Fixing Twitter's People Problem

Dear Twitter,

We're uncomfortable. When we log in, we feel like we are on stage at a concert. We don't want to feel this way. What we want is to watch comfortably. Let us know if you can make this happen.

Sincerely,

Too many of your users

Now my turn...

Dear Twitter,

Before we dive into this concert metaphor, let's first assess some of the challenges you've faced since inception – we'll start from the most recent news and work backwards.

Over the last couple of weeks Google, Microsoft, and Salesforce were considering a buyout, but they all backed out. The media are pointing to concerns around bullying and harassment from trolls, but there's also the stagnant user growth, and unimpressive earning reports. The upside is that a lot of your content creators (i.e. Celebrities, brands, publishers, etc.) still think you hold tremendous value. Nevertheless, you're back on your own, and unsure about the future.

In 2015, investors began losing faith and your market value started to slide; you needed to make changes quickly, and you did. You put Jack back at the helm and people were hopeful that he would turn the company around, myself included. Adjustments began, and hope transformed into belief for some. I thought it was smart that you repositioned as a news app, no longer a social network that had to compete with the likes of Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram. I applauded your move. You also launched Moments to make it easier for passive users to use Twitter. These changes moved you in the right direction, but not far enough, and because of that, the newly found belief you gave to the hopeful, quickly slipped back to skepticism.

In 2014, it was reported that 44% of Twitter accounts had never sent a tweet. Are these bots? Are they passive users? Questions about Twitter's longevity begins and bullying bubbles up.

In 2011, Twitter reports that 40% of their user base only log-ins to see what other people are saying. However, brands and celebrities are more active than ever. The general Twitter audience is still enthralled, and wants to stay informed so they continue to listen and watch, without saying much; maybe applauding once in a while.

In 2009, the wind is in your sail. You launch verified accounts, and you begin to attract notable celebrities, and brands. Your users are excited to get real-time news and information, from influential people that they've never had direct access to. The average user wants to be part of that, to make sure they don't miss out, so they log-in, search, and listen.

In 2007 hashtags become the new way to create a conversation around a topic or idea on Twitter. The hashtag becomes part of human dialog, online and off. Social networks are emerging, and the buzzword "digital natives" is being used to describe the people that are joining Twitter to see if it has potential. Your users, start conversations about, anything really… but many people don't know what to say, or feel like what they have to say is worthy of posting publicly.

I highlighted a few items in the preceding paragraphs that I think are important. There's a lot of buzz right now around how bullying is the chief concern of your users, which is unquestionably a problem, but I have a differnt point of view. I believe that the underlying issue - the reason your user growth is stagnant and why so many people don't share anything - is mainly due to the fact that people feel uncomfortable or don't understand their role on Twitter. To further explain this, let's get back to the concert metaphor.

During your growth years (2007-2009) you invited everyone to your concert, but whether you knew it or not, you created one massive stage and no area for users to simply sit and watch from. Everyone felt like they had the spotlight on them and had to perform in some capacity. Your celebrities and influencers applauded this, they loved the spotlight and the attention they were getting, but the average Tweeter booed and you didn’t hear them. They didn't want that exposure or pressure of having to say something (perform); they bought their ticket hoping to get closer to celebrities and publishers than ever before, and watch them interact and deliver the news in real-time. That's all they wanted. A good seat to a great new show; one unlike any other.

I can't tell you how many people I've spoken with over the years that have told me they don't use Twitter, because "I don't know what to say", and then follow that with " but I love how easy it is to get news and information in real-time."

Your audience problem is partly due to too many people not feeling comfortable using your platform. Embrace the fact that a good portion of your universe – and many people that don't use Twitter now that would - want to sit idly by. You need to create the ideal concert watching experience for them. And, the more people you have watching, the more likely your rockstars will want to come to your venue to play. But how do you do this?

You achieve this by completely reconfiguring the user profile for the passive user. You also change user roles. You keep verified accounts the same, but regular users (consuming news) have a different setup.

1: When someone joins Twitter, ask them how they want to use the platform (Give them the option to turn this off and on): do you want to "contribute" or "listen"? If they want to contribute to news and information, allow them to, and give them the option to verify their account through a process that clears them to do so. For people that want to "listen"take the following steps:

2: Give users the option to show how many tweets they've clicked or read. By doing this you are highlighting how they add their own value to Twitter. Make your passive users feel just as important as the people you put on the stage. This is also an easy number to build up and feel good about.

3: Give people the option to hide the number of pieces they've shared, liked or commented on, but also give them the option to pin pieces they want to make public to their feeds. These become statement pieces.

4: Give users the option to hide how many people follow them, but leave the option to see who they follow. A brand, publisher, or celebrity will want to show many people follow them, because they want to be in the spotlight. For most users, however - people do not create original content for consumption, and are not looking to build a following - these metrics are not only meaningless, they also deter them from using the platform. Followers make it a popularity contest, which can make them feel insecure or inadequate when they never asked to be in the spotlight (the popular person). Also, remember that you're now a news app… why are we following people that aren't contributing?

5: Lastly, promote the hell out of the fact that you are the best news app out there; the only one that gives you direct access to connect with publishers, brands, and celebrities. That's a big deal. This makes you different, and exciting… still, after all these years.

Sincerely,

Someone that cares