Twitter--Is it killing the global economy by $13.5b ?
Pat Phelan has picked up on the ongoing speculation of what Twitter is worth, how it should make its first dime and how it should monetize with an interesting twist. He did some number crunching on what the cost in productivity is to all of us hundreds of thousands of tweeters spending an average, he estimates, an hour a day each on Twitter.
He says it will cost the global economy $13.5 billion dollars.
I know he's having some fun. Pat's the guy who got me Twittering to begin with and the experience has been--forgive me KD and Kami, immeasurable for the information, recommendations and networking it has provided.
All those employers of all those Tweeters may ot be getting a clear ROI, but a great many are.
But on the other and,I remain concerned that Seesmic and Tweeter, two of my favorite companies have nt yet figured out how to monetize. I don't like very many f the ideas that have been shoveled up this week and I Silicon Valley graveyards are filled with companies that marvelled at all the ways they could make money and never figured out the one way they should make it.
Meanwhile Pat, my question to you is this. If we Tweeters are costing all that money, is there someone who will pay us--or just me--not to Twitter? Please answer in USDs and don't confused me with that overpriced Euro stuff.
I would pay for you Twits all day long Shel and will do so with veal cutlets in a couple of weeks
Posted by: pat phelan | January 04, 2008 at 05:44 PM
Speaking of which Pat, will you please give us a date?
Posted by: shel israel | January 04, 2008 at 09:10 PM
No, what really costs in productivity is when we have to take time from our work to blog about how much productivity twitter costs. :D
I'm a very remote telecommuter, so Twitter is actually saving my employer money by lowering employee turnover with increased work satisfaction.
Posted by: StarryDynamo | January 04, 2008 at 09:19 PM
evening of 23rd Shel?
Posted by: pat phelan | January 05, 2008 at 03:01 AM
Date, Pat. Let's keep this one a secret.
Posted by: shel israel | January 05, 2008 at 07:36 AM
As far as the cost/time for tweeting... if you think how much time that you spend wondering or find out what some one else is up to (without Twitter)... it may actually be more efficient to have Twitter.
Plus you'd have to figure out how much signal you'd miss if you didn't have Twitter.
Posted by: Justin Thorp | January 06, 2008 at 08:40 PM