TWITTER

Twitter



Twitter

Introduction

This is the digital age and no one can deny that the future lies in the use of more and more digital media platforms. One such platform began in March 2006 by the name of Twitter. Since then, Twitter has successfully gained a fan following or 'tweeting' population all over the world. Whenever a person likes something and wants to share it with others, they 'tweet' about it on their twitter profile. Twitter has changed the way people share their thoughts, ideas, beliefs, values and whatever else that a person wants to share. This digital medium has continuously used its strategies to have a competitive advantage over its competitors like Facebook. Twitter has even changed the way businesses use marketing strategies. In September, 2011 Twitter announced that it will sell Promoted Products like Tweets, Accounts and Trends, to a number of UK-based businesses. This is Twitter's new business model, which keeps it ahead of its competitors. In the words of Twitter's General Manager, “It has been a particularly good year for Twitter in the UK. We have seen rapid growth in the UK, with a 95% increase in active users since the first of the year” (Wang, 2011, pp.01).

Discussion

Twitter follows the differentiation strategy by Porter. Differentiation is all about creating a product or service that is different from competitors and offers a broad scope for the brand or company (Kotler and Armstrong, 2008, pp. 194). Twitter has successfully differentiated itself from Facebook, which is its biggest competitor. The phrase 'tweet it' is commonly used, but there is no such phrase as 'facebook it'. That is the best and simplest example of the differentiation Twitter has used for its brand value.

Twitter began without a properly laid out business model. The social media platform faced resistance from users in the initial launch. ...