Ask: Why do people need Twitter, anyway?

Re:Ask: Why do people need Twitter, anyway? by mechanical_fish on Wednesday April 23, 2008 @03:23PM (#171784)

It's the information equivalent of sugar water.

Here's some 2007 numbers, courtesy of Yahoo Finance:

Coca-Cola Company (KO): $6B net profit on $29B revenue

Pepsico (PEP): $5.6B net profit on $39.4B revenue

Google (GOOG): $4.2B net profit on $16.6B revenue

Microsoft (MSFT): $14B net profit on $51.1B revenue

I'd say that, while Microsoft Windows is more profitable than sugar water, the soft drink industry is holding its own. Of course, Pepsi and Coke know how to monetize sugar water...

Paging John Sculley! Where is he when we need him? He wasn't the world's greatest tech CEO, but he sure knew the value of sugar water!

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Re:Ask: Why do people need Twitter, anyway? by alaskamiller on Wednesday April 23, 2008 @04:07PM (#171819)

John! Do you want to peddle sugar water all your life or do you want to make a difference in Web 2.0 technology?!?

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Re:Ask: Why do people need Twitter, anyway? by mhb on Wednesday April 23, 2008 @04:37PM (#171855)

And how's Altria (aka Philip Morris) doing?

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Re:Ask: Why do people need Twitter, anyway? by mechanical_fish on Wednesday April 23, 2008 @04:55PM (#171875)

I would go there, but comparing Twitter to high-fructose corn syrup is already unfair enough. ;)

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