Searching for the wisdom of the twits

March 5, 2009 | Anthony Ha | Comments | |


When President Barack Obama was inaugurated, I wrote a post about the new presidential website titled, “WhiteHouse.gov takes a page from Twitter’s playbook.” At the time, I thought the headline was a joke — because, ha ha, no one would expect nuanced policy discussion on the micro-blogging site with a 140-character limit — but it looks like I was actually peering into the Twitteriffic future.

On Friday, 20 “young business leaders” are headed to the White House  to discuss the economic crisis. Among those leaders are investor and former Googler Chris Sacca and Twitter co-founder Evan Williams (insert obligatory joke about Twitter’s business model here), and both of them decided it would be a good idea to ask Twitter users for suggestions. Even using Twitter’s new front-and-center search feature, I haven’t been able to count the flood of the responses, but there are a lot — Williams alone seems to receive a new policy suggestion every few seconds.

Now, I’m a bit skeptical that many worthwhile ideas will come out of this attempt to tap the wisdom of the crowds — Sacca and Williams both seem like really bright guys (duh), but this is an exercise that begins, “Guys, give me an economic stimulus plan in 10 words or less!” so, uh, yeah, I have my doubts. But as a peek into the Twitter hive mind, it’s much more fascinating than, say, the list of Twitter trends.

Naturally, there are quite a few platitudes about entrepreneurship and innovation, plus some complaints that the media reporting on bad news is making things worse (surprise! I disagree), but I was glad to see some genuinely thought-provoking tweets, as well as delightfully out-there thoughts, not to mention a few good jokes. Here are some favorites, good and bad:

“Ask for government data to be available in machine-readable formats. More eyes poring over data will catch problems earlier.”

“Create a federally funded homeless shelter for failed entrepreneurs”

“you could say that we are all in this together. this economic downturn is being felt even in mongolia and it could get much worse here”

“you could tell them to talk to Rep. Ron Paul. He has a fantastic economics policy!”

“We’re all doomed”

Next Story: Want all 25,000 iPhone apps? That will be $71,442.69.
Previous Story: Palm investor puts his mouth where his money is

Bookmark and Share

Tags: ,

Photo of Anthony Ha

About the Author, Anthony Ha

Anthony is VentureBeat's assistant editor, as well as its reporter on enterprise technology, cloud computing, and tech policy. Before joining VentureBeat in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.

  • Concerned citizen
    This is ridiculous. How about inviting some business leaders that run businesses that actually make money? Their leadership is what's needed. Sickening.
  • kma
    This is a underhanded plan of their part to develop a way to get "group" conversation and ideas out abut their new socialist agenda. They aren't discussing the economic plan. They are discussing how to push people into believing that the economic plan is working!
    Can you say BRAINWASHING! They have to be everywhere including twitter!
  • Listen to kma!!!!
    So insightful... You obviously have insider information. I wish you had your own website – more of your no-nonsense truth speak needs to be heard! SARCASM!
  • Psh. There's nothing new about socialism.
  • Oh, pleeese! Do not worry. They will speak to President and start making bales of money as a result of this conversation. For example, all FEMA workers will be mandated to tweet... and Google already got their man in White House as nation CIO, so expect GoogleDocts to become a federal standard in no time.
  • Actually, I think it's a good idea to invite Evan, and others like him. Many big businesses have showed us over and over again, that the desire for profit and the cloak of secrecy, has led to immoral, unethical, and in some cases, illegal behavior.

    We need more transparency in business, and Twitter is headed towards that, as are other companies who believe that doing the right thing, is an essential part of their business strategy. It's indeed, how you attract more clients, do more business, AND help the world.

    For more on business who do the right thing AND make money, see the company, Patagonia, and read their founder's book, Let My People Go Surfing: http://tinyurl.com/9vea2x
  • kma
    R U an FING idiot?
  • Hold your horses there, Concerned citizen.

    Some of the most powerful business leaders in the world are the ones that got us into this mess in the first place.

    Inviting thought leaders like Ev Williams from Twitter goes to show the openness of this administration and their need for innovation. Clearly, input from all angles is needed, but to say that inviting innovation is ridiculous is totally offside.
  • Boff
    Yeah. Sacca isn't exactly known for his balanced political views, either.
  • So we should only invite moderates to the White House?
  • concerned citizen, i while i agree that experienced business men have priceless (ummm) experience... you're still an idiot. what got us INTO this mess was CONVENTIONAL wisdom. what the world needs is INNOVATIVE PASSION. Where else would you recommend getting THAT?
    - @journik
  • As I posted @Sacca (actually, to his blog post just a little while ago), I would try to raise awareness for something like http://conversative.net/blog/2009/02/24/world-2...

    :) nmw
  • Been online since when ......2006 I believe....still online and claiming
    not to have made any money in the US.....yeah thats why Obama wants
    Ev there....NOT !

    http://twitter.com/bobriddell
  • Crowdsourcing policy?

    While I dig the spirit of the idea, I must concur with the sentiment of the last of your favorite examples:

    "We're all doomed."
  • hirenpatelatl
    I think that there are more facets to this than you're taking into account. There are several ways that crowd sourcing ideas can play a part.

    1) They may already have a general plan that they want to go with. The ideas that come could be used to add nuances and marketability to the final plan. 10 words or less is great. Whatever plan they come up with has to have a BLUF (bottom line up front - stolen from manager-tools guys) message. The 10 words that fit there plan can be integrated into there marketing slogan.

    2) The best idea doesn't always win. You may never get a chance to execute your idea if you can't sell it. If so we'd all have betamax players collecting dust in our entertainment centers.

    3) Fundamentally, innovation is what is going to provide long-term growth to this economy. If you run a large business innovation from outside sources is not necessarily in your best interest because it may cannibalize your existing business model.

    4) You're more likely to be open to ideas if you've felt your perspective has been heard (understood).

    --- Cheers
    http://twitter.com/hirenpatelatl
  • kma
    OMG shut up!
    This is not about economics................he is going to the White house to dicuss mass "group" conversation and brainwashing of the idiots like you into becoming good little socialists!
  • Stop the pork. Why should we shoulder the cost of tattoo removal and badmitton courts! Americans need food, shelter and security. Those should be top priority issues if we're really talking "Change"!
  • I don't think a generic imperative to "Stop the pork" is very helpful, because that's something politicians hear and say all the time. Much more useful would be specifics about what we should cut, or how we can meaningfully distinguish between "pork" and "projects that stimulate that economy." Y'know, ideas that don't fit into a 140-character message.
  • He probably wants you there to tell them how they can make Twitter secure enough to allow constant contact in the Administration. Tell him to get on TV and tell the people "Yes! We Can!" that he won't allow the banks to fail and that he's putting his healthcare/education/tax-hike on hold until the economy settles. It's hard for people to be productive and innovative when 1) they wonder if they will ever benefit from the fruits of their 18 hours/day labor or 2) they worry that whatever they have saved up so far is going to go down the drain.

    Would you be able to soldier on unless you were pretty sure Twitter would really pay off in some manner--money, fame, fabulous job offer, etc.?
  • 1. Ask them for no capital gains tax/no dividend tax on startups, to counterbalance investor fear.

    2. Ask for government subsidies for entrepreneurial activity - legal services, networking events, incubation space, office computer equipment. (In the form of coupons for the self-employed).

    3. Ask for an income tax holiday on the newly self-employed for one year, that everyone can take advantage of once in their lifetime (put a $100k cap if you want). It will motivate everyone to consider taking responsibility for generating economic growth.

    Note: Encouraging any size company will stimulate the economy, but startups tend to grow the economy in unexplored directions (which are more likely to be non-competitive), and startup personnel tend to have higher morale (which means higher production).
  • Yep. Ask for money, money, money.
  • Your article links to @fakesacca, which, in case you were wondering, is not the "official" account for Chris Sacca. I believe that you were looking for @sacca, or http://www.twitter.com/sacca

    Maybe the media isn't making bad news worse, but getting the real news right would be a nice start.
  • par7133
    "President, let's defeat status quo to concentrate us on innovation and creativity from now not in years.. you know the 140-character limit?"