Thoughts on Social Media
delivered to Thoughtworks
Friday, 28 August 2009

Today’s discussion
Who is Josh
2 topics of interest at the moment
Why is Twitter popular?
Up and coming technologies and networks
Some discussion and Q&A
Friday, 28 August 2009

Who am I?
Josh Guest
Marketer, business development, entrepreneur
Passionate about emerging technology
Keen interest in understanding social media
Friday, 28 August 2009

Part One
How did Twitter, become so popular?
Friday, 28 August 2009

My experience, A new
concept
2004, idea to publish a magazine
For high school students, preparing for formals
The challenge: how to generate hype, buzz, talk,
interest
In a product that won’t exist for another 12 months
Friday, 28 August 2009

Solution v1
Develop a website, make it look young, fun, hip, cool
Add personal accounts, profiles, discussion
boards, photo sharing
Include competitions and free stuff
Tell students about it and set a target of 15k visitors
over 3 months
Friday, 28 August 2009

6750
4500
2250
March
April 0
May
Data sourced informal.com.au - 2004-05 Expectation Real life
Friday, 28 August 2009

And then something
happened
marginal traffic and no use of the website features
4 students - 2 schools used the discussion forum to
post their formal ideas.
Visits originated from one school, then a ripple effect to
5 then 48
Friday, 28 August 2009

20000
What happened at this point?
Why did it grow when nothing changed?
15000
10000
5000
Nov Dec
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
0 Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Real life
Friday, 28 August 2009

And on a much larger scale,
Twitter
Since 2006, stable growth
Q4 2008 - it all changed!
President Obama, John Cleese, Will Farrell, K.Rudd
Everyone either using, finding relevance, enhancing
How does tool bubble along for 2 years, then explode?!
Friday, 28 August 2009

20000
What happened here?
15000
10000
5000
Nov
20 0 May Jul Sep
Mar
15.5
11
6.5
2/09 3/09 4/09
2 11/08 12/08 1/09
09/08 10/08
08/08
Visits
http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/chris-dannen/techwatch/magnificent-silly-short-lived-twitter-explosion-2009
Friday, 28 August 2009

A tipping point?
momentum for change becomes unstoppable
Friday, 28 August 2009

What is a tipping point...
A theory in sociology where a moment of critical mass
causes unexplainable growth
There are many theories around what triggers them
Friday, 28 August 2009

Gladwell’s tipping point
Fastcompany.com-M.Gladwell
Friday, 28 August 2009

Tipping Facebook
3.4
Anyone can join Years to
Expands to include high tip
school networkDeveloper platform
http://www.chubbybrain.com/blog/2009/03/41-years-for-facebook-to-reach-a-tipping-point-what-about-wikipedia-yelp-youtube-online-2-sided-networks-and-getting-exponential-growth/
Friday, 28 August 2009

Tipping Youtube 3rd party
development
Revenue share
Google active
with
purchase
members
http://www.chubbybrain.com/blog/2009/03/41-years-for-facebook-to-reach-a-tipping-point-what-about-wikipedia-yelp-youtube-online-2-sided-networks-and-getting-exponential-growth/
Friday, 28 August 2009

Identi.ca is left behind
Why did Twitter tip, and Identi.ca not? - they are the same!
Friday, 28 August 2009

Part Two - Jolicloud
Technologies I’m hoping will tip!
Friday, 28 August 2009

Jolicloud - July 2009
An internet operating system for Netbooks
Mission to accelerate ultra-low-cost, cloud based
computing to the world
Friday, 28 August 2009

Part Two - Google Wave or Shareflow
Is there a tipping point scenario?
Friday, 28 August 2009

Communication revolution?
F low Wa
ve
Friday, 28 August 2009

Questions and Discussion
Friday, 28 August 2009