Twitter

[Reub]

Could TWTR be a screaming buy down below $20? Maybe I'm biased because I like the product? But it does seem cheap down here. Possibly even a takeover candidate by GOOG or somebody? Does anyone else like their product?

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2 ... a-buy.aspx

[dragoncar]

Maybe.... I personally dislike the product, but I have to admit they are very entrenched in the media.  Still, how do you expect them to make money?

[Pointedstick]

I've never understood how companies like Twitter make money in the first place, and secondarily how they expect to grow that revenue stream over time. I am extremely bearish on tech companies that look like this. There'll inevitably be a lot of volatility  as the stock goes up and down based on public sentiment, but there's very little real value creation over time.

[dragoncar]

Maybe they can merge with time warner or other traditional media company.  Their market cap would have to be lower still though.  At some point, just calling it T(ime)W(arner)itter has to be worth something for goodwill and PR

Seems to me like Twitter is primarily an entertainment/news company.  The good news is their costs can be cut WAY back.  If they designed the system correctly, they could fire everyone but the server maintenance and media relations guys (whoever convinces the news shows to report Twitter comments)

There may have been a one time innovation in scalable database management and directed graphs (or something, I'm making this up).  But I agree any new "innovations" are not adding value

[var]

twtr interface isn't that great...

i use it... now and then...

but its not like FB....

[Pointedstick]

People used to say the same thing about Google and Facebook. And YouTube. They all figured out a way to monetize the traffic.

Well, the answer turned out to be, "ads." But Twitter doesn't really have ads. And YouTube had no serious revenue model before being purchased by Google (they added ads). It would be interesting to find out if YouTube would be profitable on the basis of the ads if it were a standalone company. I suspect the answer is no.