You know what I like best about Twitter?
It isn\’t the fact that it\’s easy to use and a ton of fun (although those are important).
It isn\’t the fact that I can communicate with some fantastic people, get answers to questions and pick up information and advice that I couldn\’t have learned any other way (although those are important too.)
And it isn\’t even that it\’s a fantastic marketing tool that drives traffic, builds brands and increases sales (although that would be a good enough reason alone.)
It\’s that Jack Dorsey doesn\’t know how to use it.
His tweets are terrible. They\’re dull, uninteresting and about as much fun to read as the small print in a life insurance contract.
And yet he created Twitter. The whole thing was his idea. He oversaw the creation of the system and after being the CEO, he\’s now chairman of Twitter\’s board.
But he doesn\’t know how to tweet.
Other staff at Twitter do. Co-founder Biz Stone\’s tweets are interesting and so are CEO Evan Williams\’. Heck, even Biz Stone\’s wife writes some great tweets about her work rehabilitating wildlife.
But Jack Dorsey? His most interesting tweet recently was \”Buying a bag.\”
Is that what he created Twitter to tell us?
So why do I find that impressive?
Because it shows that sometimes the best thing you can do with an idea is share it.
Now, I don\’t mean that if you have a killer idea, you should put it on the Web and let everyone else make money out of it. You still have to protect yourself.
What I mean is that you shouldn\’t be afraid to let people play with what you\’ve created, add to it and take it in directions you would never have thought of alone.
There can be a tendency when an idea is running around in your head to hold it close and keep control. But if you let your users contribute, encourage them to build on what you\’ve created and follow what they\’re doing with the start you\’ve given them, you might just be surprised at where your idea ends up – and how good it was too.