Hatching Twitter, Nick Bilton (4)
If you enjoyed ‘The Social Network’, you’ll love this
book. It describes the process and people who founded Twitter. As with
Facebook, ‘who’ actually founded ‘what’ is more than a tad controversial. I
thought Mr. Bilton did a good job being objective – doling out blame and credit
equally. As with most start-ups, the main players’ roles and contributions were
very dynamic. He focuses on the four who he credits for founding the company
and who then proceeded to play musical chairs with the leadership roles, each
time leaving someone out in the cold, chair-less. It is quite shocking to find out how poorly
the company was prepared for the fever it produced, quite literally crashing on
a daily basis under the weight of new users. The most interesting discovery for
me was that the entire concept of Twitter was basically developed by a small
group of people who wanted to feel less lonely, to ‘connect to the world
through their computer’. Ironic, for what is considered to be a cog in today’s
social media, it began as a group of introverts looking for a way to
communicate without actually being social (i.e. talking directly with people).
Sadly this book seems to be saying that the success of Twitter is not due to
excellence in business or technology, but the luck of a concept that appealed
to the loneliness and angst of teenagers and certain celebrities (oddly similar
in their lack of confidence). This book is particularly timely given the recent
Twitter IPO. I confess, immediately after finishing it, I jumped onto my
computer to see who is currently on the Board and Management team. Not
surprising, there were already some changes. This book is a cautionary tale of
the crazy speed of these businesses, even post-bubble.
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