PSMS beware of Twitter

I believe that a disruptive technology for the PSMS might be Twitter. It's free!! In the book, What Would Google Do? they explain how free is a business model.

Free is impossible to compete against. The most efficient marketplace is a free marketplace. Money gets in the way. It costs money to market and to acquire customers so you can sell things to them.

This is contrary to the concept of PSMS, specially for subscription. Why would anyone subscribe to a "joke" subscription where you get charged $6.99 monthly, when anyone can follow George Lopez, Dane Cook, Dave Chapelle, or even your funniest friend on Twitter for a standard rate (zero, zip, nada)? I encouraged my company to move away from subscriptions, and to start thinking on this business model, even if we currently have a "cash cow".

Another reason of considering Twitter as a disruptive technology is its simplicity. It's so simple to tweet. Even TV shows as Meet The Press, whose average viewers are not your average techie, can be follow on Twitter. Christensen's The Innovator's Dilemma explains that,

Two additional important characteristics of disruptive technologies consistently affects product life cycles and competitive dynamics: First, the attributes that make disruptive products worthless in mainstream markets typically become their strongest selling points in emerging markets; and second, disruptive technologies products tend to be simpler, cheaper, and more reliable and convenient than establish products.

It is obvious that this disruptive technology is coming - and it's coming down hard. I personally thing is going to be a good thing. The users will be getting better service, and will be more in control. We are looking forward to Twitter specially for Latin America.