Recently Twitter saw another shake-up as its current CEO Dick Costolo stepped down from his position after 5 years. This will officially be effective on July 1st. Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey will serve on an interim basis until the Board of Directors can find a replacement. This may or may not just be a bump in the virtual road as the social media enterprise attempts to reconfigure and re-energize itself through innovations and other changes. However, the future of Twitter seems to be unknown. So what can be done?
I decided to ask a social media expert on his thoughts on the matter. Scott Levy knows Twitter. The CEO and Founder of Fuel Online, he has been prominent in this field for over 15 years. He is also the author of Tweet Naked: A Bare-All Social Media Strategy for Boosting Your Brand and Your Business. Levy and I connected on Twitter back in 2013 and both noticed an interesting shift on Twitter. Levy took some of his concerns and wrote a recent article for Entrepreneur.com titled "Dear Twitter, Change or Die." While a blunt title, it was written out of love for Twitter.
"I'm passionate about Social Media, and everyone knows I love Twitter." Levy states. "I've watched engagement slowly decline over the last year or so, and have sat back and watched Twitter do nothing about it." He exclaims.
Levy explains that he is a firm believer in innovation and for a company to continue to evolve, "it really bothers me that with all the brilliant minds there, and their cash, they didn't scramble until the decline was really evident." He states. So what can be done?
Levy highlights several things in his Entrepreneur article and also shared more insights and ideas with me that he feels Twitter can do to better the overall experience. We both noticed and agreed that the interaction and engagement (a core concept to Twitter's success) was declining. While, yes there are some people that a single tweet generates thousands of retweets and responses (their followers tend to be in the younger demographic), overall it appears to be fading. "Twitter needs to adapt, maybe even a slight pivot. It's an incredible tool, and amazing source for breaking news and information. It's amazing for reaching out to people you may never have the ability to otherwise; it's a great way to be heard. But we as people have a bad habit of consuming content and things in life without giving back." He states.
Levy believes a possible solution would be to implement a sort of system that rewards people for engagement with a reputation score, an algorithm that displays more of their tweets or something similar. "Unless there is motivation to engage, to share, reply, etc. we won't do it."
Levy also believes it would be epic if Twitter asked everyone what the user would like to see Twitter become or do to be the best social platform out there. "Crowd sourcing is a very powerful tool, and what better place than on your own platform." He says. "I'd LOVE to see those answers!"
Levy explains that he feels that society today is all about speed & convenience. That we adapt as a society with technology. "Take text messaging for instance." He states. "Not only do people seem now to not want to talk on the phone, but we even get frustrated if the text message doesn't go through fast enough. This is the same for website load times, or how long it takes to purchase something online. Once we get used to something, not only do we expect it all the time, we expect it to get even better. If this doesn't happen, we look for the next new great thing."
Levy is worried that this could happen to Twitter, but reiterates that it his concerns are all out of love. "There's a ton of other ways to improve the platform, and there are people who probably have better ideas than I ever will." He states. "I still love it, just want to see Twitter adapt and evolve. They could be doing extraordinary things with the brilliant minds they have lured to work for them, and the cash they raise or profit. It's time to look WAY ahead and create the next concept in social media."
As someone who has been following Scott Levy (@FuelOnline) for a few years, I can say that he truly loves and knows Twitter and wants to see the company progress and excel. He, like many, will be watching to see what the next steps in the world of Twitter will be.
To read the Entrepreneur.com article, visit it here. To learn more about Scott Levy and Fuel Online, visit his website.