Twitter Changes its Name to TVitter
Deal with Comcast Signals Twitter to Become an Essential Utility
I used to absolutely love Twitter. I joined in 2007, wrote for Twitip (read my posts here) and even dreamed about tweeting (obsessive, huh?). But then Twitter started screwing over its developer ecosystem (see Twitter Commits Suicide -Twipocalypse Now Redux) and with the acquisition and subsequent evisceration of TweetDeck, my usage declined (another reason had to do with usability, post coming soon).
But yesterday, Twitter and Comcast made an announcement that, for the first time in years, knocked my socks off. Starting over the next few months, you’ll be able to watch and/or record TV shows on your DVR from a tweet!
Think about that; from a tweet.
Proposed Twitter Functionality
Via All Things D
To clarify, according to the All Things D post, there might be a few variations on how this will actually work, whether it’s from a Hash Tag, a link or via a Hover Card (did you see the picture above?), but the implications are immense.
Sure, watching a TV show (or setting your DVR to record it) directly from Twitter would be really cool, but the potential for this is massive and, in my view, has put Twitter’s impending IPO into an entirely new perspective for several reasons.
- Once this can be done with a TV show, the next logical step is to add other functionality. You could schedule meetings, book airline tickets, buy and sell products, and more all directly from a tweet!
- If this type of functionality does eventually roll out, it turns Twitter into an essential utility because Twitter would then have actual and useful functionality that could be directly enabled from Twitter itself.
- With utility capability, Twitter (post IPO) would be exponentially more valuable. After all, it’s one thing to buy stock in an over-hyped social network that’s still losing money, it’s quite another to buy into a company that’s enabling highly useful, convenient and valuable services.
What Does This Mean?
In my book, Twitter’s back in the game. Now, that statement might cause a lot of pundits to pull their hair out, but from my perspective, Utility totally changes what Twitter is. This is not only going to make it fun again, it’ll make it both useful and essential.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below (and please tweet this post. Thanks!).
