Twitter’s moment
Twitter’s IPO will be yet another defining moment of the new economy. It is likely to come with a valuation of $10 billion into a market far more wary after Facebook’s IPO got a lukewarm response last year. Investors may tread carefully in a world where style seems to be far greater than substance. The IPO must succeed if the new tech isn’t to be written off as another bubble in the dotcom tradition of great revenue growths marked by huge losses. There has been a remarkable public response to the concept of anyone putting up his worldview in less than 140 characters to everyone who might be interested. But while brevity may be the soul of wit, when it came to unveiling its IPO plans, Twitter had an 800-page treatise rather than the tweet that first made this public. We hope there won’t be a letdown like Facebook, which had to wait a year before the stock’s market price reached the IPO valuation of $38. Twitter has made history of sorts in eight years. It played a significant role in the Arab Spring that began in North Africa and swept through the region like a raging fire. The world understood there are ways of communicating not thought of before. There had to be a leap of faith in people to accept such effects of the new economy, but it’s already time for a reality check as financial wizards analyse if strong brand recognition alone will lead to big money for the promoters.