This year in March, Twitter celebrated it’s 5th birthday.
What a success story.
Just 5 years ago, I remember Twitter was thought of as almost a joke. It was dubbed the “site about nothing”. A site where people would share the most mundane of thoughts. A fad.
People might have been a bit off.
We now see celebrities with millions of followers, big businesses building a Twitter presence, and companies paying big dollars to get the most popular Tweeters to promote their product.
Almost lost in this massive success story, is the fact that Evan Williams and Biz Stone (Twitter’s founders) are a great profile in persistence.
We have all been to the point where we try something and fail. It is at this point we make our decisions. Do we try again, try something different or give up? This decision, or one much like it has plagued most of us at one time. Evan Williams and Biz Stone reached this point when their startup Podio failed. They have since went on to imply there lack of interest in podcasts led to the failure.
They didn’t give up. Their next project was Twitter and as you know, despite all of the negative press and being the butt of jokes, it has gone on to become a phenomenon. Would Twitter be a success if it weren’t for the lessons learned from previous failures? No one knows, but I wouldn’t count against it.
This story illustrates two truths:
1. If you have interest in something, you are more likely to succeed! Evan Williams himself credited his lack of podcast interest as a reason the startup Podio failed.
2. Failure is not an ending, it is a lesson learned, and a springboard for future success.
Next time you feel like giving up, think about the story of the Twitter founders. Your chance at success could be right around the corner.
Related posts:
Test
