Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) CEO Dick Costolo talked to CNBC today and discussed what the company is currently looking at to drive growth and CNBC Contributor Herb Greenberg had a few questions and suggestions after the interview.
Greenberg started his comment by asking why Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) is not going after the passive user who he says may stay a passive user but will treat their feeds as their new newspaper. He said that the company can make it easier for these users to see the news as one way to attract them and grow. Furthermore, the CNBC contributor said that it is unrealistic for the social network to anticipate that everyone on their service will be engaged users.
One of his co-anchors then countered by saying Costolo did talk about a logged out experience on Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR). In the interview, Costolo said that they already have a semblance of a logged out experience in which people can come to Twitter and view people’s profiles and hop around profiles without logging in. He said:
“That’s actually a use case that’s in effect for a great deal of users. As you think about the expanded audience of twitter beyond the logged in experience, there’s absolutely an opportunity for us to more broadly grow that logged out experience and the syndication audience, that great audience across the web and mobile landscape that view tweets. I mentioned in our earnings call last quarter, just in the 48 hours after the Oscars, over 3.3 billion views of tweets about the Oscars, not even on twitter. As you think about that more broad audience, and the kinds of services that we can deliver to them, that’s a big opportunity.”
Watch the video below:
However, Greenberg suggested that this is not enough. He said that the social network should really go after people who will not necessarily be engaged with Tweets. In fact, he said that the company should market to technophobes because that would also increase their user base.
Meanwhile, Greenberg also said that it is unfair to compare Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) to Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB). He said:
“One other thing I noticed though is when the issue of ARPU (average revenue per user) comes up, especially as it relates to Facebook. I know they’re both social media companies, but to hold this company to the Facebook standard, I think is actually not necessarily correct. They’re two different types of social media attracting different kinds of people to some extent. It’s like LinkedIn is a very different type of social media, so I don’t know that you can ask them to be the same. What’s really unfortunate here…this is a public company it’s under the microscope of every single move, of everything it does.”
Later on, Greenberg hinted that Costolo should not pay close attention to the stock price of his company and that he should focus on building his business. Watch the video below:
In the earlier interview with CNBC, Costolo did say that his goal with Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) is to build a strong and lasting business. He mentioned not being particularly occupied by the fluctuations of the market. He said:
“I can’t focus on or spend my time paying specific attention on the short-term fluctuations in the stock market. I try to focus on a long-term view of building a really durable business, a lasting business. That includes making sure we’re investing into growth as balanced against operating efficiency and operating leverage in service to increasing margins over time. I think if we do that, in the long-term, the value of the company will be reflected and the financial results will be delivered.”
When asked about a new eMarketer study that indicated the company’s growth could tap out by 2018 with about 400 million users, Costolo said he does not spend a lot of time commenting on or thinking about third party reports. What is important to him and his team, he said, is that they see the data and the growth from their own service. He recalled mentioning in their Q1 earnings call that the social network has reaccelerated growth in their biggest market which is the U.S. and has seen growth across the rest of the globe
Watch the video below where the Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) CEO discusses their recent deal with Omnicom and how studies prove, he said, that using their service is very beneficial to partners like television organizations and content producers.
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