Twitter Had the Best Year Ever

Twitter has been in the zone all year, capturing the hearts of investors, employees, and users alike. As a classic tale of Silicon Valley success, its creation myth has equal parts entrepreneurial zeal, high school drama, and Shakespearean betrayal. But whereas Facebook stumbled through the gates, the company navigated its IPO swimmingly, even outperforming Google’s first month as a public company after doubling its share price. The microblogging platform is now worth $29 billion.

The stock jumped ten percent last week after the release of new tools that would allow marketers to better target users based on their web-browsing histories. After all, like Facebook and Google, Twitter is fundamentally a data hoarder that sells ads. “We’re seeing that there’s a lot they can do with targeting and retargeting for advertisers,” Brian Nowak, an analyst at Susquehanna Financial Group, told Bloomberg.

Now, Glassdoor has named Twitter the best company to work for in 2014, its first year on the list, ousting last year’s winner, Facebook, which dropped to third after LinkedIn. Much of the credit goes to CEO Dick Costolo, who previously worked as an improv comedian, and the firm’s unique culture. For some of Twitter’s over 2000 employees, precious stock options surely helped the mood. Last week, in light of criticism for the firm’s lack of female influence and leadership, the company appointed its first woman to the board of directors. In all, it's not bad going for a company that doesn’t plan to make a profit until 2016.

Indeed, in its eight years of existence, Twitter has bled cash, sustained by a carousel of hopeful capitalists. The company was $65 million in the red for the third quarter, triple its losses from the year before. If the needs to sell ads is obvious, the profitability of the practice and the sustainability of the ad-based business model isn’t as straightforward, with increasing competition for less and less real estate as users switch to mobile. The average “cost-per-click” paid by advertisers has declined four quarters in a row, with analysts throwing around terms like “peak Google”.

Of course, Twitter’s success has never been defined by how much money it makes. Like any cool party, its relevance is largely designated by its A-list guests, which as of Tuesday include former president George H. W. Bush, who I highly doubt uses Snapchat. It’s here that Twitter truly shines. Whether it’s bringing renewed relevance to obsolete awards shows, giving voice to revolutions in real-time, or providing shepherds with a sense of purpose and power, the 140-character concept appears genuinely productive, an admirably unique characteristic in a world of cringeworthy selfies.

As a journalist, it’s the only social network I actively participate in after Facebook, out of necessity and professionalism. It also comes with a sense of serendipity and possibility, as a job board, dating site, or customer service hotline. In a world of inequality, Twitter is the great equalizer, allowing both Justin and any one of his Beliebers to speak their mind. While government surveillance and censorship is on the rise, Twitter remains a symbol of free speech.

Admittedly, most of my IRL friends aren’t part of Twitter’s growing 200 million user base. On the one hand, that’s a good thing. Where Facebook now feels stuffy—probably a major reason I haven’t made a status update since June—Twitter still feels free, with ample room for spontaneity beyond the judging eyes and Likes of everyone you know and sort of know.

On the other hand, it’s also one of the social network’s lingering problems: Its relatively steep learning curve and clunky interface remain uninviting for casual users. New updates will help to lower those barriers of entry, including the major redesign to its mobile app announced Wednesday. This includes a swipeable timeline and a more prominent messaging feature, as Twitter aim to compete with the likes of WhatsApp and Snapchat.

But if Costolo and his team are to attract and retain new users, Twitter’s implementation requires an overhaul beyond the ability to send photos with direct messages. For now, users are left to their own devices to figure things out and earn (or purchase) their followers. Most will end up frustrated and call it quits. Of the 80 million Twitter accounts registered in the last three months, only 3 million turned into daily active tweeters, according to PeerReach, an Amsterdam startup that measures social influence. It’s also likely that the next generation will be better versed in paying their digital dues. While Facebook continues to bore and shed teens, 43 percent of Twitters’ users are between the age of 10 and 19.

A telling metric of a social network’s power is its economic impact, like that fake AP tweet that crashed the stock market and the now-defunct hedge fund that analyzed “Twitter mood," or the economies it helps create, like the multi-million dollar business of selling followers, which has spawned legions of bots.

Such is Twitter’s importance to artists, politicians, brands, companies, celebrities, sports teams, and, most of all, ordinary people. We care how many followers we have because it represents our influence, even if they might be fake. We want our stories to trend because that’s what everyone’s talking about, even if it’s fleeting. We’re compelled to tweet because we want to be heard, even if no one is actually listening.

@sfnuop