SXSW Report

Ran into Evan Williams while out at SXSW.

During his keynote conversation, Evan Williams, CEO of Twitter (@ev), discussed recent conversations the company was having about its identity.  Like any young company, they are strugging to define their culture and principles.  One thing that resonated with me was his discussion about “transparency.” 

We’ve all heard or used the word, probably fairly recently, and we can all agree it’s becoming a bit cliché.  During his discussion, Williams talked about Twitter’s philosophy of not being focused on transparency, but rather openness.  He used the analogy of a door, “It can be transparent and you can see through it, but when it’s open, it’s about getting in, shaping it, and defining it.”

So many, especially brands, struggle to provide “transparency,” and are unwilling to lose control of their brand or message.  As the world evolves, audiences will expect openness (more than just transparency), and they’llhave to let go of a little control to succeed (See “New Rules of Marketing & PR” post about David Meerman Scott’s presentation). 

Twitter encourages users and developers to take their APIs and create new things built upon their service.  While they may not be thrilled with all of the uses (Williams noted that they’ve recently sent several cease and desist letters, mostly to Twitter spam services), they know that its been the company’s openness that has allowed it to succeed.  Similarly, it was Facebook’s openess to application developers which also helped it to leave MySpace in the dust and even pass Google as the most visited site on the web.

While most brands are still working on “being transparent,” those who will succeed in this new world will be those who focus on being open.