Studying the impact of innovation on business and society

Twitter Inspires a Dedicated and Thriving Startup Economy

Twitter continues to amaze us. Its constantly evolving examples of change and connectivity persevere and reinforce how the “little microblog that could” is transforming media and communications while also silencing the most dubious of critics.

At the same time, I’m confident that through our pioneering efforts and innovative  developments, we also continue to amaze the team behind Twitter itself.

As Jack Dorsey shared in his keynote today at the 140 Characters Conference in New York, “Expect the unexpected. Sometimes, be the unexpected.”

Twitter is making the news and it is also serving as the foundation for how we publish, share and discover news today and tomorrow.

We are becoming “media.”

A recent study by ChubbyBrain is also demonstrating how Twitter is fostering a dedicated technology and business ecosystem. According to the report published today, angels and VCs have invested $23.27 million in Twitter-based startups while most others are self or privately financed. Recently, Howard Lindzon and his partners at Social Leverage launched 140Labs, a Twitter-only incubator.

John Borthwick of BetaWorks also presented at the 140Conf today where he revealed that over 3,500 companies are currently developing Twitter-related applications.

When Jesse Thomas and I released the alpha version of The Twitterverse, we focused on the leading applications for communications, research, community, and media professionals. The number of qualified, useful applications still numbered in the the hundreds.

ChubbyBrain detailed the most prominent startups that received significant rounds of financing (notice a pattern in the players?)

When we examine the startup trends fueling technology development, we see that the largest areas of innovation are concentrating on information provider (28%), search (18%), browser software/plugins (18%), the social web (18%),

Analyzing the dollars outside of startup volume and activity, search applications emerge as the predominate focus on innovation for Twitter.

To date, Twitter has closed $55 million in funding compared to the $23 million invested in the Twitter ecosystem.

Twitter will continue to inspire new development, which will attract modest to notable investments. What’s more important, is the innovation and associated capabilities and benefits we as consumers will earn as a result.

The Twitterverse will expand, shift, contract, and influence further development and will influence our culture, behavior and communication in the process.

Helpful Posts on PR 2.0:
The Language of Social Media
– The State of Public Relations, Marketing and Communications: The Future is You
– Is Twitter a Broadcast or Conversation Platform (or Both)?
– Is Twitter Evolving from the Facebook to the Myspace of Microblogs
– Time Spent on Twitter Soars by Over 3,700%, Facebook 700%
– Gazing into The Twitterverse
– This is Not a Sponsored Post: Sponsored Conversations & the FTC
– Reviving the Traditional Press Release
– Twitter, Acquisition vs. Retention
– You Are Significant
– The Art and Science of Blogger Relations – Updated eBook
– In Social Media, The SEC Removes “Relations” from Investor Relations
– Twitter Flutters into Mainstream Culture: The Competition for Attention Starts with You
– The Social OS, The Battle Between Facebook and Twitter is the New Mac vs. PC
– The Domino’s Effect
– Can The Statusphere Save Journalism
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– Social Media Influences Buying Decisions
– Is Social Media Recession Proof?
– The End of the Innocence
– The Social Effect and Disruption Theory
– Twitter and Social Networks Usher in a New Era of Social CRM
– I Like You The Emerging Culture of Micro Acts of Appreciation
– The Ties that Bind Us – Visualizing Relationships on Twitter and Social Networks
– Make Tweet Love – Top Tips for Building Twitter Relationships
– Are Blogs Losing Their Authority to the Statusphere
– Twitter Tools for Communication and Community Professionals
– Reinventing Crisis Communications for the Social Web


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39 COMMENTS ON THIS POST To “Twitter Inspires a Dedicated and Thriving Startup Economy”

  1. Scottmanesis says:

    The power of Twitter is amazing. I hope they keep upgrading their servers! http://www.scottmanesis.com. I just made a blog post about adding twitter feeds to your blog. Excellent article!

  2. cathyfletcher says:

    liked your stats and information & under Helpful Posts on PR2.0 enjoyed Are You Significant very much, but 15 of the links didn’t work for me

    • cathyfletcher says:

      Oh, the article I like is You Are Significant. I saved the tweet as a favourite. The links still don’t work today. Will check them periodically, and retweet when they are active. Looking forward to reading them 🙂

  3. paul101 says:

    Pretty interesting find. Even with the rise of twitter, though, I think the importance of videos in this new Web 2.0 “economy” is a bit understated. Services like AdWido, for example, recognizes this and capitalizes on this sort of new marketing well.

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