Welcome to 2009, Jack Dorsey and Ev Williams. But please take another step toward the present day — and please bring Twitter along with you.
This month Twitter co-founder and board member Ev Williams finally accepted that “showing follower counts was probably ultimately detrimental.” And Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey, speaking of follower count, admitted “I don't think that's the number you should be focused on.”
Just a few problems:
They’re very late to the party. I’m glad Jack and Ev realize the futility of counting followers. Everyone else figured this out a decade ago.
They want brands to measure engagement instead. So what should brands measure? Dorsey said it was “the number of meaningful conversations you’re having on the platform. How many times do you receive a reply?” But measuring engagement has also proven disastrous for brands.
They haven’t told anyone else at Twitter. The Nineteen Insights Social Marketing Measurement Tracker reveals 18% of Twitter’s 2018 case studies highlight follower count — up from 16% in 2016. (Twitter’s two favorite metrics: Reach and engagement.)
So while I’m excited Jack and Ev have made it into 2009, I hope they soon make the leap into 2014 and move past engagement, too.