I just devoured a fascinating article in Wired Magazine (here's the online version). It's a great read if you're interested in the evolution of Twitter.
"Twitter's founders created a simple messaging service.
Its users turned it into something huge.
So the question now: Who's in charge?"
Titled 'Mob Rule! How Users Took Over Twitter', the article looks at the challenges Twitter faces as it works towards achieving its rather immodest ambition - according to author Steven Levy, in an internal strategy document that was leaked to TechCrunch by a hacker earlier this year, the company professed that if Twitter had a billion users, it would be "the pulse of the planet."
Indeed!
In the meantime, Twitter needs to fend off attempts by the likes of Google and Facebook which have "the potential to blunt Twitter's uniqueness by commoditizing short bursts of information".
Crucially, the company also needs to negotiate its way around the diehard Twitter community that is not always enamoured with the changes founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone have been employing.
Twitter is the source of immense fascination.
How it pans out - whether Williams and Stone can hit their magical billion users, whether the company is bought by a larger player and reduced to bit part status, or it simply runs out of juice and crumbles under the weight of massive expectation - one thing is for sure: it's going to be one hell of a ride, and one that PR and communication professionals will need to keep an eye on.
*** Illustration: Christoph Niemann
