Tech Expert: What Twitter Has To Do To Survive

Twitter Inc TWTR shares tumbled more than 11 percent Thursday after the company released less-than-impressive quarterly earnings. But technology expert Sean Udall isn’t ready to jump ship.

Wait Patiently

“The bears are going to be totally empowered today,” Udall said on Benzinga’s PreMarket Prep radio show. “They’re going to say Twitter’s dead, [CEO Jack] Dorsey’s dead. You know what? I still think that Twitter doesn’t need to change that much.

“But they do need to change two or three very critical things in very specific ways, and then the whole user experience and the power of the platform and everything magnifies.”

Twitter And Change

He proposed “simple” changes, like a menu for Twitter live or the capacity to follow topics rather than users. Part of the problem is the overwhelming initiation process, he explained. New users need to build a following and decide which thousand or so accounts to follow, and the demanding process required to participate has been a turnoff for potential tweeters.

“Twitter’s a marathon, not a sprint,” Udall said. “The only way to get good at Twitter is you have to devote a large part of your life for about three months to figure it out. Most people aren’t going to do that.”

But they may be enticed by a different model. Udall hypothesized that people want to know what’s being discussed — to follow terms, subjects, hashtags and sentiment changes as opposed to user accounts.

“I think if Twitter just could have an awakening and realize that they need an onboarding process where people can follow interests and not have to figure out what user accounts to follow, this thing could be — it still has a chance to be — a massive, massive product,” he said. “If they kind of stick to this user-account-only thesis, they can get to 400 million monthly active users or something, but it’s just going to be hard to be a $100-billion market-cap company if they don’t change the paradigm.”

Bottom Line

For now, Udall is satisfied with the stock’s mid-$16 value and consistent, profitable runs.

“If the next year is the same, there will be 10 or 11 or 12 two-point, $2 trades on Twitter,” he said.

And as for the company, itself, Udall predicts a positive future. “The power of the platform will get recognized over time, the DAU [daily active user] numbers will get stickier over time and keep growing,” he said.

At last check, shares of Twitter were down 10.15 percent at $16.82.