As we all know, tomorrow is election day here in America.  So in the spirit of democracy, I have decided to campaign for the privilege of running Twitter.  I will now present you with my platform, which will explain what Twitter needs to do to be successful.  In the interest of expediency, I will do this by conducting a Randy Moss –style press conference, in which I will only answer questions that I ask myself. 

Here we go:

“Why are you running for Twitter?”

Back in 1996, I remember how important the early industry players were to the overall success of what we see today on the web. Companies like Yahoo, Microsoft, countless startups, and finally Google all shaped the industry. Today, Twitter (and Facebook, for that matter) are in a similar situation. There is a large ‘macro shift’ in the consumer Internet.  This includes hardware, cloud, media and advertising business.  My my vision is that new platforms, users experiences, and advertising solutions have arrived – the true promise of web 2.0:  Consumer experience and advertising.

In 1996, it was the web 1.0 that created access to information via web sites and search engines. Today it is new web 2.0 technologies like blogs, Twitter, social networks, social media and mobile apps that are creating new relationships among users and advertisers. New web solutions and new media practices are going mainstream, and many new developers, publishers, and are looking for scalable solutions and standards. It is a great time to be an innovator in the emerging online advertising area.

I am running for this position because being part of the new Internet, one that benefits society while creating wealth in the meantime for all involved, including developers and businesses. I have been impressed with the high quality individuals at Twitter, and their entire organization. Twitter and it’s user base are passionate, diverse experts in this new social media. They are pioneers, and have the right stuff to build an new industry. This is an exciting time.  I feel compelled to contribute my vision, industry resources, experience, and knowledge to this important new shift in the market – the next generation media developers, consumers, and advertising leaders.

“What are the three biggest goals you hope to accomplish first?”

There are many things to do, but I would say that my guiding principles and goals would be the following:

To establish a great working organization that can create an agenda for the creation of a thriving developer ecosystem – an ecosystem that will enable, finance, and power this new industry
To focus on external education and opinion shaping on this new form of consumer behavior and its’ value as it relates to social networks, social media, and advertising.
To secure financial support and establish a viable and scalable platform first before playing with monetization or business model. Key is to fund the expansion of the Twitter vision and build the base foundation for a vibrant developer ecosystem.

“What do you think is the least understood thing about Twitter?”

That Twitter is not about just tweeting. It’s about the global web, online media, and emerging digital advertising movement. It’s not about the new mobile social media web, but instead the entire new generation that it represents.

“What would you ask of the industry to support you if you get elected?”

I would ask the industry to seek to understand that a new emerging media industry is developing, and to support Twitter and it’ list of new startups, and the established players who are investing in creating new solutions and standards on top of our platform.

“Who would you like to have involved in Twitter that is not currently a partner?”

The developer ecosystem.

My Angle

My point in this post is to share my opinion on Twitter’s future. I think Twitter is one of the most important companies of this next generation.  I love Twitter, and I’m afraid they will blow it if they don’t establish a successful developer ecosystem.

To me the developer ecosystem is the most important thing behind their availability issues. It’s way more important than the "advertising experiments". Sure I believe Twitter will make billions, but I believe that they are rushing it. This puts their long term viability at risk.