Description
Using your analysis of the strategic plan from the Wk 2- Strategic Plan Research assignment, complete the following for your specific company: Analyze in 700+ words the: Purpose of the strategic plan for your specific companyKey objectives:Market development and how your ideas fitProcess improvementDevelopment of peopleProduct/service – How do you deliver? Is there a way to improve quality over time to differentiate?Key performance indicators (KPIs) (specific and detailed) to measure performance over time Recommend initiatives to support your objectives to improve the strategic plan. Identify ways to adapt to the changing business environment. Be sure to choose a specific Fortune 500 company (in excess of $5 billion). Use bullets or paragraphs/headings for each question! PLAGIARISM: All papers in Blackboard are checked for originality by SafeAssign. NO part of any previous papers used in other classes are permitted in this class. All material must be original and Blackboard Originality Report must be less than 33% for each assignment. This 33% also includes all Discussion Posts and the use of a paraphrase generator or “word spinner” (AI).
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Case 12 Twitter Inc. in 2020
University of Phoenix
STR/581
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What factors contributed to the loss of confidence in the Twitter brand?
Several factors contributed to a loss of confidence in the Twitter brand. First, Twitter
usage peaked in early 2018 at 336 million monthly active users, then declined over the next two
years to 321 million by the end of 2018 and 330 million by the end of 2019 (Turnipseed, 2021).
The company responded to the decline in usage and argued that the initial inflated figures were
attributed to bots and spam. Twitter closed hundreds of thousands of accounts in 2019 to
eliminate bot-controlled user accounts and spam. While the company’s move was a good strategy
to retain genuine human users, the action resulted in a loss of confidence in Twitter’s user metrics
accuracy. Confidence was also lost on the part of the users whose honest accounts were flagged
as suspicious and closed without valid explanations. The second factor that resulted in the loss of
Twitter’s confidence as a brand was that its revenue could have been higher and needed to be
seen to achieve profitability (Turnipseed, 2021). In 2017 and 2018, the company finally achieved
substantial profitability after many years of losses. However, after 2018, the growth could have
been faster, where they exhibited only a 3% profitability increase in 2019 and a massive $8.4
million loss in 2020 (Turnipseed, 2021). Twitter’s loss-making venture especially frustrated
investors, which fueled skepticism about the company’s sustainable business model. In summary,
inaccurate user data, slowing revenue growth despite reaching profitability, shrinking usage,
competitive lagging, and past financial volatility significantly eroded trust in the strength of the
Twitter brand across the metrics that matter most.
Do the current actions present a strategy that would improve consumer trust? Why or why
not?
Twitter’s actions need to present a strategy that would improve consumer trust. While the
company has restructured to simplify operations and prepare for innovation, these moves seem
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aimed more at efficiency than rebuilding trust. Actions like cracking down on bots and spam may
improve metrics accuracy but could also further reduce usage numbers. The lack of a clear
strategic focus on transparency, privacy, or safety initiatives makes it unlikely current moves will
restore consumer confidence. With no apparent commitments to protecting user data, preventing
harassment, or communicating changes, users have little reason for renewed faith in Twitter’s
trustworthiness. Especially compared to competitors with stronger reputations around privacy
and security, like encrypted messaging platforms, Twitter lags in strategic messaging around
rebuilding consumer trust. Another Twitter strategy to improve consumer trust that backfired is
“Twitter Blue,” which was launched on 19 December 2022 (The Guardian, 2022). The strategy
aimed to allow users to add a blue verified tick next to their username to distinguish prominent
individuals and brands. The affordable $8 fee required for the verification saw numerous
impersonators of public figures, celebrities, and brands confirmed as legit, which could have
been better for Twitter (The Guardian, 2022). However, the company has since rectified its
mistake. The feature was reevaluated, and a more robust verification process has been
implemented to ensure that only legit users are verified.
Consider Twitter’s competitors. How does Twitter’s internal environment compare to the
internal environment of one of its competitors? Based on this analysis, what is the
probability that the strategic moves implemented by Twitter would lead to a sustainable
competitive advantage? Explain.
Unlike the encrypted messaging app Signal, Twitter’s internal environment focuses less
on policies, principles, and actions that build consumer trust. With a small team dedicated to
security and privacy-focused development and emphasizing engineering more than monetization,
Signal’s internal culture prioritizes user protections that bolster trust (Turnipseed, 2021).
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Twitter’s competing priorities around ad revenues and slower product development make trust a
secondary concern. Given Signal’s competitive advantage in trust and commitment to retaining
that edge, the probability that Twitter’s current strategy will lead to any sustainable competitive
advantage around consumer confidence seems very low. Without realigning its internal focus
toward transparency, privacy protections, and user well-being, Twitter will struggle to be
perceived as trustworthy as competitors purpose-built around those values (Turnipseed, 2021).
Attempting to gain an advantage on different dimensions like scale or network effects is unlikely
to overcome existing consumer skepticism.
Based on the information presented in this case study, what kind of business strategy would
you suggest to help Twitter achieve a competitive advantage?
The analysis of Twitter’s stagnant growth, declining consumer trust, and competitive
internal positioning indicate a revised business strategy is needed for a sustainable competitive
advantage (Turnipseed, 2021). Twitter should gradually focus on transparency, privacy
protections, and user safety to rebuild confidence. This requires prioritizing integrity and placing
more excellent value on consumer trust alongside scale and revenues. This means much more
stringent bot elimination, utilizing end-to-end encryption, emphasizing rapid response to harmful
content, expanding abuse report handling teams, and communicating directly to consumers about
Twitter’s values and impact. With competitors already established around trust-based positioning,
Twitter cannot simply market slight improvements but must holistically realign its culture.
Competing effectively means completely transforming consumer perception of Twitter’s
trustworthiness. The path forward is to learn from and join competitors in making trust the
centerpiece of everything Twitter says and does.
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References
The Guardian. (2022, November 11). Twitter blue check unavailable after impostor accounts
erupt on platform. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/nov/11/twitter-bluecheck-verification-impostor-accounts
Turnipseed, D. L. (2021). Case 12: Twitter Inc. in 2020 (dissertation). McGraw Hill Connect,
Montgomery, Alabama.
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