I love Twitter the service — Twitter the company? Not as much. I spent a good chunk of law school playing around with Twitter and, like many, I thought it could be every bit as disruptive and pervasive as Facebook. You would be hard pressed to find a law firm today that does not use Twitter as part of its marketing strategy, not to mention that Twitter may end up deciding the 2016 Presidential Election. Seriously.
The Clinton News Network, sometimes referred to as @CNN, is getting more and more biased.They act so indignant-hear them behind closed doors
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2016
And yet, Twitter’s stock price seems to be in a perpetual free fall, and for good reason. In a conversation on TechCrunch earlier this year, social media guru Guy Kawasaki told me that Twitter had lost some of its “mojo,” and recommended that companies focus their marketing efforts on Facebook:
First, this is just one guy’s opinion. It’s not clear I’m right. Twitter shouldn’t lose sleep over what I say.
Second, I’m not saying anything is wrong that Twitter can fix. It’s a matter of my perception of Twitter’s mojo right now.
For all I know, Twitter is working really well for other people and brands.
Ouch.
Law firms as well as legal tech companies have asked me where they could save on their marketing, and one thing I have recommended is cutting back on Twitter. One legal tech CMO told me recently that he believes the only value in maintaining a Twitter feed is to give the appearance that his company has a pulse. In the early days of ReplyAll, I made sure to constantly keep our Twitter feed loaded up with content, but ultimately (like this CMO) decided it was a waste of time.
The Problem
But, unlike Guy Kawasaki, I do believe there is a fix to Twitter, the problem is that Twitter won’t do it. But in order to understand the fixes, you have to first understand Twitter’s core problem: the black hole. If you are a pundit or a well known personality, like (shameless kiss-ass alert) David Lat, who has tens of thousands of loyal followers, Twitter is a lot of fun. This is why so many well known tech bloggers have a hard time understanding how Twitter is failing — because their Twitter experience continues to be so positive. But, for the other 99.9% of people who have no audience, Tweeting into a black hole feels a little desperate and kinda lame. Facebook doesn’t have this problem because users have a built in audience: their friends. But on Twitter, you are all alone. More and more people are leaving Twitter and fewer are joining because the prospect of shouting into a black hole feels so useless.
The Fix
So what’s the big idea? Limit the number of times that users can Tweet every day. I have no idea what the exact number would be (Twitter would have to A/B test this), but I do know that I would be more likely to follow more people if I could be certain they wouldn’t muddy up my feed with their excess Tweeting. I could even imagine a scenario where “good Tweeters” are rewarded with the ability to Tweet more. There is even a bonus business model: publishers who want to share all of their articles on Twitter can pay a fee for unlimited Tweeting. My Tweet-limit relies on a simple theory of less is more and the idea that the uphill climb to building an audience is what frightens users away from joining and/or sticking with Twitter. Plus, Twitter would become less noisy and more thoughtful.
Twitter has been making little fixes here and there, like removing the need for a period and space at the beginning of “@ replies” and tweaking the 140 character limit, but these fixes do not help Twitter’s black hole problem.
so are you not a Twitter fan (though you're here) or do you think Twitter should have gone further?
— ronfriedmann (@ronfriedmann) May 24, 2016
Neither of these features are bad per se, but they do not address the core problem. And, as I mentioned earlier, you shouldn’t hold your breath, because Twitter is not going to implement a Tweet-limit. Twitter has to report to Wall Street, and “less is more” signals weakness. I’ve been on Twitter since the early days, and I’m not going anywhere. But it pains me to advise both individual people and businesses that Twitter is becoming more and more irrelevant.
Zach Abramowitz is a former Biglaw associate and currently CEO and co-founder of ReplyAll. You can follow Zach on Twitter (@zachabramowitz) or reach him by email at [email protected].