Twitter CEO admits slowdown, now what?

Evan Williams says Twitter traffic may have plateaued, but only temporarily


Technology trends and news by Bambi Francisco Roizen
October 21, 2009 | Comments (6)
Short URL: http://vator.tv/n/b50

5

Evan Williams, CEO and co-founder of Twitter, speaking at the Web 2.0 conference late Tuesday wasn't exactly candid about what's happening at Twitter these days. He dodged just about every question John Battelle, founder of Federated Media, threw his way about Twitter's plans for monetization. Williams also wouldn't comment about reports that both Microsoft and Google are interested in licensing Twitter feeds. 

Williams did, however, concede that traffic in the U.S. was slowing down. The traffic slowdown, is "a problem," he admitted.

But while the traffic may have plateaued in the U.S., it's only "temporarily," he said.

Twitter's visitor figure has remained stagnant for several months, according to comScore. In September, Twitter saw 21 million unique visitors, the third straight month it's recorded that number, according to the measuring firm.

"The problem is upfront," he explained, meaning most people don't get Twitter in the beginning. But eventually, they do and they become hooked. To this end, if there is a slowdown, it's only because users haven't come around to embrace Twitter. But they will, he suggested.

Translation: Initially, they walk away confused, but eventually they'll come back. 

How to get them back, however, is not a low hurdle. The big challenge for Twitter is finding the right "killer app" for each individual, Evan said. So, that's what Twitter is spending more time doing.

Twitter "Lists" should help toward that goal in finding the killer app for each user, Williams suggested.

Twitter Lists allow users to group people into different lists. By clicking on lists, you will only see Tweets from people who are on that list.

(Watch the video of Williams on how Twitter plans to keep the momentum up.)


Related news


6 comments

Dan Barrett
Dan Barrett, 150 days ago
As an Internet marketer, it is my job to use every tool at my disposal. I have tried repeatedly to get involved with Twitter. But I simply cannot find a use for it. In fact I had to block the status messages of friends on Facebook because their Twitters were taking up my whole Facebook page. And to all you Twitter junkies out there: NO ONE on the face of the planet has enough interesting things to say to make Twitter useful. I have finally been forced to conclude that (unless you live in Iran) Twitter is just a waste of time and in it's current form cannot survive.

Login to reply Dan


Jeff Weiss
Jeff Weiss, 149 days ago
Twitter can be a useful service, to those who want to voice their options with anonymity. However once twitter starts to “sell out” and market its limited analytical data to marketers and services like Google and Microsoft, the number of return users will probably drop drastically. Twitter’s lackadaisical attitude to find income sources kind of reminds me of the unemployed 38 year old living in his parent’s basement. He barrows money and tells his parents “sure, I’ll pay you back when I get a job” and the parents just smile knowing that they’ll probably never see it again. My main concern is twitter going to cause the VC market to become super tough for new startups if they cant produce. What exactly ARE THEY tell their investors to get $150+ million without a solid business plan?

Login to reply Jeff


Bambi Francisco Roizen
Dan: There's definitely too much noise on Twitter. I often wonder what percent of people actually click onto the links people post. But we can't deny the fact that it's actually been a new shelf space for us.

Login to reply Bambi


Matt Bowman
Matt Bowman, 149 days ago
Twitter Lists is a solution to a problem already solved by TweetDeck--but it IS a bit ridiculous that you have to download a third-party app to make Twitter useful. However, I don't think lists will be as useful as search--I've found searching for keywords MUCH more useful than the feeds from people I subscribe to. By keeping open a search column for certain keywords I often come across people asking questions for which I am the best answerer.

Login to reply Matt


Ronny Kerr
Ronny Kerr, 149 days ago
I pretty much agree with Dan. When I search for keywords (as Matt suggests), I sometimes find what I'm looking for, but for the most part I'm forced to go somewhere else--Google, blogs, forums--to discover the actual content I'm seeking. "In its current form cannot survive" is the key phrase. If Twitter somehow found a way to pull the interesting content from the noise, it might have something going for itself. Then again, I think Facebook already does that.

Login to reply Ronny


Jeff Weiss
Jeff Weiss, 148 days ago
If twitter was to enable a basic search feature for who, what, were, when, would that make using twitter more practical? For example: Who: search for a person And or What: search for a topic Where: narrow search to, the world, your country, your state, your city, your town When: set dates to search between Would this help twitter (or any social site for that matter) in finding relevance in the noise?

Login to reply Jeff


For your professional business video needs!

At Vator.tv we know what it takes to produce quality video that promotes the innovators and business leaders within our community.

That's why we created VatorProductions. If you need a professionally produced video to promote your business... check out VatorProductions.

Latest company updates on Vator.tv

PowerBeam joined the competition "Vator Splash Competition (May)", vote for them! about 6 hours ago
ZAZUM™ - Susan K Rits (Founder/CEO)
BTW, Ning ROCKS!
See more about 8 hours ago, 1 comments
A new video was uploaded to ZAZUM™ about 8 hours ago
ZAZUM™'s data was edited about 11 hours ago
ZAZUM™ updated its company description.
© 2010 Vator, Inc.