Twitter to introduce changes that could have a dramatic impact on small businesses

[driansmith]

http://www.consultancymarketing.co....-on-tweets-likely-to-injure-small-businesses/
Twitter are about to introduce changes that could well have a dramatic impact on small businesses.

Changes to Twitter means the company is applying a new field to tweets that will enable tweets to be 'filtered' in future. This could allow for a ranking procedure to take place and only the top tweets OR PAID tweets will be seen in the feed.

 

[webgeek]

Doesn't everyone already use lists, hashtags and search to define their visible stream?

If you're following a decent number of people, there's no way you can stay on top of the main timeline - it's faster than a stock ticker on fast forward.

Too much noise and a desire for monetisation = the birth of some TweetRank or similar algorithm, surely.

 

[Websitehandyman]

Well it depends on how it's going to be implimented.

If for example if all your tweets have to have a category, then it splits twitter into hundreds of themes. Tweeters then have a feature in their profile to subscribe to any theme.

The clear object would be to focus tweets on a subject so their advertisers are getting better value for money as they can determine not only the topic but also know the people views the tweets are interest in that topic.

 

[driansmith]

Too much noise and a desire for monetisation = the birth of some TweetRank or similar algorithm, surely.

I agree webgeek - TweetRank is the likely outcome - with 'sponsored tweets' being at the top.
On the bright side, it would mean the removal of tons of nonsense by persons simply looking to abuse others.

 

[Websitehandyman]

I agree webgeek - TweetRank is the likely outcome - with 'sponsored tweets' being at the top.
On the bright side, it would mean the removal of tons of nonsense by persons simply looking to abuse others.

As long as the don't stop me reading this sort of stuff https://twitter.com/OdemwingieP

 

[driansmith]

As long as the don't stop me reading this sort of stuff https://twitter.com/OdemwingieP

Unsure what you mean here Websitehandyman.
You ARE or ARE NOT a fan of Mr Odemwingie????

 

[Websitehandyman]

Unsure what you mean here Websitehandyman.
You ARE or ARE NOT a fan of Mr Odemwingie????

Fan of the team but not that idiot, no respect.

Anyway he blocked me on his twitter account a while ago, perhaps he didn't like what I told him. Truth hurts !

 

[driansmith]

Fan of the team but not that idiot, no respect.
Anyway he blocked me on his twitter account a while ago, perhaps he didn't like what I told him. Truth hurts !

Aha! I now understand. He did make an idiot of himself did he not.

 

[Websitehandyman]

Aha! I now understand. He did make an idiot of himself did he not.

He did back then but started all over again last night on Twitter. He's in trouble with the club again this morning, can't see how they'll be able to play him again but his contract doesn't run out till the end of next season.

#sorry if I hijacked the thread OP

 

[fisicx]

Twitter are about to introduce changes that could well have a dramatic impact on small businesses.

How is this going to affect small businesses?

Are you seriously suggesting that they rely on twitter for business - if so then that a very narrow and dangerous strategy.

 

[driansmith]

How is this going to affect small businesses?
Are you seriously suggesting that they rely on twitter for business - if so then that a very narrow and dangerous strategy.

Twitter is one of the most powerful method of spreading your words (usually in conjunction with your blog) to a wide array of potential customers via a zillion tentacles.
No business should be reliant on any channel (look what Google has done to most small businesses) - so the potential reduction in effectiveness of Twitter should be a serious concern in our view.

 

[atladasmedia]

This is a very bad article. The author assumes that twitter will filter tweets based on the "number of followers" thus small businesses will be affected as their numbers are nowhere near big brands. Not sure how this person goes out in public and state such things.

this is from twitter's development forum:

"The new streaming-only filter_level attribute is intended for applications which display a selection of Tweets from a stream. Its values may be one of "none", "low", or "medium", with a reserved "high" classification for future use. The "medium" (and eventually "high") entries will roughly correlate to the "Top Tweets" results for searches on twitter.com. This will allow applications to more easily surface certain types of content from otherwise noisy or high-volume feeds."

From my understanding results appearing via search and advanced twitter search will be affected (not clear to me how yet) and not your personal stream. If I follow 10 or 100 people and want to see their updates I will always see their updates as I choose to follow them. But if I look on search for "social media case studies" for example and a business publishes a blog post about it and 1000 people RT it then it makes sense I see the original source instead of 1000 users spamming the same tweet over and over again.

 

[driansmith]

This is a very bad article. The author assumes that twitter will filter tweets based on the "number of followers" thus small businesses will be affected as their numbers are nowhere near big brands. Not sure how this person goes out in public and state such things.

Which article atlasmedia?

 

[atladasmedia]

Which article atlasmedia?

the one originally linked here: http://www.consultancymarketing.co....kely-to-injure-small-businesses/#.UUb1lxfwmSo is inspired by this one:

http://socialmediatoday.com/slrupert/1243696/will-mark-decline-small-business-success-twitter

hope that helps

 

[driansmith]

Hello atladasmedia.

I don't quite see why you describe the article as 'awful'.

It sets out some changes that are looming within Twitter and a number of conclusions are drawn as to what might happen as a consequence. Logical conclusions maybe given the way Google has modifies it's algorithm over recent years and how Edgerank has impacted on the exploitation of Facebook by small business owners.

One can disagree with the conclusions, but I would not describe the article as 'awful'.

As with all matters like this, only time will tell eh?

 

[atladasmedia]

Hello atladasmedia.

One can disagree with the conclusions, but I would not describe the article as 'awful'.

As with all matters like this, only time will tell eh?

definitely We can only assume at this stage. To clarify though I find the article misleading (ok maybe awful was a bit too harsh, apologies) as it gives the wrong impression. Based on what the author says one of the factors affecting the feed will be the number of followers (thus will hurt small businesses with low follower ration). This is nowhere stated on Twitter developer's api blog page, thus it is a personal assumption, which is fair enough, but doesnt give you the right to write a guest blog in one of the most popular social media blogs out there. People tend to absorb information these days without any further research. I guess I felt a bit defensive knowing it is not accurate.

apologies again

 

[driansmith]

Based on what the author says one of the factors affecting the feed will be the number of followers (thus will hurt small businesses with low follower ration). This is nowhere stated on Twitter developer's api blog page, thus it is a personal assumption, which is fair enough, but doesnt give you the right to write a guest blog in one of the most popular social media blogs out there.

Fair enough Atlasmedia. I suppose one of the big issues for small businesses is the complexity/technicality of the internet/algorithms/twitter/feeds/etc and as such they can be bewildered by it all. A lot of us will therefore attempt to 'predict' and 'interpret' what these changes might mean. I am by no means a technical expert, but I do always ask myself 'What does this mean to small businesses' when I see changes afoot in Google/Twitter/facebook/Bing/etc.