To Tweet, Or Not To Tweet?

Twitter has been undergoing some flack lately, with Bill George, Harvard Business professor and former Medtronic CEO stating that it's becoming, "the BlackBerry of social media." Personally, I'm not sure what validity an old dude from Harvard has in predicting the future of tech (P.S., Medtronic is a medical technology company; yes, I had to look it up.) However, you have to give the old guy credit - he's learning from other failed tech companies' mistakes and acknowledging the necessary change needed.

Twitter's user base has been growing at a snail's pace for the last three years, and executive management is being forced to make some major changes. Their current CEO is stepping down on July 1 of this year, and we can only imagine the stream of changes to follow. Can this former tech giant still serve a valuable purpose with newer social platforms emerging constantly? Can they keep up?

Announcing that users can direct message any account even if they don't follow you is a start. Lifting the character limit ban on character count in direct messages is another step forward; however, Twitter's real unlocked value lies elsewhere. Twitter is starting to unveil a different value prop outside of seeing what Taylor Swift's male dress code is for her 1989 tour:

And here we have Curt, demonstrating the newly mandated male dress code for the 1989 World Tour. http://pic.twitter.com/kwpyhviVWY
- Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) June 24, 2015

Twitter has been impacting lives for the greater good, one example being in Panama City. Apparently this city had a major pothole problem, and if you've ever drove across one you can sympathize. An advertising agency called P4 Ogilvy & Mather decided enough was enough, and they came up with a device to place in potholes that automatically tweets the government, alerting them to fix it until it gets fixed. Miraculously, the pothole problem seemed to disappear.

This obviously isn't as sexy of a marketing campaign - or holds the marketing power Twitter needs right now - but it opens up doors to a plethora of opportunities Twitter can leverage to prove its worth. What do you think?

Personally, I say keep on keeping on, Twitter. Show those haters you're still the baddest bird in the interwebs.