Twitter launched as a text platform back in 2006. Since then, it has evolved to include multimedia content and a host of other features making it the perfect site for everyone to voice their thoughts.
Compared to other social media companies, like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, Twitter is much smaller — a fact Twitter execs are well aware of.
“We have never been the biggest platform; we haven’t been the newest,” Sarah Rosen, head of Twitter’s US entertainment partnerships, said in a Variety podcast.
“So, we’ve always set out to be the best to work with,” she added. “We are not in competition with these other platforms.”
Rosen, in fact, advises clients and partners to leverage the entire social media ecosystem with a different approach for each platform. “It actually is better for them and better for us and better for the brand if they’re leveraging all these different platforms, but in the right way and in the right approach for those different communities.”
What sets the platform apart, according to Lara Cohen, global head of partners at Twitter, is that the platform is always at the center of any big cultural moment. Whether it’s an awards show or sports event, people always tune in to Twitter.
“It’s that added layer of conversation that gets added on to these big cultural moments that I think is really what makes Twitter special (and) that has always been sort of our secret sauce,” she said.
Moreover, users on Twitter are in a “discovery” mindset and are looking for authenticity, said Rosen.
“We are a place for realness, and that’s what resonates with users,” she said. From a tactical viewpoint, “people on Twitter actually read so your words in your tweet matter,” she said.
Both Rosen and Cohen were very candid about Twitter’s role as a secondary platform. “We were never looking to disrupt or replace traditional media,” said Cohen. Twitter’s goal was always to “amplify” and “be that second-screen experience” by expanding the reach of audiences and bringing fans and celebrities closer.
Because of this, it is important for celebrities and media companies to be true to their voice, and that might not be for everyone. “I want every star to use Twitter but I also know that some people are going to be more authentic and real and honest and I think those are always the stars that sort of really excel at Twitter,” said Cohen.
For example, Chrissy Teigen left Twitter but she returned a few weeks later. “She ultimately really decided she needs her voice here,” said Cohen.
Twitter recently launched Spaces, an audio-based conversation feature that allows people and companies to participate in live chats. Twitter has always been a place for conversation and the primary idea behind Spaces was to “reimagine conversation,” said Cohen. It’s also a way to “democratize” press junkets where audiences could also participate, as well as allow fans and stars to connect easily, she added.
From text to video and now in the pivot to audio, Twitter is diversifying the way people and brands can express, and monetize, themselves on the platform. Twitter will continue to evolve as it works on ways to offer more tools to its partners while making the platform a safer place.
And at the center of this evolution are, as have always been, two key factors: Conversation and authenticity.
“A lot of the evolution for us as a company is really drilling down to who we are and what our superpower is and our superpower is conversation and authenticity,” said Cohen.