Today the masses expected a compelling keynote speech to wrap up SXSW and unfortunately, the masses were greatly disappointed.
One of Twitter’s founding members, Ev Williams, was selected as the keynote speaker for SXSW and was expected to announce Twitter’s plan to turn profitable through ad serving. By the time I got off the subway, sat down at my desk and opened Tweetdeck, there were hundreds of tweets predicting Ev’s announcement. The hype grew with each tweet guessing which type of ad format Twitter would intertwine.
Then came the disappointment. Ev announced the launch of @anywhere, a platform that will help sites integrate Twitter more deeply into their sites with just a few lines of java script.
Per TechCruch, here are a few features of @anywhere:
- When you browse a site that uses @anywhere, people and brands that have Twitter accounts will be highlighted with a hyperlink. Mousing over that hyperlink will show a small box (a “hovercard”) containing their Twitter information, including their most recent tweet (in effect it means you don’t have to click over to Twitter’s homepage to see their Twitter profile)
- Publishers will be able to more deeply integrate their own Twitter profiles, making them easier for their readers to ‘follow’ them
- Sites will be able to implement @anywhere with a few lines of Javascript.
- The new platform is launching with a number of major sites and services, including the New York Times, Huffington Post, Meebo, Amazon, Yahoo, Bing, and eBay.
The reaction at SXSW was anything but excitement. Many walked out on the keynote and even displayed their disappointment via tweets. What was expected to be a watershed event for Twitter was met with lack luster sparkles and faded as the crowd began to head for the exits.
There is no question that this is an intriguing ad on and will make the web an even more “social” place. I know I will personally be excited to use this new feature when it appears on Youtube, Digg or Bing but I was expecting more from the team that created a product that changed the way people got their news updates and created such a unique community.
Failing to utilize a stage as large as they were on today brings a few things into questions – will Twitter ever be able to live up to its hype and valuation? Should the founding members have handed over the company to a team of more seasoned entrepreneurs?
Justin Freid is the founder of Justin Freid Media, a SEO and Paid Search consulting company based out of Philadelphia. To learn more about Justin or to check out his latest blog post check out Justin Freid Media.
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