It is no secret I am Twitter obsessed. So rather than a full newsletter this week, I am sharing all the things I am watching and why I think what they are working on is the future of the internet. 

For the last ten years, Twitter has mostly sat on the sidelines. Historically slow to roll out new features and an absolute refusal to change the core product has left them way behind in the arms race of social media. But in 2021, all of that is out the window.

The reason why I am paying so much attention to Twitter is I believe that they have hit on the three things that matter most:

Back in the bad times, we lived in a macro community. However, pop culture is not and never will be the same. There is no longer a single shared experience; we all consume experiences from the various communities we exist. This allows us to be super-geeks and surround ourselves with the things we love.

The trouble is there is no good way to participate in a community. I follow Twitter accounts, joined a Discord channel, hit the bell on YouTube, watch Twitch live streams, download podcasts, and even subscribe to Patreon content, all just for a single community I enjoy. It’s a mess for both the consumer and the creator. 

Twitter’s new services - such as integrating Periscope fully into the main app, acquiring Revue newsletter service, and the Clubhouse-clone Spaces - make it easier to be a part of a community. When all of these tools are fully integrated, there will be no reason to leave them to a different service.

As someone who creates a fair amount of content, from this newsletter (on Revue, BTW) to a podcast about action movies, creating a place for my community along with the tools to build great content is hard. 

If looking at the list above on following a community is overwhelming, imagine it from the creator’s perspective. Having a dizzying array of logins, apps installed, and numerous places to interact contributes to burnout. 

What Twitter is building is as close to a turnkey solution as possible. This allows the creator to focus on what matters most, the content. 

This is how creators and communities come together by allowing the creator to earn an income from their content. Getting paid for content is often the critical piece that is missing from other platforms, most notably Instagram. Influencer deals can be made, but those need to be negotiated by the creator. 

Twitter is in a unique position. They have already announced that you will be able to monetize super fans and a traditional tip jar. I think we will hear a lot more about how creators will be able to monetize their content since the Twitter CEO is also the head of a little finance company called Square. 

With privacy changes to iOS, the subsequent Facebook freakout, Google FLoC, and other advertising changes coming, traditional digital marketing is under a transformational change. Simply being able to stalk users across the web with retargeting ads won’t stir new business. 

The future of marketing is influencers, aka creators, and reaching their avid audience. The new Twitter features help creators build bigger and better communities, which translates to better advertising opportunities for marketers. 

With an existing programmatic advertising system, integrating a way to find and pay influencers is a gigantic boon for anyone looking to sell a product or service to a particular group.  

Regardless if you have plans to learn Twitter, as a marketer you have to learn how to work with influencers. The path Twitter is taking is what every marketer needs to follow. How to reach communities through creators is a skill that will be in high demand. So take this opportunity to learn. Pay attention, soon every product launch and marketing strategy will include influencers.

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