Twitter CEO Asks Users How They'd Improve the Platform Jack Dorsey copied Airbnb's Brian Chesky's approach of crowdsourcing advice for his own company.
By Lydia Belanger •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
On Christmas night, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky tweeted, "If @Airbnb could launch anything in 2017, what would it be?" Inspired by this callout, Jack Dorsey used his own company's product yesterday to take a page out of Chesky's book.
On Thursday, Dorsey tweeted, "Following in the footsteps of Brian Chesky: what's the most important thing you want to see Twitter improve or create in 2017? #Twitter2017"
Following in the footsteps of Brian Chesky: what's the most important thing you want to see Twitter improve or create in 2017? #Twitter2017
— jack (@jack) December 29, 2016
Related: Airbnb CEO Asks Twitter What His Company Should Launch in 2017
Earlier this week, Dorsey promoted Chesky's suggestions callout by quote-tweeting it with the caption, "Love this." Less than 24 hours after the thread began, Chesky tweeted that he had received more than 1,000 ideas -- everything from tips for improving Airbnb's booking interface to expanding the company to Mars.
Respondents to Dorsey's brainstorm session included techno-sociologist Zeynep Tufekci, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark and Box co-founder and CEO Aaron Levie. As of Friday morning at 9:49 a.m., Dorsey's initial tweet had garnered 5,960 replies, 1,309 retweets and 2,520 likes. (He also created a similar thread for Square, the other company he leads, which has received 219 replies.)
@jack Tools that support better conversation and control over one's attention on the site. Both sorely lacking. See: https://t.co/JVAqwWSZwm
— Zeynep Tufekci (@zeynep) December 29, 2016
@jack maybe a commitment to trustworthy journalism and working with networks of good faith, like @firstdraftnews, https://t.co/ykfhQGLUKr
— craignewmark (@craignewmark) December 29, 2016
.@jack autocorrect the word "nuclear" to "cotton candy" to ensure we don't accidentally go to war due to a president's tweet.
— Aaron Levie (@levie) December 30, 2016
Related: Twitter's Jack Dorsey on How Entrepreneurs Should Use Twitter
Dorsey received several suggestions about cracking down on bullying and harassment on Twitter, to which he replied that the company has done a lot of work but has a lot more to do.
@JGoodDFC made progress here and lots more to do
— jack (@jack) December 30, 2016
The thread was also a forum for debate about a feature many users have demanded for quite some time: Tweet editing. Dozens of people weighed in with thoughts about time limits and clear labels for edited tweets.
This is our most requested feature (today & always). Mostly to quickly fix mistakes. Anything beyond would need to show revision history https://t.co/fHtGNjkuEx
— jack (@jack) December 29, 2016
Twitter has implemented a few product tweaks this year, such as removing usernames from the 140-character count of tweet replies, but the core service has largely remained static since 2006. Now, faced with executive resignations and an inability to close a sale, Dorsey's callout seems like less of a matter of curiosity or PR and more of a practical means of boosting Twitter's appeal. However, Dorsey has long admired the use of Twitter by business leaders to engage with the public.
Related: Jack Dorsey Explains Why Elon Musk Has One of the Best Twitter Accounts
The CEO followed-up with a note that he would summarize the Twitter conversation on Friday.
Thanks for all the feedback and ideas. Will do a roundup tomorrow https://t.co/hMJMZ3P0Rz
— jack (@jack) December 30, 2016
