Skip to main content
  • CNSNews.com
  • MRC TV
  • Biz & Media
  • Culture & Media
  • TimesWatch
  • Take Action!

Join Us @:
Facebook
Twitter
Amazon Kindle

Free email alerts!

NewsBusters logo
May 22, 2013
  • Home
  • Blogs
  • About
  • Forum
  • Take Action
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Search
  • RSS

Hot Topics

  • Obama Targets Fox News
  • IRS Targets Tea Party
  • Censoring the News
Home » Blogs » Jeff Poor's blog
  • MSNBC’s Schultz Admits He Doesn’t Know Much About ObamaCare, Still Fawns Over Law
  • Veteran Journalist Brit Hume Condemns FBI Investigation Of Fox’s James Rosen
  • After Terrible Storm, ABC Devotes 10 Minutes to Crime, Botox and Entertainment, Skimps on IRS
  • ABC and CBS Ignore Obama Administration Investigating FNC's James Rosen
  • NBC's Gregory Scolds GOP for Comparing Obama to Nixon
  • CBS Highlights Ex-IRS Staffer Who Declares There Were No Politics at Cincinnati Office
  • Monday's Amnesia: CNN Covers Powerball Jackpot Winner as Much as IRS, AP, Benghazi Scandals
  • The Obama Scandal the Big Three Networks Aren't Telling You About

CNBC’s Greenburg, CNET.com’s Del Conte Suggest Twitter's 'Fail Whale' Could Be Its End as a Viable Business

By Jeff Poor | July 02, 2010 | 15:25

A  A
Jeff Poor's picture

The Twitter "Fail Whale": An irritating part of anyone's day that regularly uses social networking in their day-to-day activities. But could this endanger the viability of Twitter as long-term business?

A couple of analysts say think so. Both CNET.com senior editor Natali Del Conte and Herb Greenburg of CNBC Business News suggested Twitter's infrastructure problems could pose issues for Twitter's survival on CNBC's July 2 "Power Lunch."

"Twitter's down all the time," Greenburg said. "I love using Twitter. I will say it here and now - if Twitter were a business, it would be broke. Wait! Twitter is a business, but it's a private business. Maybe it's the type of business that should go public in this environment because those are the kind of companies that go public.

Greenburg referenced to claims that Google was a monopoly and pointed out Twitter is in a similar position since Twitter's spotty service affects all users, who have no other alternative.

"To tie this together, remember, Google had the Buzz which didn't do much," Greenburg said. "Twitter you can argue is a monopoly in this space. But it's a monopoly that is constantly out and we have to put up with it. And somebody at some point should make a point about this because we're all users."

But Del Conte explained the problem with the Twitter is that its business model doesn't allow for it to invest in infrastructure since there hasn't been an established way for the service to make enough money to do so.

"They just don't have the Google dollars," Del Conte said. "Google has this big huge infrastructure. They have servers and things to prevent this from happening. And Twitter is still just relatively new. It's in its infancy. Things like World Cup really pushed Twitter down because people are just flooding the service."

CNBC "Power Lunch" co-host Michelle Caruso Cabrera made the point that Twitter would seem like a candidate for investment - a product with huge demand. However, it has some management issues.

"If I'm an investor, I look at that and say, ‘Wow, this is a product with huge demand, but it's not being managed well,'" Caruso Cabrera said.

But Del Conte warned that if Twitter didn't figure out how to overcome these issues and begin to invest in its service, the social networking giant might not continue to stay in business.

"[T]hey've been coming out with small ideas for how they're going to monetize with tweets inside your stream that are advertising," Del Conte said. "And a lot of people are like, ‘No, don't want anything to do with that.' But I think that we've become very tolerant of targeted advertising and that would be fine. We'll see that in the next couple of years as Twitter continues to expand. I'm not worried that they won't figure out how to make money. I'm worried they won't figure out how to continue to stay in business."

About the Author

Jeff Poor is Click here to follow Jeff Poor on Twitter.
  • Business Coverage
  • Economy
  • Herb Greenburg
  • Michelle Caruso Cabrera
  • Natali Del Conte
  • Media Business
  • Power Lunch
  • CNBC
  • Twitter
  • Web 2.0
  • Video
  • Jeff Poor's blog
  • Login to post comments
  • Printer-friendly version
Stop Censoring The Gosnell Trial!
Stop Censoring The Gosnell Trial!

Editors' Picks

  • Look at NYT's partisan-hack rewrite of the IRS hearing (Draw and STRIKE!)
  • Study: Christians who tithe have better finances than those who don't (TGC)
  • The media are willing accomplices to Obama (PolitiChicks)
  • FBI has suspects in mind in Benghazi; Obama prefers to try them in court (AP)
  • The folly of 'do something' liberalism (Patriot Update)
  • DOJ targeted more Fox News reporters than Rosen (Twitchy)
  • WashPost vs. WashPost on IRS probe (Ed Morrissey)
  • Media too prone to fall sway to Obama's referrent power (Salena Zito)
  • Five reasons to keep government out of Internet governance (Eli Dourado)
Chuck Norris's picture
Chuck Norris
Chuck Norris Column: Why Tim Tebow Is an Ultimate Clutch Player
Walter E. Williams's picture
Walter E. Williams
Walter E. Williams Column: Hating America
Michelle Malkin's picture
Michelle Malkin
Malkin Column: Obama's Emptiest Benghazi Talking Point
Ann Coulter's picture
Ann Coulter
Coulter Column: Sorry, Sen. Rubio, But Your Immigration Plan Is Still Problematic
David Limbaugh's picture
David Limbaugh
David Limbaugh Column: Partisan Obama Culture Spawned a More Abusive IRS
More >

RSS FeedAmazon KindleFacebookTwitter

Stop Censoring The News!

Gosnell's Just the Tip of the Iceberg
more cartoons
  • NYT Gets Sen. Cruz's Opposition to Marketplace Fairness Act Dead Wrong
  • Oops! CNN Commentator Falsely Accuses Okla. State Rep While Trying to Score Liberal Points on Tornado
  • Sen. Whitehouse Blames GOP For Okla. Tornado, Storms, Rising Seas, Etc.
  • On Leno: Kids Ask Obama the Darndest Questions
  • Morning Joe Meteorologist: Tornado Averted 'By The Grace of Whatever'
More >
NewsBusters

Executive Editor
Matthew Sheffield

Editor at Large
Brent Baker

Senior Editors
Tim Graham
Rich Noyes

Managing Editor
Ken Shepherd

Associate Editor
Noel Sheppard

Contributing Editors
Tom Blumer
Geoffrey Dickens
Dan Gainor
David Limbaugh
Mithridate Ombud
Clay Waters
Scott Whitlock

Senior Contributor
Mark Finkelstein

Contributing Writers
Matthew Balan
Michael M. Bates
Erin R. Brown
Jack Coleman
Kyle Drennen
Douglas Ernst
P. J. Gladnick
Stephen Gutowski
Matt Hadro
D. S. Hube
Kathleen McKinley
Dave Pierre
Amy Ridenour
Julia A. Seymour
Terry Trippany
Rusty Weiss
Brad Wilmouth

Publisher
Brent Bozell

Site Design
Dialog New Media

 

  • Home
  • Blogs
  • About
  • Forum
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Search
  • Account
  • rss
  • CNSNews
  • MRC TV
  • Biz & Media
  • Culture & Media
  • Take Action!
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Amazon Kindle
  • Advertise
  • Jobs

Copyright © 2005-2013 NewsBusters.
Privacy Policy | Terms of Use