A new web site called ExecTweet collects Twitter posts from assorted business executives.
The site got extraordinary attention on launch this week – here are stories in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and many others.
Why so much interest? Twitter watchers, admirers and detractors have been a-twitter for months debating if/when/how the company would develop a business model around its fast-growing text messaging service. ExecTweet hints, barely, that there may indeed be gold in them thar 140-character hills. A bit of the sponsorship revenue from launch sponsor Microsoft will trickle back to Twitter.
More impressively, and also barely, the site hints at value from aggregating and curating what people are saying via Twitter.
It’s a worthy and enchantingly personal experiment in alternate pathways to knowledge.
It also confirms that suits can be just as gaseous as the rest of us. That may be charming or a nuisance, and that’s entirely your call. You may indeed want to know what influential big-wigs are reading and discussing – but there’s a price for your curiosity. The price is time. Even with aggregation, curation or a nice client app like Tweetdeck that helps you manage your personal collection of big wigs, Twitter still demands a great deal of time from anyone in search of ideas, links, chuckles or whatever – all mashed up with gems like these:
Steve Case: First saw U2 in 81, seen many times since: Bad is my fave song but also like latest
Richard Branson: Thongs given out on our our first V Australia flight from Sydney to LA!
