Is it just me, or is Evan Williams, former CEO of Twitter, even more respectable now that he has stepped down to focus on product strategy? I could be biased after meeting him in San Francisco at the Girls in Tech “fireside chat” event. But what can I say, the man walks the talk. His stepping-down goes hand in hand with what he said at this event: R-E-S-P-E-C-T!
Strategy and New Happenings @ Twitter
At Kicklabs, the innovation incubator where the “fireside chat” took place, Evan gave us the down-low on what to expect for Twitter in the near future. He emphasized the importance of “cutting down on the layer of information overload”. Evan’s long term goal is giving Tweeters the best tweets they care about most, keyword: relevance. This means incorporating what has always been Twitter’s strength of being “on location” and “real time” at events (a prime example being how Twitter has been used during natural disasters these last few years).
They also hired their first marketing guy! Did you know that after all these years, they didn’t have anybody specifically on Marketing? He’s been working on keeping the branding consistent for Twitter…so don’t use the wrong logo or bird! …a warning from Evan 
What’s more, they are starting a new university recruitment, called Class of Twitter. From their “Meet the Class of Twitter” and “New Twitter” videos, it’s clear which bird they want you to use.
“How do you keep a fast-growing company feeling like a small company?”
“People have to talk!” According to their blog, Twitter went from 20 to 300 employees in 2 years (not to mention a growth of 3 million to 165 million registered users too). Evan mentioned that the problem with big companies is “tribalism” and the lack of trust in each other. His solution? Something that we value and instill at our own company: October 17 Media‘s core value of Open Communication. Ask our intern and they’ll tell ya just how important it is! Evan combats the lack of trust by instilling an attitude of transparency and sharing at Twitter: along with new hire orientations and indoctrinating employees with company history, staff share notes, hopes and goals with each other regularly.
Successful Startups
The most resonant part of the whole evening was hearing Evan’s view that the “most successful companies come from within”. It’s good to analyze and do market research, but if the company is driven entirely out of that, no wonder it fails! Following trends means entering a category that has already been created…that’s what Evan did with Odeo, which he admits wasn’t driven out of passion and became “boring”. Don’t conform and be like everyone else!
I got advice along the same lines just the day before from Brian Wong, CEO of Kiip, an exciting new mobile advertising platform that is still in its stealth mode. It’s sure to be explosive, so “kiip” your eyes out @kiipme. He is an advisor at Kicklabs, where Evan Williams was interviewed after his talk here.
Blogging > PR
And where to hear the latest Twitter news? When they have any announcements, Twitter prefers to post on their blog. “Blog posts are a better way to promote and announce….less so with PR,” Evan said. And lo and behold, he likes to follow up the announcement with tweets. Sounds a little like something we do, huh? BTW, do you follow us on Twitter?
We are firm believers that blogging can help improve search engine optimization (it’s tried and true). Twitter, aka “microblogging” to some, is also a must-have social media tool to communicate and engage with your clients and customers. We can help you create, manage and get the most out of your account…give us friendly wizards a shout @oct17, on Facebook , or on our website. We’d love to share the latest social media and online marketing news, because duh, that’s what we do!
*Thumbs up* for spontaneous event crashing and for Ev! (Like button below 
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Written by:
Priscilla Ho {Profile}: Online Marketing Wizard @ October 17 Media
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