Twitter is valued at $1 billion in part because so much of an advertisement’s effectiveness depends on the moment-to-moment changes in a consumer’s situation. Knowing what everyone’s doing at every moment will be a gold mine, once Twitter gets its AdSense.
But isn’t this model is based on impulse consumer buying. Didn’t the world’s economic leaders just decide to wean us from American consumerism? Aren’t we undergoing a profound economic shift that calls on the U.S. to direct our dollars to investments of greater value, which presumably take time to think through?
Yes, but there are objective real-time factors for smart value investing, too. Small-business entrepreneurs are constantly making quick decisions to maximize a company’s revenue; natural disasters create big demand on the spur of the moment; the ideal customer is online right now doing his daily leisurely news read…
One of the most over-looked opportunities for U.S. growth lies in our massive demographic shift: baby-boomers are retiring, creating an army of the wise at home. Trafficking in wisdom is one of the biggest opportunities in the next decade, according to Steve Jurvetson. Small businesses need guidance. If we can turn our aging boomers into a class of business consultants, the U.S. economy may be able to tap into the real growth, both domestically and abroad.
A young restaurant-chain CEO in Kashmir needs an expansion strategy for this week’s board meeting. He tweets his concern and is served an ad offering to connect him to a successful retired restauranteur with a five-star rating in Minneapolis who is online and available for the next 30 minutes for a consultation.
Given the push to decrease global dependence on U.S. consumption, the long view for real-time ad serving needs to shift away from consumer impulse-buying toward small business needs. This may require a deeper shift that takes the term “consumer” out of our economic vocabulary and replaces it, systematically, with “independent entrepreneur.”
image credit: Halfway Nerdy
