…Twitter Is The Next Google, But Better
1. As with Google in the early days, there is no business model. (At least outside of Japan.) It took the borrowing of a paid advertising concept before Google started raking in the cash. Before then, investors took a punt on a couple of brainiacs with an interesting idea. While Twitter may not have invented a better mousetrap (see Pownce), they did invent a mousetrap that lots of people want to use (and often feel naked when it goes dark). People are there and the business model may follow. And a couple of brainiacs with an interesting idea may make some money.
2. Twitter has accomplished what nobody, not even Google, has yet to figure out - crowdsourcing search. How often have you seen a request for advice, recommendations or suggestions come across your Twitter feed? I would guess, a lot. How difficult would it be for the Twitterer to do a search themselves? Probably a lot longer than typing a short-message and sending into the twitter-sphere.
3. Google simplified search through the use of its very sophisticated algorithms and computing power. Most people thought that it couldn’t get any easier, while most competitors thought they could. Both were wrong…until now. (Though maybe until now, nobody ever thought of Twitter as a competitor to Google.) Search is easier than ever - 140 characters and a few “friends”.
4. Not only has Twitter inadvertently taken crowdsouring to search, it has actually taken it a step further into friendsourcing. In fact, it has created the first personalized and trusted search engine in the world. We all know how vital recommendations are to our decision-making process. Twitter has Google beat here! Twitter’s search results are from people who know you (or think they know you). What would you trust? Google’s organic search results? Paid results? Or Twitter’s personalized, recommended results?
5. At the end of the day, using Twitter as your search engine is a hell of a lot more interesting and fun than Google. And if simplified search comes down to productivity, it’s a real time saver!
April 24th, 2008 at 10:01 am
You’re out of your mind, Twitter is crap and won’t ever approach being a Google. People don’t scale, people get annoyed, people are annoying, people don’t grant you privacy, nothing you ever get from Twitter even comes close to the power Googling gets you. Google is a fucking verb among the common man now, Twitter is a joke.
April 24th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Are u joking!. Twitter is fun, google is some serious stuff. I can live without twitter but not google. Twitter is for those techie bloggers with too much ego that want to show the world what they think.
April 24th, 2008 at 10:33 am
“People are there and the business model may follow.”
That attitude that caused a lot of problems during the first ‘Net bubble.
April 24th, 2008 at 10:44 am
are you stupid? How many “searches” would it take to annoy the crap out of your friends? Twitter is just an ego toy of a minority. The mainstream won’t ever give a damn about twitter.
April 24th, 2008 at 10:47 am
By those measures, Google used to be a better Google too. Google didn’t start out with AdWords, malware filtering, natural search, and everything else they’ve implemented over the years. As they’ve become larger and more relevant, they’ve taken various measures to account for those who game the system.
Twitter doesn’t have that problem yet, as it’s still a relatively new technology. Give marketers an opening though, and they’ll somehow figure a way into it. They’re like vermin that way.
Once this happens, Twitter will slowly start to slant towards monetization, rather than fun, and countermeasures will be implemented, which will increase the service’s size and featureset, and so on in that fashion, until it is supplanted by the yet next “thing.”
Maybe I’m among those like Rick Ellis, Jerry Holkins, and Seth Godin (yes, a strange list) who just don’t get what makes Twitter so great to those who love it. I wouldn’t expect someone reading a stream of 140 character quips to have context on anything I’d want to ask a “____sphere,” and consequently I’d trust more authoritative sources (Google’s organic search results, for one).
April 24th, 2008 at 11:34 am
Wow. A lot of people seem to think that Twitter has no value. I constantly find new value in Twitter on a daily basis. I learn things by being on Twitter.
Also a lot of these people that say “Google rocks, Twitter sucks” don’t remember the days when Google first came into the game. Then it was “Altavista rocks, Google sucks”. It took a couple of years for Google to become relevant. It also took Google a couple of years to grab the market share they now have.
I think that the author makes some good points on crowd-sourcing. There’s value there. Some of the commenters need to look at history though, because Google wasn’t always the “rock star” it is today.
April 24th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Are you for real? Google might not always be the greatest tool but it will be hard to mimic it (tech wise). Unlike twiter which is a pretty basic tool without any tech behind it (being on a computer is not tech is just a platform). The benefit of twitter is being one of the first (but it has no great leverage on others future tools - see Yahoo for example). Twitter is not only for nerds it also not really needed and time-filler - so get a life…
April 24th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Gotta love the hype about twitter. Twitter is a joke, and at this point, pretty useless. Just like Facebook was the hype 2 years ago, Twitter is now - A website with no true substance. Comparing it to what google is and was at it’s beginning is ridiculous. Google always had a true utility value since day one, with its good search algorithm.
Like some above have said, twitter is for the techies with too much time on their hands.
April 24th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
this is an interesting post which highlights that the social networks that people create are a potential route by which information will be exchanged. The information is far more valuable in that it will be a recommendation, whereas google will not be able to compete in a social network space where the personal and human recommendation of information is bourne out of experience rather than just pure search effectiveness.
the use of twitter and similar networks will provide a great means of sourcing information providing you have the right connections and have a channel into the right networks.
making these connections and channels obvious is a challenge for twitter - yet it it something that we are trying to do with a project called ‘http://www.dailytwitter.com’
in simple terms we are looking to provide classification, channels and themes for twitter - which would have a longer term benefit for the end users and provide a set of sign posts for finding some of the right channels and networks to engage with.
dt
April 24th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Are you out of your mind ?
April 24th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
This is an utterly rediculous argument. Google is Google because the market of people who use it is HUGE. My mom and grandma use Google daily but they have never heard of instant message much less MySpace much less Twitter. Twitter’s value comes from having a solid social network. What percentage of the population in the country wants to invest the time into creating a good online social network? It is smaller than a lot of the valley thinks. How many people have a question they want answered? Basically every person in the country. Twitter will never grow beyond Google or even close to it because it is frivolous compared to the larger society.
April 24th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
““Altavista rocks, Google sucks”. It took a couple of years for Google to become relevant.”
It did not take a while for Google to become relevant, they’re engine dominated search from day 1. Everyone tech who tried Google instantly abandoned every other engine because Google fucking worked like no other search engine of the time, the results were relevant. It took them a while to take over the market, but the functionality was there from the get go.
April 24th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
[…] Four Reasons Why Twitter is the Next Google “Not only has Twitter inadvertently taken crowdsouring to search, it has actually taken it a […]
April 24th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
>As with Google in the early days, there is no business model.
So, twitter will become as good as google because it presently does not have a business model. Brilliant ;-))
April 24th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
No comments.
Comparing Twitter’s “potential” to google is ridiculous.
Get a life!!
April 24th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Michael Hoskins said:
————-
Twitter doesn’t have that problem yet, as it’s still a relatively new technology. Give marketers an opening though, and they’ll somehow figure a way into it. They’re like vermin that way.
Once this happens, Twitter will slowly start to slant towards monetization, rather than fun, and countermeasures will be implemented, which will increase the service’s size and featureset, and so on in that fashion, until it is supplanted by the yet next “thing.”
————-
Actually if you look closely (go on tweetscan and search for “twitter spam”) you’ll see that people are already starting to game Twitter. Most of this is “New Follower” spam (BuyViagra is now following you!) but there are also reports of “track spam”. The time for Twitter and 3rd party developers to develop countermeasures is NOW or else this will get out of control.
April 24th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
[…] recently read a post by Mark and Sean Evans over on their blog talking about Twitter. They touched on something that I’ve been hearing and thinking a bit […]
April 24th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
I’m not sure comparing Google and Twitter is a fair comparison from either direction. However, it is fair to say that Twitter has created a ubiquitous trust network the likes of which people search engines have not. I receive trust requests on some people search engines all the time, but it’s rather meaningless to me. On the other hand, following someone on Twitter is done deliberately either to connect with someone you’re met, or with someone whose content you like to follow.
April 25th, 2008 at 12:59 am
Is it just me? Or are others bothered by the depth of feeling among those expressing disagreement here? How do people manage to get so heated about this kind of thing? Geez if an idea as innocuous as this can get you fired up enough to write “Get a Life”, or accuse the author of stupidity or being out of his mind, then what’s that say about your own life? I don’t happen to agree with the original proposition either, but it could have sparked some enlightening discussion about the similarities and differences between Google and Twitter, not to mention the very nature of success and failure in our industry. But who’s going to add anything of value now, in this poisonous atmosphere?
April 25th, 2008 at 1:30 am
I have to agree that Twitter is rubbish, I certainly dont spend time on it now - when I used to it was mostly people complaining about their job, or complaining about other people, linking to their own silly websites or letting the world know they are going to the gym.
I have reservations about Google too but there I dont think Twitter will become anything like the giant Google is. Twitter is a social networking tool, Google represents so many things on the Internet and it constantly grows, the only market they havent tapped into it seems is Games!
(No im not affiliated with Google at all)
April 25th, 2008 at 8:32 am
[…] Four (or Five!) Reasons Why » …Twitter Is The Next Google, But Better The comments are interesting. Half the commenters think Twitter is a joke. (tags: twitter) […]
April 25th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Your main point, Mark/Sean, about Twitter crowdsourcing search, is valid, but only assuming two things: 1) your peeps will take the time to help you out, and 2) you’re looking for more of a qualitative opinion than raw data. Our networks can’t scale to the level of Google, of course, but you are correct that we trust friends more than commercial ventures.
Putting aside the complete overreactions to the Google vs. Twitter statement, let’s look at the standalone value of Twitter. Most Twitter bashers i’ve run into just haven’t spent enough time there to have it become valuable, nor do they seem to have much interest in giving it a shot. Just like any new meme, it takes an open mind and an investment of time to find out if something new is valuable. I remember similar comments from coworkers in 1994 about how internet email would “NEVER” supplant voicemail.
I get value out of Twitter daily, as I’m subscribed to some great thought leaders, and have a community of friends who provide interesting conversation. But if you subscribe to shit (”I’m having a sandwich - yum”), then your experience with the tool will be shit too. As with many tools, Twitter’s value comes with investing time and an open mind, and learning how to use it.
May 9th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
The thing is: if you put your search request into twitter, how many of your followers use google to find an answer?