One of the secrets to Apple’s success is that they know how to tell a story better than almost anyone. In a sea of overly complicated mp3 players, the iPod was simply “a 1,000 songs in your pocket”. Despite RIM being a relatively well established business smartphone, the original iPhone would define the mass market smartphone as the seamless integration of iPod + Phone + Internet. Not only did the new definition make Apple’s product the only choice (no one else can include an iPod as part of their phone), it was also dirt simple to understand. Yet another example, convincing consumers that it’s better to pay 99 cents per song on iTunes than stealing music through file sharing services. The list goes on and on…
By explaining their products in simple ways that anyone can understand, Apple creates stories that are easy to spread through three primary channels with high fidelity.
- Advertising. Apple pays to imprint their message in our brains through ads that, like any well-train politician, hit a singular message over and over and over until that message becomes synonymous with the product being advertised.
- Press Coverage. By carefully nurturing media relationships and staying on message in every press interaction, media outlets everywhere write articles and broadcast coverage that faithfully (more often than not) deliver the product’s key message for free.
- Word of Mouth. Then the most amazing thing happens. Consumers everywhere start raving about the product to their friends and family. In real world conversations (yes, those still happen) and online. And guess what? They can’t help but stick to Apple’s script. After all, it works. It tends to be the most efficient and compelling way to help the uninitiated to “get it”.
The result? As long as the product lives up to expectations, it becomes a success. Users are happy. Sales are good. None of this happens by chance, but by expending a ton of energy creating a compelling, easy to use product. And by expending another ton of energy creating an equally compelling, easy to understand message. The message is not an afterthought, but rather an integral part of the product development process. An artful science. One part yin. One part yang.
Why do I bring all this up? Because I’m intrigued by the current bizarre state of the social media phenomenon, Twitter in particular. A couple hundred million folks across the globe use Twitter (active users are far less of course). Yet most of my friends don’t know why they would or how they should use it. They don’t understand the story. And I live in Silicon Valley with friends who tend to be decidedly geekier than the average American.
Twitter gives me realtime, local glimpses of mideast rebellion or the latest on the Japan crisis, which is cool. It also keeps Charlie Sheen in my online face and floods me with banal dreck from certain over-tweeters that starts to feel like spam, which is decidedly not cool. I do love the promise of what (I hope) Twitter can offer me in the future. The bottom line, though, is that Twitter the Phenomenon is way ahead of both Twitter the Product and Twitter the Story. The opportunity is to figure out a compelling story and build an insanely great product to match. And it all starts with vision.
@Jack, we’re counting on you.
A todo list of sorts…
- Don’t stop refining the Twitter story until you can explain “future Twitter” to today’s non-users. Today’s user and usage model will likely be insufficient to take Twitter across any chasm worth crossing. Make sure you can illustrate how the Twittersphere embodies the pulse of what’s happening in the world “right now” and how anyone can put their own finger on that pulse whenever they want to find out what’s going on. Use real examples that capture our emotions. The stories are out there. Tap into them to get us jazzed. Then refine the user experience to allow today’s non-users to experience the magic firsthand the next time a major event happens. Don’t make tweeting a pre-requisite to our falling in love with Twitter
- Clarify the difference between Facebook and Twitter. DO NOT shy away from this one. The two services can and should be fundamentally different. However, the common perception is that they are direct competitors and that Twitter is behind. Clearly define Twitter for us and demonstrate that it solves a different consumer need. Facebook extends real world relationships online. My Facebook friends tend to be folks with whom I would break bread or grab a beer. Personally, I think it’s weird to “friend” a product, service or brand. Twitter, on the other hand, is about staying abreast with what’s going on in the world “right now”. Connections on Twitter are based on a completely different kind of relationship, more of an extension of a brand relationship than a deeply personal one. I follow celebrities, media outlets, people I admire. Some of them may also be friends, but the majority are people or brands I care about but wouldn’t call friends in a traditional sense. And hopefully, I can tap into the Twittersphere in a more visceral way, without having to declare my relationship status with each information source.
- Don’t be too wed to today’s concepts. As an example, the notion of “following” has it’s place as it’s good for making persistent connections with individuals and brands with which you want stay connected. However, it’s wildly insufficient as the mechanism for staying abreast of what’s going on in the world. If I’m on vacation and want to know if my train is on time, those I follow cannot possibly tell me this. Solve this important problem a different way. Whatever works best. Focus on my information discovery need and don’t force fit the mechanism that’s already built if it’s not the right answer.
- You’ve got three stories to tell, be able to tell them all: 1) how Twitter can enrich consumers lives; 2) how brands can use Twitter to extend their relationships with their customers and prospects; and 3) how developers can prosper on top of the Twitter platform. Don’t make any of these audiences figure it out on their own. Spell it out for them. Make sure they understand.
The opportunity ahead for Twitter can be amazing, as long as they get their story straight.