Has the future of Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) come down to this — asking users for ideas on how to grow?
It seems so. On Thursday, Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey took to the site soliciting ideas for Twitter’s future.
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jack✔@jack
Following in the footsteps of Brian Chesky: what’s the most important thing you want to see Twitter improve or create in 2017? #Twitter2017
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Dorsey is talking about a tweet sent by Airbnb co-founder Brian Chesky on Dec. 26. In that tweet, Chesky essentially asks the same thing.
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Brian Chesky✔@bchesky
If @Airbnb could launch anything in 2017, what would it be?
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OK, asking for feedback from users isn’t exactly unheard of, especially in the world of online startups where entrepreneurs see it as a virtue. But this hasn’t exactly been a banner year for Twitter — or couple of years for that matter! .
In fact, his was supposed to be the whole reason for putting Dorsey back at the helm of Twitter permanently.
So, under the #Twitter2017 hashtag, Dorsey shouldn’t have been surprised to see this …
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Kris Caffery @caffery_kris#Twitter2017 What needs improving? Shareholder Value
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Since Dorsey’s return, Twitter has suffered declining stock prices and declining revenues despite ongoing efforts to monetize the platform. And don’t forget the launch of Twitter Moments unlikely to be of much use to Twitter’s core community of small business entrepreneurs, social influencers and thought leaders.
Then, of course, remember the promised innovations and tweaks that never seemed to come off as announced. Twitter also allowed Vine to wither and die. Arguably one of its most trendsetting and promising technologies, Vine was shuttered with almost no effort introduce new features or monetize.
Some users were able to get past the company issues and talk about the site and how it works or doesn’t work for them.
The ability to edit tweets is apparently something a lot of users want. One observes:
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Josh Greenbaum @Josh_GreenbaumI think every twitter user out there can agree the one and only most important change we want is the ability to edit tweets! #Twitter2017
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And this user wants to be able to search tweets that he’s already sent.
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Dr. Ahmed Al Abodi @drportfolioSeveral times i suggest to consider adding a searching engine option to search within my own tweets. At least say “Rejected”#Twitter2017
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What about the 140 character limit? It’s not fair when a link you’re including takes more than half that, as these users observe.
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Eta U. 🇳🇬✔@royaltyuso
Web links should be exempted from the 140 characters. Also, add-in ability to schedule tweets on the default Twitter iOS app. #Twitter2017 https://twitter.com/jack/status/814537990366228480 …
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Others suggested small but important tweaks.
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Ephraim @mwongerezaaBring back the favorite instead of #Twitter2017
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It’s also good to know there are Twitter purists out there. But if this version of Twitter is only working for a few users and it’s failing to make money, it seems this user is going to be disappointed in the long run:
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Tim Elliott @TimElliottUKMy #Twitter2017 predictions will be to expect much of the same… it should just focus on what’s it’s best at connecting people IMO
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Image: Twitter/@jack