interactions that define their business. Therefore, you might say that a retail clothing business exchanges the value of not having to make your own clothes, for the value that currency has in the marketplace.

Essentially, what Seth outlines is that when the Free! model is applied, reciprocity is broken and the relationship then becomes imbalanced. The business has accepted obligation for the customer’s concerns, but the customer hasn’t accepted obligation for the business’s concerns.

This is the fundamental imbalance that must be addressed when looking to create significant value with your Free! offers.

Reciprocity is a moral standard. That is to say, it is a necessity defined by social groups for building and maintaining power. In this case, the system of business.

If you’re offering something based on the Free! model, how are you going to encourage your customers to reciprocate their obligations as a customer to your business? How are you going to create value that’s significant enough to make them want to oblige themselves to your business…financially or otherwise?

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Filed under Chris Anderson, Seth Godin, Reciprocity, Free, Value
by Ben Willsat 11:31.

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