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What Twitter can learn from that time Coca Cola changed its formula

By Administrator | 4 October 2017

The 140-character message limit has defined Twitter. But the company is now experimenting with its format, doubling the length of some users’ tweets to 280 characters. Why are they taking such an enormous risk, playing with the characteristic that defines and differentiates the service?

The reason is that Twitter’s user base has been stuck at about 320 million for some time. If this doesn’t change, entropy will set in and Twitter could collapse.

We can learn a lot about what Twitter is going through by looking at the time Coca Cola decided to change its recipe, and unveiled “New Coke”. The change was rejected by customers, and the company had to backtrack.

Another thing pushing Twitter’s move is that it reported a slight decline in users and a loss of $116 million USD ($148 million AUD) in the most recent quarter. It was punished by investors and put on notice, so increasing users and ad revenue are important corporate objectives.

Users still don’t want to pay


Twitter’s problem, like all social media and news platforms, comes down to the unwillingness of online users to pay. Older forms of media – newspapers and the like – are just holding on despite declining advertising revenue. However that’s becoming increasingly difficult as traditional consumers die and younger consumers expect all media to be accessible online. Read more

Collette Snowden - Smart Company - 3 Oct 2017

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