First Facebook and now Twitter, Forrester takes aim at the value of the social site as Twitter opens itself up today at $45.17, which is a whole 73 percent above its IPO due to such high demand. For all those riding the wave out there today, take heed: when it comes to actually producing value for marketers, Twitter doesn’t satisfy.

In a report compiled by Forrester’s principal analyst Nate Elliott, a survey found that only 55 percent of marketers were happy with the business value provided by Twitter. While Twitter has a broad user base that continues to grow exponentially, especially internationally, the proven value of Twitter as a marketing channel has yet to be seen.

Furthermore, Elliott says that Twitter hasn’t sufficiently provided hard metrics, tools and advice that marketers need to thrive on Twitter. Fair enough, but Twitter appears to be making some great headway integrating social TV and infusing their newsfeed with photos. Innovation at Twitter is a fire that has only just been set alight.

Of note is Facebook’s response to Forrester’s previous report that brought Facebook ads to task, saying their report was “illogical and irresponsible.” Facebook has made metrics and tools easily available to marketers and is transparent about ad value, all of the things which Twitter apparently lacks. What Twitter has an edge over Facebook on is the ability to grow communities faster.

While Forrester may have a point, Twitter’s inherent value to marketers is obvious. We will hope it is just a matter of time before Twitter answers to the need for better and smarter tools for marketers without having to use data from outside apps.

 

Source: Digiday