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Machine learning on your images and videos to "enhance our strength in live and video and opens up a whole lot of exciting creative possibilities for Twitter"!

by niftich 10y ago

Machine learning on your images and videos to "enhance our strength in live and video and opens up a whole lot of exciting creative possibilities for Twitter"! As ironically stated here [1], "The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads." Though Twitter has a good record of open-sourcing internal infrastructure projects, I think it's it's safe not to expect any substantive amount of this work to see the light of day. On the other hand, the quality of their search and recommendations when it comes to non-text content will significantly improve. They're really doubling down on Twitter being the "best place to see what's happening and why it matters, first", which is a welcome change from the confusing signalling in months prior. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11930354 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11930354

heroprotagonist 10y ago
> They're really doubling down on Twitter being the "best place to see what's happening and why it matters, first" It's a little ironic that they announce this in a blog post.
- theseatoms 10y ago
  Not really. This isn't the sort of news that most people need to know "first", or alternatively "live."
  - jsprogrammer 10y ago
    Or "ever".
- talmand 10y ago
  Wouldn't the Twitter equivalent be a tweet that points to the blog post?
Zephyr314 10y ago
> "The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads." There is a strong argument that as long as they continue to publish and produce open source (which they have been doing) then you could think of ads as just a source of funding and tons of data to continue to push the state of the art. It can also be a stepping stone to other ventures [1]. [1]: http://www.wsj.com/articles/where-would-we-be-without-internet-ads-1436120809 http://www.wsj.com/articles/where-would-we-be-without-intern...
- rqebmm 10y ago
  Since the last few generations used weapons research to fund scientific advancements, I guess this is progress after all!
  - ben_jones 10y ago
    Don't mind the huge military-industrial complex that has helped derail education, health care, retirement-funding, ...
    - abakker 10y ago
      Remember that the US military Active Duty + civilian jobs makes it probably the largest employer in the US. Not everything they do is great, but they pay salaries and benefits.
      - drewstiff 10y ago
        A government employer for the sake of employment... Marx would be high-fiving himself in his grave.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- cpeterso 10y ago
  Side benefits from the advertising-industrial complex?
sdegutis 10y ago
> As ironically stated here, "The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads." Thanks. Perfectly succinct summary of what I hate so much about today's business world. Dear all advertisers: how about you stop trying to figure out how to make people want your product/service more, and focus on making it discoverable and clearly understood when the time comes where they finally realize they do want such a product/service and go seeking it out from someone? And if they never do end up wanting it, MAYBE THAT'S FINE and maybe it's time you stop selling it?
- niftich 10y ago
  In even further irony, in this particular case, they're one and the same.
- grok2 10y ago
  As I was reading your comment, I was thinking - "Why not? Why shouldn't advertisers figure out how to advertise in ways that comes somewhat close to what you are suggesting, but make you want to buy before you know you want something?" ;-)... Sometimes I think we are in a difficult dichotomy -- we like Twitter and we consume it voraciously and love that it is free, but we don't want them to use advertising as a source of revenue even though that might be the source that keeps it alive for us to consume. And, for free!
  - sdegutis 10y ago
    For sure, we're a greedy, selfish, and short-sighted species. But that doesn't make the advertisers right for doing what people are implicitly asking them to.
    - true_religion 10y ago
      People say 'the advertisers', but don't most people in the world work for a company that uses ads? It seems that there's a mentality of compartmentalization, where people believe there to be 'evil ad companies' that somehow do nothing but make ads and don't actually sell products, nor employ people in the creative industry.
robbiemitchell 10y ago
This is the actual source of the quote: www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_17/b4225060960537.htm
fizx 10y ago
> "The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads." The best minds of the previous generation were thinking about how to kill Russians. I'd say it's an upgrade.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- GrumpyYoungMan 10y ago
  >The best minds of the previous generation were thinking about how to kill Russians. I'd say it's an upgrade. At least the results of the previous generations research went (largely) unused, whereas the results of ad clicking research is targeted against and used on people on a daily basis, to their considerable detriment. An upgrade? If so, it seems kind of dubious at best.
  - debaserab2 10y ago
    Only on HN would someone compare starting a nuclear war to click advertising.
    - ben_jones 10y ago
      Well only one of those two things actually happened (thankfully).
      - deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
    - J_Darnley 10y ago
      Global nuclear war sounds immensely more fun than the present.
      - placeybordeaux 10y ago
        Surely you're joking.
joshdotsmith 10y ago
> "The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads." What are people doing to change this? What do you think needs done? Asking seriously because I'm actively trying to figure out the answers to these questions.
- niftich 10y ago
  Make an 'ask HN' to keep this thread closer to its original topic. I'm sure many of us would like to share our perspectives on the matter.
danmaz74 10y ago
> "The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads." That's just half the truth. The other half of the best are thinking how to skim money off financial transactions.
hkmurakami 10y ago
Frankly, the majority of the absolute very best minds of my generation are now tenure track associate professors. They received offers from substantially all of the best research institutions in the country. Much of the very very good minds are thinking of ways to make us click more on ads.

by niftich 10y ago

heroprotagonist 10y ago

> They're really doubling down on Twitter being the "best place to see what's happening and why it matters, first" It's a little ironic that they announce this in a blog post.

theseatoms 10y ago
Not really. This isn't the sort of news that most people need to know "first", or alternatively "live."
- jsprogrammer 10y ago
  Or "ever".
talmand 10y ago
Wouldn't the Twitter equivalent be a tweet that points to the blog post?

Zephyr314 10y ago

> "The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads." There is a strong argument that as long as they continue to publish and produce open source (which they have been doing) then you could think of ads as just a source of funding and tons of data to continue to push the state of the art. It can also be a stepping stone to other ventures [1]. [1]: http://www.wsj.com/articles/where-would-we-be-without-internet-ads-1436120809 http://www.wsj.com/articles/where-would-we-be-without-intern...

rqebmm 10y ago
Since the last few generations used weapons research to fund scientific advancements, I guess this is progress after all!
- ben_jones 10y ago
  Don't mind the huge military-industrial complex that has helped derail education, health care, retirement-funding, ...
  - abakker 10y ago
    Remember that the US military Active Duty + civilian jobs makes it probably the largest employer in the US. Not everything they do is great, but they pay salaries and benefits.
    - drewstiff 10y ago
      A government employer for the sake of employment... Marx would be high-fiving himself in his grave.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
cpeterso 10y ago
Side benefits from the advertising-industrial complex?

sdegutis 10y ago

> As ironically stated here, "The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads." Thanks. Perfectly succinct summary of what I hate so much about today's business world. Dear all advertisers: how about you stop trying to figure out how to make people want your product/service more, and focus on making it discoverable and clearly understood when the time comes where they finally realize they do want such a product/service and go seeking it out from someone? And if they never do end up wanting it, MAYBE THAT'S FINE and maybe it's time you stop selling it?

niftich 10y ago
In even further irony, in this particular case, they're one and the same.
grok2 10y ago
As I was reading your comment, I was thinking - "Why not? Why shouldn't advertisers figure out how to advertise in ways that comes somewhat close to what you are suggesting, but make you want to buy before you know you want something?" ;-)... Sometimes I think we are in a difficult dichotomy -- we like Twitter and we consume it voraciously and love that it is free, but we don't want them to use advertising as a source of revenue even though that might be the source that keeps it alive for us to consume. And, for free!
- sdegutis 10y ago
  For sure, we're a greedy, selfish, and short-sighted species. But that doesn't make the advertisers right for doing what people are implicitly asking them to.
  - true_religion 10y ago
    People say 'the advertisers', but don't most people in the world work for a company that uses ads? It seems that there's a mentality of compartmentalization, where people believe there to be 'evil ad companies' that somehow do nothing but make ads and don't actually sell products, nor employ people in the creative industry.

robbiemitchell 10y ago

This is the actual source of the quote: www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_17/b4225060960537.htm

fizx 10y ago

> "The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads." The best minds of the previous generation were thinking about how to kill Russians. I'd say it's an upgrade.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
GrumpyYoungMan 10y ago
>The best minds of the previous generation were thinking about how to kill Russians. I'd say it's an upgrade. At least the results of the previous generations research went (largely) unused, whereas the results of ad clicking research is targeted against and used on people on a daily basis, to their considerable detriment. An upgrade? If so, it seems kind of dubious at best.
- debaserab2 10y ago
  Only on HN would someone compare starting a nuclear war to click advertising.
  - ben_jones 10y ago
    Well only one of those two things actually happened (thankfully).
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
  - J_Darnley 10y ago
    Global nuclear war sounds immensely more fun than the present.
    - placeybordeaux 10y ago
      Surely you're joking.

joshdotsmith 10y ago

> "The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads." What are people doing to change this? What do you think needs done? Asking seriously because I'm actively trying to figure out the answers to these questions.

niftich 10y ago
Make an 'ask HN' to keep this thread closer to its original topic. I'm sure many of us would like to share our perspectives on the matter.

danmaz74 10y ago

> "The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads." That's just half the truth. The other half of the best are thinking how to skim money off financial transactions.

hkmurakami 10y ago

Frankly, the majority of the absolute very best minds of my generation are now tenure track associate professors. They received offers from substantially all of the best research institutions in the country. Much of the very very good minds are thinking of ways to make us click more on ads.