MMarketing Against The Grain
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03 November 2022

Our Advice To Elon Musk To Make Twitter More Profitable

2Frameworks
8Insights

Frameworks in this episode

Strategy4 steps

Monetize-or-Expand Growth Model

Choose whether to deepen revenue per user or expand the user base

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Marketing5 steps

Platform Change Early-Adopter Loop

Track platform changes, test promising features, and scale proven advantages

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Insights & moments

The myth-busts, hot takes, explainers, and tools worth keeping.

Myth Buster· 1

Myth Buster06:30

Would Reviving Vine Fix Twitter's Growth Problem?

The hosts debate whether Vine failed because Twitter executed poorly or because short-form video was a poor fit for its audience. Kieran stresses the obsolete codebase, fierce incumbents, and format mismatch, while Kipp argues that prior failure does not prove the underlying idea was wrong.

  • The old Vine codebase would probably require a rewrite
  • TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram already dominate short video
  • Twitter's text audience may not transfer to a video product
  • A failed execution does not conclusively invalidate a use case

“You've missed your window on short form video.”

Kieran Flanagan · 07:30

“So how do you know if it was the idea or the execution? You don't. You might be right but you don't know for certain.”

Kipp Bodnar · 09:30
#vine#short-form video#product strategy#twitter

Hot Take· 2

Hot Take25:30

Twitter's Biggest Mistake Was Killing Its Developer Ecosystem

Kieran argues that Twitter's greatest lost opportunity was not a missing consumer feature but its treatment of the external ecosystem building on its protocol. The core messaging app may have reached natural saturation, while an open protocol could still have supported many products and businesses.

  • The messaging app may have saturated its natural audience
  • The Twitter protocol had broader growth potential
  • Restricting the developer ecosystem eliminated outside innovation
  • Jack Dorsey's protocol-first comments support this critique

“what Twitter really got wrong was killing the ecosystem that was building on top of Twitter.”

Kieran Flanagan · 25:30

“There's a ton of growth left with the protocol, but the messaging app is kind of at its natural point of saturation”

Kieran Flanagan · 26:00
#api#developer ecosystem#protocols#twitter
Hot Take27:30

The Hosts Predict Twitter's First Year Under Elon Musk

Kieran predicts stable usage, improved monetization, and a possible sale attempt, while Kipp expects greater cultural impact but incomplete monetization progress. Both treat the acquisition as a multiyear turnaround rather than an immediate transformation.

  • Kieran expects usage to remain broadly unchanged
  • Both expect some monetization progress
  • Kipp predicts Twitter's cultural impact will rise
  • Kipp estimates a roughly three-year turnaround

“I think it's the same. Users monetize better and Elon's looking to sell it.”

Kieran Flanagan · 28:00

“I think, my prediction is, I think the cultural impact is higher.”

Kipp Bodnar · 28:00
#elon musk#twitter#predictions#turnaround

Explainer· 3

Explainer02:30

Why Twitter Works Better for Individual Brands Than Advertisers

Kieran argues that Twitter has strong product-market fit among people who enjoy dense, text-based exchanges and access to smart ideas. That creates value for personal brands, but the platform's limited data and advertising formats make it less compelling for many corporate advertisers.

  • Twitter serves a well-defined information-oriented audience
  • Individuals can build influential audiences through ideas
  • Twitter has less contextual user data than Facebook
  • Sponsored tweets offer limited creative flexibility

“As a marketeer, I don't, I think of Twitter as an individual brand is really important 'cause you can share great ideas, you can get…”

Kieran Flanagan · 03:00

“But I don't think it's good because the platform is just not made in the way where it can support great advertising from a data…”

Kieran Flanagan · 04:00
#twitter#personal branding#advertising#product-market fit
Explainer04:30

Twitter Advertising Has an Intent Gap

Kipp identifies intent as Twitter advertising's central disadvantage against Google and YouTube. Search and video platforms can align offers with an explicit need, while Twitter often catches users casually posting or scrolling without purchase intent.

  • Google captures explicit search intent
  • YouTube content can reveal a user's immediate goal
  • Twitter activity often has low commercial intent
  • Weak intent signals make ad alignment difficult

“Twitter lacks the ability for advertisers to capture intent, intent, the way Google and YouTube does.”

Kipp Bodnar · 04:30

“Twitter doesn't have intent and that makes it really hard to get really good advertising.”

Kipp Bodnar · 05:00
#advertising#buyer intent#twitter#google#youtube
Explainer24:00

Algorithmic Choice Could Make Community Membership the New SEO

The hosts discuss a future in which users choose the algorithms or topical feeds that shape what they see. In that environment, marketers would depend less on a platform-wide default algorithm and more on becoming trusted members of specific communities.

  • Users could choose algorithms aligned with their interests
  • Choice may help new users find value faster
  • Brands would need audiences to opt into their subject areas
  • Meaningful community participation would influence inclusion

“Let people decide the algorithm of what they want to see or not.”

Kipp Bodnar · 24:30

“And if you're a meaningful part of that community, you're gonna get included in that algorithmic choice.”

Kipp Bodnar · 25:00
#algorithms#community#content discovery#social media

Tool· 1

Tool16:00

The Twitter Group Chat That Could BCC the World

The hosts propose combining private group messaging with public posting. Participants could converse in a small group and selectively expose individual messages to the public, reducing the friction of copying valuable exchanges from Slack or WhatsApp into Twitter.

  • Twitter originally supported posting and notifications through SMS
  • Small groups could serve users who do not want to broadcast constantly
  • Each message could remain private or be published publicly
  • The public-private bridge would differentiate Twitter from WhatsApp

“We can like every message, we can just choose like, hey this is just for the three of us or this is for, this is…”

Kipp Bodnar · 17:00

“There's no messaging app where you can choose to bcc the world ad hoc.”

Kipp Bodnar · 18:30
#messaging#group chat#sms#twitter#product idea

Takeaway· 1

Takeaway21:00

Build a Twitter Presence Around People, Humor, and Pointed Views

Kieran recommends making recognizable people the center of an organic Twitter strategy rather than expecting a corporate handle to carry the audience. Brands that do succeed directly often use comedy, cultural fluency, and a distinctive voice.

  • Organic Twitter audiences usually form around people
  • Comedic brands can outperform conventional corporate accounts
  • A comedy writer may be well suited to running a brand handle
  • Company experts should share industry stories and pointed opinions

“So the organic part is you build an audience around a person, not a brand.”

Kieran Flanagan · 21:00

“I think have some people from your company who can build real brands like personal brands and be able to talk about your story, talk…”

Kieran Flanagan · 22:00
#twitter strategy#brand voice#personal branding#humor