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I'm always surprised that Twitter has managed to stay in business so long. Anaemic growth, massive spam and bot accounts, an advertising platform that's hostile

I'm always surprised that Twitter has managed to stay in business so long. Anaemic growth, massive spam and bot accounts, an advertising platform that's hostile to most small advertisers, a user-base that makes YouTube's comments look downright gentle, constant hostility to third party developers...and yet it continues to chug along.

simonbarker87 8y ago
I agree, and one specific thing that is very annoying is that tech podcasts seem to rely on Twitter as their sole means of communication with the show. Some shows and networks don’t have email addresses, just twitter handles, and others actively tell you not to email their address as you probably will just get deleted. I’m not on twitter and have no desire to be but I would like to contact the show once in a blue moon.
cpeterso 8y ago
Buzzfeed posted an article called "How Twitter Made The Tech World's Most Unlikely Comeback" just today: https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexkantrowitz/how-twitter-made-the-tech-worlds-most-unlikely-comeback https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexkantrowitz/how-twitter-made-the... even as those eulogies were being published, things started changing. Twitter began beating earnings expectations. Star ex-employees trickled back in, finding a new, more positive internal culture than the toxic one they’d left. Advertisers came back too, as did users. The company finally began addressing its trolling problem. And its stock, once unappealing to analysts like Nathanson at $14, is now trading above $46. It’s still somewhat taboo to say it, but it’s no longer possible to deny it: Twitter is making an unexpected, somewhat miraculous comeback. It is the first major consumer social company to lose users and start growing again in a meaningful way.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- jumbopapa 8y ago
  I really think they need to thank President Trump for that. He saved Twitter.
  - ceejayoz 8y ago
    They did, in December, when they exempted "government entities" from their abuse policies. http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-has-immunity-in-twitter-new-abuse-policy-2017-12 http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-has-immunity-in-...
    - vkou 8y ago
      It's not illegal/abuse/threats of violence when the President does it.
  - testplzignore 8y ago
    Fun fact: I just did a search on a news database. Roughly 15% of stories that mention Twitter also mention Trump, and roughly half of those seem to be about Trump's tweets. I don't know if Trump is really causing Twitter usage to increase, but it has certainly made people who don't use Twitter more aware of it. If you compare the awareness/user ratio on the various social media platforms, I bet Twitter's is pretty high, which means they have potential for significant growth if they can improve the UX and the "how do I use Twitter? Why would anyone use it?" problem.
    - throwawayqdhd 8y ago
      There is an entire cottage industry of Twitter pundits now who just focus on talking about Trump. I remember following Scott Adams, whose work I enjoyed. Before he started talking about Trump, he had some 40k followers. Since Trump, his follower count has ballooned to 250k and he almost exclusively talks about Trump now
mschuster91 8y ago
> I'm always surprised that Twitter has managed to stay in business so long I'm not. Millions of people are visiting Twitter daily to check out if Trump has declared trade or real war against yet another country. Or whatever the Orange in Chief has brain-farted over night. In addition Twitter is a fine tool for starting shitstorms and one of the few safe havens left for adult material creators (= freelance sex workers) to post their content (but that may also change one day). Oh, and media often turn to Twitter for soundbites/other stuff to quote, which also creates demand.
- creaghpatr 8y ago
  >I'm not. Millions of people are visiting Twitter daily to check out if Trump has declared trade or real war against yet another country. This is true and not just for Trump, most politicians are finding out they can bypass the media and go straight to enough people to control the message, especially if the message is bombastic or controversial. Why rely on the faucet when you can drink from the fountain?
TazeTSchnitzel 8y ago
Its userbase (myself included) continue to use the site in spite of Twitter's best efforts to make us not want to.
- madeofpalk 8y ago
  Related: "How is Twitter supposed to know what we want?" https://theoutline.com/post/4936/what-do-twitter-users-want https://theoutline.com/post/4936/what-do-twitter-users-want
TillE 8y ago
It's enormously popular! The world's biggest social network focused on public interaction. They've got everyone from a hundred million normies following celebs to countless niche interest circles. The real surprise is that they've failed to effectively monetize their huge, huge audience.

simonbarker87 8y ago

I agree, and one specific thing that is very annoying is that tech podcasts seem to rely on Twitter as their sole means of communication with the show. Some shows and networks don’t have email addresses, just twitter handles, and others actively tell you not to email their address as you probably will just get deleted. I’m not on twitter and have no desire to be but I would like to contact the show once in a blue moon.

cpeterso 8y ago

Buzzfeed posted an article called "How Twitter Made The Tech World's Most Unlikely Comeback" just today: https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexkantrowitz/how-twitter-made-the-tech-worlds-most-unlikely-comeback https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexkantrowitz/how-twitter-made-the... even as those eulogies were being published, things started changing. Twitter began beating earnings expectations. Star ex-employees trickled back in, finding a new, more positive internal culture than the toxic one they’d left. Advertisers came back too, as did users. The company finally began addressing its trolling problem. And its stock, once unappealing to analysts like Nathanson at $14, is now trading above $46. It’s still somewhat taboo to say it, but it’s no longer possible to deny it: Twitter is making an unexpected, somewhat miraculous comeback. It is the first major consumer social company to lose users and start growing again in a meaningful way.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
jumbopapa 8y ago
I really think they need to thank President Trump for that. He saved Twitter.
- ceejayoz 8y ago
  They did, in December, when they exempted "government entities" from their abuse policies. http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-has-immunity-in-twitter-new-abuse-policy-2017-12 http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-has-immunity-in-...
  - vkou 8y ago
    It's not illegal/abuse/threats of violence when the President does it.
- testplzignore 8y ago
  Fun fact: I just did a search on a news database. Roughly 15% of stories that mention Twitter also mention Trump, and roughly half of those seem to be about Trump's tweets. I don't know if Trump is really causing Twitter usage to increase, but it has certainly made people who don't use Twitter more aware of it. If you compare the awareness/user ratio on the various social media platforms, I bet Twitter's is pretty high, which means they have potential for significant growth if they can improve the UX and the "how do I use Twitter? Why would anyone use it?" problem.
  - throwawayqdhd 8y ago
    There is an entire cottage industry of Twitter pundits now who just focus on talking about Trump. I remember following Scott Adams, whose work I enjoyed. Before he started talking about Trump, he had some 40k followers. Since Trump, his follower count has ballooned to 250k and he almost exclusively talks about Trump now

mschuster91 8y ago

> I'm always surprised that Twitter has managed to stay in business so long I'm not. Millions of people are visiting Twitter daily to check out if Trump has declared trade or real war against yet another country. Or whatever the Orange in Chief has brain-farted over night. In addition Twitter is a fine tool for starting shitstorms and one of the few safe havens left for adult material creators (= freelance sex workers) to post their content (but that may also change one day). Oh, and media often turn to Twitter for soundbites/other stuff to quote, which also creates demand.

creaghpatr 8y ago
>I'm not. Millions of people are visiting Twitter daily to check out if Trump has declared trade or real war against yet another country. This is true and not just for Trump, most politicians are finding out they can bypass the media and go straight to enough people to control the message, especially if the message is bombastic or controversial. Why rely on the faucet when you can drink from the fountain?

TazeTSchnitzel 8y ago

Its userbase (myself included) continue to use the site in spite of Twitter's best efforts to make us not want to.

madeofpalk 8y ago
Related: "How is Twitter supposed to know what we want?" https://theoutline.com/post/4936/what-do-twitter-users-want https://theoutline.com/post/4936/what-do-twitter-users-want

TillE 8y ago

It's enormously popular! The world's biggest social network focused on public interaction. They've got everyone from a hundred million normies following celebs to countless niche interest circles. The real surprise is that they've failed to effectively monetize their huge, huge audience.