Twitter corporation

Background of Twitter


Twitter is a well-known corporation that provides its customers with social networking and online news services. Twitter allows users to communicate with one another using 140-character messages. The company was founded in 2006 by a group of friends that included Jack Dorsey, who is now the company's CEO. A year later, it was formally launched, with its headquarters in San Francisco, California. Since then, the corporation has amassed a sizable market share, as indicated by nearly 320 million users as of December 2016. In the same fiscal year, the company was able to acquire revenue margins of approximately 2.5 billion dollars. With an employee base of approximately 3860 employees and more than 35 offices globally, the company has been able to hold a place within this competitive industry. Approximately 82% of the company’s active users access Twitter from their mobile phones. Supporting more than 40 languages, they are able to serve people of different racial backgrounds (Twitter, 2017).


Main Competitors


The company’s main competitors include Google, Facebook and LinkedIn (Hoovers, 2017). These three companies are able to dominate the market through the provision of similar social networking and digital services. Consumers are able to communicate easily across geographical borders as a result of diverse platforms. They can also switch from one platform to the other which increases the competitiveness of the industry in which Twitter operates. Twitter as an organization is founded on a corporate strategy that focuses on providing its clients with the ability to create and share opinions, ideas and information efficiently (Fox, 2014). Their main objective is to ensure that they maximize on providing long-term value to their shareholders while adhering to laws and regulations set in their industry and highest standards of ethics.


Identification of Issue


The company has been experiencing dwindling figures on its revenue margins, share price and market share in comparison to other players within the industry. The company recently experienced an 8% reduction in its employees with a bid to reduce significant expenses as a result of declining revenue margins. For nine consecutive quarters, the company has been experiencing declining growth. For their fourth quarter for the fiscal year ending 2016, the company reported revenue margins of 717 million, just a 1% increase from revenue margins for the same period in the year 2015. Additionally, the company’s share price has also fallen by 45% in the past twelve months (Jain, 2016). The company is also struggling to attract new users who are switching to other platforms, mainly Instagram and WhatsApp Messenger as key communication mediums. Their market share is said to be experiencing stunted growth as a result of the company’s inability to provide unique features to Twitter which will retain their consumer segments. Basically, Twitter has lost in touch in relation to providing value to its consumers. Competitors like Facebook have also spent significantly on advertising expenses which has enabled them to acquire significant market share in comparison to Twitter.


Twitter Users' Complaints


Twitter users are currently complaining about abuse on the social media platform. Users have been complaining about harassment, bullying, racial criticism amongst other violations experienced from harsh words that people engage in through the platform. Twitter is currently described as the online mosh pit where people gather in groups based on their beliefs and then criticize statements made by other people. It has also become difficult to identify information that has been provided by reliable sources making the platform less attractive. Consumers have also complained about the product updates that have made it difficult to follow conversations and other narratives.


Analysis and Recommendations


Their declining financial performance is not the main issue that should be addressed immediately as their current cash reserves are able to sustain the company for the next four hundred years even with the current loss margins (Topolsky, 2016). The main issues that the company needs to address are responding to their consumer needs and how to deal with their competitors. Twitter users have been seen complaining about cases of harassment, the use of hate speech and even threats made to them based on some of the views that they share on Twitter. The social media platform as mentioned above has been described as an online mosh pit where people gather to carry out mob violence. The company has not done anything to deal with such people who make it hard for people to co-exist in Twitter.


The company should ensure that they stay updated in relation to the changing tastes and preferences of their consumers. This means that they should work on ensuring they provide value to their consumers in relation to privacy and security in personal communication. Facebook, for example, has been working for the past five years to provide Facebook users with a more secure and high-quality experience while sharing conversations. The company deals with any hooligans who may be trying to cause havoc or intimidate others by blocking them when found. Facebook users, on the other hand, are able to report any suspicious or damaging activities from which end up being acted upon with utmost seriousness. Twitter should adopt such a model where they create a sustainable and peaceful environment where users can easily share information. They should also ensure that only credible sources are the ones that share vital information to ensure that users trust their information and share it with others, which can actually increase the company’s regular users.


The company’s management should also remember that they operate in an industry where the consumers easily adopt what is being hyped and as soon as something better comes up, they adopt it. In light of this, they should focus on making serious product advancements that will ensure they are able to retain their consumers. One of the key success factors for Twitter is that it offers a unique platform where users can share concise bursts of information in 140 characters that keep people engaged. They should therefore try to maintain their loyal consumers by adapting features that readily attract consumers including the provision of real-time feed, which has been adopted by its competitors: Google, Facebook, and Snap Chat. This feature has had a positive reception especially by Facebook users who can now enjoy sharing live stories. With almost all its competitors offering this feature, Twitter is made to look like an outdated online platform that does not know what to do next. This can also be evidenced by the departure of Kevin Weil, the former head of product at Twitter, who joined Instagram. The company managers should focus on providing a refreshing and differentiated experience both to their consumers and to their staff members. Their top staff members are also responding to the fear that the company will decline if nothing changes by moving to get jobs in Twitter’s competitors (Topolsky, 2016).


Relationship to the Course


Some of the course concepts that have come to light from this report include innovation and initiative. The company should maintain innovative ways on how to maintain their consumers. Such a business should ensure that they provide their consumers with what they need so that they are able to maintain market share. Initiative, which is one of the principles of management that were described by Henry Fayol, should be fostered where the top managers are able to inspire employees to share new ideas with the company. This seems to be lacking in the organization from the manner in which employees are moving to other competing firms, in search of new challenges.


Conclusion


Twitter still has loyal and dedicated users who are able to derive utility from the use of Twitter (Topolsky, 2016). The company should adopt the recommendations mentioned above with an aim of showing their clients why they should stay with them. The company’s management should also address the panic that comes from hearing that the company is experiencing dwindling financial performance and market share. They should mainly take charge of the current state of Twitter where people go unpunished for bullying, harassment, and hate speech. This would be a huge step in restoring consumer and investor confidence as it has made many Twitter users shift to other social media platforms. The CEO should finally respond to the ongoing rumors of their decline and give some hope to their clients to assure them that together with his team they will ensure Twitter remains a social networking giant.

References


Fox, J. (2014, November 13). Why Twitter's Mission Statement Matters. Retrieved April 06, 2017, from https://hbr.org/2014/11/why-twitters-mission-statement-matters


Hoovers. (n.d.). TWITTER, INC. Company Information. Retrieved April 06, 2017, from http://www.hoovers.com/company-information/cs/company-profile.twitter_inc.4dfdad7abb42d7eb.html


Jain, R. (2016, October 27). Twitter Failing? 5 Signs The Company Is In Trouble. Retrieved April 06, 2017, from http://www.ibtimes.com/twitter-failing-5-signs-company-trouble-2437970


Topolsky, J. (2016, January 31). The End of Twitter. Retrieved April 06, 2017, from http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/the-end-of-twitter


Twitter. (n.d.). Twitter Company | About. Retrieved April 06, 2017, from https://about.twitter.com/company

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