• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch

2

Mark Zuckerberg feeds his cows macadamia nuts and beer to create the 'highest-quality beef in the world' on his $300 million estate in Hawaii

3

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

1

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch

2

Mark Zuckerberg feeds his cows macadamia nuts and beer to create the 'highest-quality beef in the world' on his $300 million estate in Hawaii

3

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

First 4 moves Twitter must make post-IPO

By
JP Mangalindan
JP Mangalindan
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
JP Mangalindan
JP Mangalindan
Down Arrow Button Icon
September 18, 2013, 5:00 AM ET
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.
Jack Dorsey’s first sketch of Twitter.

FORTUNE — Seven years ago,  Jack Dorsey created Twitter, scribbling the concept for 140-character status updates on a notepad. Now, the social network is poised to go public, likely later this year, with an estimated valuation somewhere north of $10 billion.

As Facebook (FB) discovered when it debuted on the NASDAQ in May 2012, going public merely marks another chapter in the company’s history, albeit one where it is under more scrutiny than ever. The same goes for Twitter. Here what’s Dorsey’s brainchild, all grown-up, ought to do once it gets a ticker symbol (TWIT? TWTR?):

Actually, don’t break things. Until recently, Facebook’s philosophy abided by the Hacker Way and the philosophy, “Move fast and break things.” That suits a rapidly-growing startup just fine, but some would argue it behooves Facebook less in its current state. The mobile app and in-house Snapchat competitor Facebook Poke was reportedly developed in just 12 days and released in December 2012 but since first hitting #1 in Apple’s App Store on day one, it’s fallen off the radar completely. (When was the last time you opened up the app?) In comparison, Twitter has introduced new features and products at a slower rate. According to employees, that was purposeful, to allow more time to get things right before they rolled out. That’s resulted in fewer outright failures, says Brian Blau, Gartner Research’s Research Director.

MORE: Twitter’s IPO will not be done in secret

Offer a full-blown developer’s kit for businesses. While we won’t know the state of Twitter’s revenues for another few weeks, the social network is expected to earn $582 million in global ad revenue this year, according to eMarketer, $308 million of which will come from mobile. (For context, that’s a 123% jump on the mobile front compared with last year.) Twitter’s lifeblood is derived from third-party businesses advertising or building on top of the social network. The latter in particular remains a still largely untapped opportunity. In fact, Twitter should take a note from Facebook, when it acquired the cloud-based platform Parse this April, which offers services and tools for developers to quickly build apps for mobile platforms and devices. Blau suggests Twitter should follow a similar strategy and go one step further, by developing and creating a full suite of tools for interested developers. Getting more developers off the ground more quickly means more features for the end user, which in turn potentially boosts user engagement. Twitter could also charge for its tool suite, creating another revenue stream.

International expansion. Twitter already has a strong overseas user base, evidenced by major international events, like the Egyptian protests in 2011. That said, it still has a long way to go. The social network is fast approaching 300 million actively users, according to The New York Times, but that’s still roughly one-fourth of Facebook’s 1.2 billion-strong active membership.  And when it comes to ads, many of Twitter’s global users live in emerging markets where there’s very low-to-no ad dollar opportunities, argues eMarketer Vice President Clark Fredericksen. The company already has a sales presence in Japan, where Twitter is also popular, but many other developed companies remain untapped.

MORE: Remembrance of Twitter past

TV and movie integration. Earlier this week, AllThingsD reported that Twitter plans to roll out a revamped iOS app experience, one that ditches the four tabs at the bottom and emphasizes a more visual experience experience. The company is also reportedly tinkering with an in-app stream that focuses solely on TV-related tweets and discussions. Better integration of TV and movie content in the company’s mobile and desktop will prove important. “Having a major presence in a television, movies — clearly they’ve got that in music already — these are things I always thought they go after,” says Blau, who argues doing so fits Twitter’s strategy. After all, the social network has unofficially billed itself as the real-time resource for news and information. One example? Movie trailers viewable directly within a user’s stream.

About the Author
By JP Mangalindan
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in

Best private student loans for medical school
Personal Financestudent loans and debt
Best private student loans for medical school
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 2, 2026
7 hours ago
Michael Burry just shorted Caterpillar’s 172% AI rally. One analyst says his bet won’t even matter
Investingstock prices
Michael Burry just shorted Caterpillar’s 172% AI rally. One analyst says his bet won’t even matter
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 2, 2026
8 hours ago
Opti-Greens 50 Review (2026): Insights from Hands-On Testing
HealthDietary Supplements
Opti-Greens 50 Review (2026): Insights from Hands-On Testing
By Christina SnyderJuly 2, 2026
9 hours ago
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
EconomyDebt
AI’s $2.2 trillion deficit fix is already half fake, economists say
By Tristan BoveJuly 2, 2026
9 hours ago
s
Personal FinanceSports
The sports economy is unaffordable at the bar, let alone the stadium
By Catherina GioinoJuly 2, 2026
9 hours ago
m
Politicsfraud
Trump fights fraud by freezing funding for New York’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit
By Ali Swenson, Geoff Mulvihill and The Associated PressJuly 2, 2026
9 hours ago

Most Popular

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
Big Tech
As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 1, 2026
2 days ago
Mark Zuckerberg feeds his cows macadamia nuts and beer to create the 'highest-quality beef in the world' on his $300 million estate in Hawaii
Success
Mark Zuckerberg feeds his cows macadamia nuts and beer to create the 'highest-quality beef in the world' on his $300 million estate in Hawaii
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 2, 2026
11 hours ago
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
Success
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
By Sydney LakeJune 25, 2026
8 days ago
Today, Emily Blunt is worth $80 million thanks to her Hollywood career—but she actually wanted to be a UN Spanish translator on $80K
Success
Today, Emily Blunt is worth $80 million thanks to her Hollywood career—but she actually wanted to be a UN Spanish translator on $80K
By Orianna Rosa RoyleJuly 2, 2026
21 hours ago
Americans are escaping the U.S. for New Zealand where house prices have hit a new low—but only wealthy Americans with $3 million spare can invest
Success
Americans are escaping the U.S. for New Zealand where house prices have hit a new low—but only wealthy Americans with $3 million spare can invest
By Emma BurleighJuly 2, 2026
13 hours ago
Current price of oil as of July 2, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 2, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 2, 2026
15 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.