The Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse - Example

The Entrepreneurs at Twitter: Building a Brand, a Social Tool or a Tech Powerhouse Name: Student Number: Course Code: Word Count: Date of Submission: Executive summary The purpose of this paper is to provide a well detailed analysis report of the social website, Twitter Inc as a company. This is a social networking site as well as a micro-blogging service for interactive purposes for the users. The report intends to assess the effectiveness of the social website by reviewing the contents, the social business, political and educational approaches to which these contents apply. This considers that the users of the website have the ability to post updates of any kind. The users are therefore, exposed to unpredictable pieces on information the may or may not be useful. The analysis explores both the internal and external environmental factors that will affect the design of both management and business strategy. It is these strategy designs that determine the success and competitiveness of companies. The situational analysis makes known that the websites content has no definite limits on what a user may or may not post. Consequently each text posted by either a user or the administration relates to a different objective. This finding therefore shows that twitter.com is more than just a social site but a platform for business and even politics. The company itself is business; the term social is thus broadly used. Situational analysis This paper the SWOT Model and Porter’s Five Forces Model to analyze the environment of Twitter. Additionally, those discussed include the challenges faced by the company, its major competitors as well as Twitter’s working competitive advantages, considering the company’s current strategic main concerns. In as much as the weakness of the company can be defined by the user preference and administrative strategy, the strength of the company may also be determined by its real-timing, how informative it is and the ease of access to the company’s services by either visiting the website, text messaging, mobile or web applications. It is also available in at least 30 languages currently. Competitor analysis The report establishes that the market for social site networks has a number of websites meant for social purposes; the competition is as serious as imaginable. The five forces that can be illustrated by the Porter’s Five Forces Model may include; user preference, regional acceptance, competition, user privacy and administrative strategy. Each of this was renamed accordingly for suitability and compatibility in this Twitter case. Success keys The factors that drive this company to success probably stand out as expected. Twitter has been written in other thirty languages and that is strength. The strategies adopted make the company’s goals and objectives achievable. Table of contents 3.1 Macro environment trends that impact on the industry in the near future 10 1.0 Introduction In as much as the report analyses the important elements of Twitter, the most important part of the analysis is findings obtained by the SWOT and Porter’s Five Forces models of analysis. Situational analysis 1.1 SWOT analysis (Twitter) An analysis of external environment which has direct effect on its operation determines strengths and opportunities against any weaknesses and threats of a company. (Hughes, Rowe, Batey, Lee, 2011). Strength The availability of Twitter in a number of languages has enabled it to literally redefine the way individual users communicate and express themselves to the rest of the world. With this, the company has surpassed both cultural and geographical boundaries. Twitter enables its users to access its services in ways including the short messaging system with which users post while responding to particular questions uniquely. The other unique feature is that users are not only friends but a person follows another of their choice. There are no restrictions on whom to or not to follow. This enhances communication and access to more information. It is established by considering that they follow their counterparts depending on how they like the content of their posts and not necessarily because they know them (University of Auckland, 2011). Weaknesses These constitute the internal factors that, paralyze the growth Twitter Inc. These even hinder the successful implementation of an intended strategy. Every company like Twitter has weaknesses. The twitter administration has no restrictive limitations that define what content is allowed in the website, however social the site may be, as a collective effect, the site generally can build an environment that reflects the emotional structure of a moment (Dube, 2008). Considering that the information gotten on twitter has no verification formula, it is possible for the users to be misinformed. An individual would therefore, need to rely on past personal experience to evaluate the validity of the information that they obtain from the site. This is a weakness since with it the company does not have the complete trust of their customer. Opportunities Opportunities are the factors of growth that are available to the company for exploration. If effectively exhausted then they would probably enhance development. Development, here, refers to the growth of the company in terms of the number of users increasing and spending more time on the site. The opportunities include development of social sections for students to discuss positive social issues only. Many learning institutions may adopt such to improve the social environment of their students (Bob 2010). Another opportunity that can be explored is a political section with definite restrictions on the content of what a user can post. Through this, different countries can adopt it for its people to discuss. Threats Arising factor that if not addressed in the right manner, might fail a company are called threats. The possible threats to Twitter may include the rate of growth of other social site companies like MySpace. The number of these sites offering the same services is a threat. With these other companies, an intense competition is guaranteed and that is a threat. The services offered and strategy administration determines the consumers’ confidence and trust. If this trust or confidence destabilized then it threatens the future of the site (Vosters 2005). The occurrence that any user can post any comment on the site is a threat too considering that the information availed on this site could be misinformed. 2.2 Industry and competition and analysis 2.2.1 Porter’s Five Forces and attractiveness to the company This is a model used to analyse the five major forces that have direct effect on the strategy of the business. These forces are majorly as a result of the external environment. For analysis purposes, the paper considered user preference, regional acceptance, competition, user privacy and administrative strategy as representations of the Porter’s five forces. User preference It represents buyer’s bargaining powers as by Porter. The preference of the user can be influenced by the effectiveness of the administration and management strategy that is implemented. A strategy can intended or implemented as a result of emergent issues. An individual has access to a number of other social websites, this means that they can compare the sites and determine the trends in each case (Porter 2008). Regional acceptance This factor is a representation of Porter’s point of Barrier to entry. Every country of governmental region has its own laws or regulations that address matters relating to social websites. These laws determine the existence of a business company in that region generally. This is about a potential market to which access is determined by the laws governing the subject region (Bruner, Kumar 2007). Competition At the outset, Twitter’s desire to expand even more makes it a subject to competition from other social websites that offer the same services. What makes one distinct from the others is, therefore, the manner in which they avail their services. The quality of the service offered matters too. Such competitive companies include MySpace, YouTube, and My Opera among others with Facebook being the major competitor (Porter 2008). User privacy User privacy is used herein as analogous to Porter’s bargaining power of the supplier. This may be considered as a result of quality service that is driven by how competitive a market is. User privacy is essential and users of the social site generally prefer social websites that employ a policy to safeguard their privacy on the web. The policy of Twitter should therefore be attractive just as a supplier’s bargaining power should. Alternative social sites The presence of other companies offering the same web based services as Twitter only presents a competitive environment. In this the success and growth or development of Twitter depends on its strategy (Lafley 2009). 2.2.2 Key industry success factors The success strategies and factors that steer this company to appreciable growth probably stand out as expected. The strategies adopted make the company’s goals and objectives achievable. For Twitter, it has implemented an intended strategy of improving customer service by providing what they cannot find anywhere else; consider the example of following and not just accepting friend request (Twitter.com). 2.2.3 Competitor analysis There are numerous competitors in the industry and they all employ different strategies to outdo one another. For comparison purposes, facebook allows creation of group pages accessible only to added users with a common interest. Twitter on the other hand allows the user to view an update together with all the corresponding comments. The management of Twitter puts into consideration the external factors that have positive bearing on the company when implementing their strategies. That is building and amending what has happened previously from factors that arise in everyday routines. 2.2.4 Life cycle analysis Twitter has operational for at least six years since 2006. It has become one of the most visited websites in the social realm relating to the period of time a user spends online. Twitter Inc has over 500 million active users with its headquarters at San Francisco, in the United States. Other versions of site have developed in other languages with an aim of satisfying users. The strategies that Twitter Inc is implementing imply that the industry is very competitive but then it is also headed for maturity (Shira & Emily 2012). 3.0 Business model and Competitive advantage The business model is about what represents the core aspects of the business, it purpose, strategies, organizational structures and operational processes, practices and policies. Twitter’s business model is based on advertisement and this is goes along with intended strategies. This is evident by the consistent advertisements on the twitter home page; it is a source of revenue for the company. Advertisers explore this opportunity and evidently they would want to keep on using Twitter’s promoted products which are experiencing more engagements. This kind of business model increases engagement and appreciates technological advancements which improves interaction between businesses and their customers. The revenue is essentially for expanding the business and the other company costs. The strategy that Twitter uses is the connection of user based on the content of their updates and not on the relationships between them. This allows a user access to what they identify with only. Twitter Inc is an extraordinarily successful growth firm. A contributor to this is the coherence in the business model employed by the company. The mutual relationship between people and their environment changes gradually and consequentially, influencing their social structure. These changes result from the daily occurrences and experiences. As a business strategy, Twitter Inc appreciates how empirical the industry is and so adopts an emergent strategy (Yazgan 2010). This strategy involves addressing the daily faults as they arise. This is helps deal with any online problems and application technical hitches and so is an advantage from a competitive perspective. Such a strategy makes it a choice for the customer. The ability of Twitter Inc administration to handle adversely large tweets in a given time is a competitive advantage, which is unique. Besides, the growth of the company is so rapid that by 2011, it replaced the Old Twitter with a new homepage. The Twitter leadership is to support the strategic model adopted. Leadership should not fix to one style perfected but several styles are necessary and adaptation of all is important. Some of the styles include: Directive: this is authoritative and the leader commands their subjects Participative: the leadership appreciates the participation of others in every process. Laissez-faire: in this the leadership allows for both initiative and the latitude to determine process to affect an outcome. Adaptive: the leaser adapts to the environment and those being led. 3.1 Macro environment trends that impact on the industry in the near future The major and almost obvious environmental trends or factors that would have direct impact on any business may consist of economical, social orientations, globalization, and legalities. These have effects on Twitter’s operations too. Economical In the economical sense, the stability of the social site depends on the economical state of the region or country in which Twitter.Inc has users. Considering that socializing on the web is a luxury and not really necessary, the economical state determines a want of the same. The American economy, where Twitter Inc is based, is generally stable. Social orientation The socio cultural orientation of the United States of America is one that generally embraces computer influences. Operation of Twitter in this region, where its headquarters are is therefore considerably simpler. However, this is a product that experiences worldwide usage by persons of varying cultural ideas. This presents a complex scenario for the industry (Yazgan 2010). Globalization Twitter provides more simplified ways of using the service, including posting of tweets by short messages and even reading of tweets in the same manner. It therefore embraces technological advancements and any of this is expected to have a positive bearing on the company. However, it will also have financial impacts too. Nonetheless, this is all about globalization, which has impacted even leadership of companies. Legalities The legalities warrant fairness and transparency of acceptable standards. A government’s legal dimensions determine how many investors expand there businesses into such regions. Most governments base their actions against social site on the consequences of the contents of the applications. The idea is that a person’s reaction depends on their desire to know what the person around them is thinking, doing or feeling (Evans & Johnson 2010). 4.0 Recommendation and action plan The Twitter Inc Company needs to improve a positive public perception in terms of how well its services are availed, as well as ensure its positioning in terms of customer appreciation. The company needs to develop a better privacy policy that can be trusted by the users of their products Globalisation is evident and inevitable; the leadership of Twitter Inc needs to develop marketing strategies too apart from management strategies only. The leadership need to shift focus from authority and power practice to the users of what one is the leader of. It should adopt a leadership strategy that enhances leadership by influence rather than authority. The fact that Twitter is a universally consumed product begs the need of researching more on the environment in which the consumers are and establish essential issues as the cultural differences. This will help the company to avail customised versions of the product to the different regions in which the users are. Action plan Time frame Objective Action intent Resources Benefits 8-16months To increase the number of Twitter users regionally Review of the privacy policy and implementation of a better one A friendly social site with protection of a user’s policy Increased number of users 2-3years Improved public perception Initiate and energised marketing plan Research on the environmental aspects of their customers A site with respect for one’s environment. Better competitive advantage than other competitors Enhance acceptance and reduced regional barrier. 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