Twitter Case Solution

1. What business is Twitter in? (Support your assertions)

Twitter is actually a social networking and micro-blogging web resource. The social networking source offered by the Twitter is employed by more than 20 million people all around the world. In this way, Twitter is providing a service through people can contact each other online or can advertise online to publicize their business on a global platform through both unpaid and paid methods. The attraction for customers is made from attractive content, enchanting format and trending topics visible upon micro-blogging site, as well as, upon the twitter’s social networking sites. Moreover, verified accounts of various celebrities especially sports and showbiz celebrities are present upon the website which is also one of the significant attraction for the users and hence the business of twitter grows. In addition to trabhis, other forms of business in twitter are from various sources such as offering licenses to other companies in order to use the twitter data and advertisement of products etc. In short, business channels of twitter include website, desktop applications, mobile applications, SMS services and Twitter API (Klontz, 21013).

2. How would you describe Twitter’s business model? (Provide an analysis of their business model and how they expect to make money) 

The business model of twitter consist of nine factors i.e. key partners, key activities, value propositions, key resources, relationships, channels, customer segments, cost structure and revenue streams. It key partners consists of search vendors, device vendors, media companies and mobile operators etc whereas the key activities include platform development. Key resources of twitter include twitter.com platform; whereas, value propositions of twitter include stay connected, news/events, targeted marketing and twitter applications. There are also business channels of twitter which include website, desktop applications, mobile applications, SMS services and Twitter API. The customer segments include users, enterprises and developers. The cost structure of Twitter includes employees and its servers. The revenue streams of twitter include licensed data streams, promoted accounts, promoted tweets, promoted trends and analytics etc (Alexa Internet, Inc, 2013).

3. How would you assess Twitter’s management team? (Provide an analysis of the background and skills of key management individuals) 

There is an official team of twitter which manages the issues regarding its social networking users and also offers them instant solutions. This management works in different ways. For instance, there is a live chat procedure with the management team of the twitter which assists the social networking users to solve their issues, which usually involve their privacy settings, problems in tweets, blocking issues and other such issues etc. Similarly, there is a forum just like FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions) in which a wide range of problems that the users of twitter usually face and their solutions are written for the instant guidance of the users. However, in terms of business facilities such as sales, mobile usage, efficiency, email, analytics, UI or UX, click to call, SEO (Search Optimization), SMS and other business opportunities in twitter is also handled by the management team of twitter. A sample forum for “The Problems” and “The Solutions” are given. Support can also be taken from availing SMS service of Twitter. Twitter management and integrated twitter management are meant to solve the issues of bold chat basic, bold chat pro, bold chat premier and bold chat enterprise. It is he basic skills section of the management team of twitter. In addition to this, the management team of twitter also offers packages such as “schedule a demo, ask questions and start free trail for ten days (Frier & Spears, 2013).

4. What would you list as Twitter’s major strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (provide evidence to support you findings) 

One of important strengths of twitters real time search, which is a function employed by the internet users multiple times in a day; therefore, twitter is handling more than 24 billion searches per month. Its registered users are around 500 million from all around the world, and 75 percent users are active upon twitter. Many company accounts are presented in the twitter official sites. For instance, Mc Donald has 10 company aid accounts upon twitter for advertisement purposes. The revenue of Twitter was recorded to be 253 million dollars at the end of July 30, 2013. It also has reliable services. It also helped the Arab spring in countries such as Iran, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt etc (Koh & Needleman, 2013).

Weaknesses of twitter include spams as it is considered the number one problem of twitter. Various researches have also revealed that twitter has proved to be wasting a lot of time of the people. 

• Pointless babble – 40%

• Conversational – 38%

• Pass-along value – 9%

• Self-promotion – 6%

• Spam – 4%

• News – 4% (Frier & Spears, 2013)