4 ms·

What would happen if Twitter were to shut down over night?

9 points by m-localhost 8y ago

Is that possible? What effect would that have on public opinion? Is Twitter/social media the Bayer, Degussa, IG Farben of our time (See also facebook in Myanmar)?

daedalbug 8y ago
the world would instantly become a better place, it isn't half as important as it likes to think it is
Neekoy 8y ago
Trump would probably break down.
- m-localhost 8y ago
  In his case, he depends on it and so does the media in analyzing his tweets. That would be an interesting scenario where he loses a channel he considers as important outlet.
- paulcole 8y ago
  People don't give the guy enough credit. Whether intentionally or accidentally he developed a strategy that hasn't been beaten yet. If Democrats in America don't realize this, he's going to win 2020, too. If Twitter shut down, he'd have a HUGE say in which platform would be its replacement. MILLIONS of people (both left and right) would start accounts to follow him. Honestly, I can't think of another celebrity for whom that would be true.
Daemon6 8y ago
Some opportunist guy whould create a clone very fast, demand creates supply.
- muzani 8y ago
  This is similar to what happened in Malaysia when Uber closed down. The clone app got so much traffic it fell apart.
- m-localhost 8y ago
  I don't think it's so easy to make people move to another platform that fast and to create the same/similar eco system that allows twitter right now, to influence public opinion (with popular hashtags build up by bot networks, or politicians tweeting)
- veddox 8y ago
  Mastodon would skyrocket, although it wouldn't take on everybody. Facebook would probably profit too.
gesman 8y ago
I won't be able to invoke human intervention from otherwise ignorant service providers. Twitter is my fastline to customer support.
- jackgolding 8y ago
  I hate this about companies that use social support. Because its still in its infancy a lot of companies have marketing teams on their social media, someone complains to marketing - they skip the queue and call the desk line of one of the customer support managers.
rafiki6 8y ago
Lots of annoying articles would be written about it, its stock price would tank and we'd forget about it in about 3 months.
CM30 8y ago
1. Loads of people and companies would set up Twitter clones/successors to try and cash in. Some of these would be federated/open source, some wouldn't, but either way, it's likely one or more would take off thanks to the Twitter refugees. 2. Existing Twitter alternatives would see a huge boost in popularity. Mastodon would get thousands of new signups in a matter of minutes/hours, and niche alternatives like Minds and Gab would probably see a fair bit of growth as well. 3. The media would panic as they realise the 'easy source of news' they've been relying on is gone and they don't know which replacement will take off yet. 4. Some 'lucky' alternative would end up attracting Donald Trump, and the popularity (from both fans and critics) would likely send the servers into meltdown. Given his political views, I can see Gab being the winner there. 5. The job market would see an increase in software engineers, designers, dev ops guys, etc if Twitter's workforce were also laid off/the company didn't exist anymore. It wouldn't be too noticeable (those fields are already super packed with candidates as is), but you'd see a small jump in numbers none the less. 6. Many, many news sites, blogs, wikis and forums would break horribly, since they used tweets as sources in articles and posts. Think the recent Photobucket catastrophe was bad? Well, the number of Twitter embeds likely dwarfs that by a thousandfold. I think that sums it up.
- m-localhost 8y ago
  Very good points. I haven't thought about the broken website problem due to embeds.
kzwkt 8y ago
facebook will profit
tboyd47 8y ago
There would be replacements but they wouldn't have staying power. Twitter works because there's only one. Powerful people in the world can use it to monitor popular opinion on any topic. So its main role today in the lives of young people is political in nature. It allows them to come together and deliver a message to the establishment in a way that no other institution in society does. Think about the difference between Occupy Wall Street and #MeToo. People complain a lot about Twitter witch hunts, but that just shows you that Twitter movements actually get results. I can't think of a single goal from the Occupy movements that was met. The thing is that Twitter does not encourage dialogue or cooperation across subcultures of people. So likely, if Twitter were gone, each community would come up with its own replacement, and the powers that be would have no use for those.
methusala8 8y ago
All the political parties in India would lack an avenue to vent against each other and also lose a wonderful avenue for mass-propaganda.

9 points by m-localhost 8y ago

Is that possible? What effect would that have on public opinion? Is Twitter/social media the Bayer, Degussa, IG Farben of our time (See also facebook in Myanmar)?

daedalbug 8y ago

the world would instantly become a better place, it isn't half as important as it likes to think it is

Neekoy 8y ago

Trump would probably break down.

m-localhost 8y ago
In his case, he depends on it and so does the media in analyzing his tweets. That would be an interesting scenario where he loses a channel he considers as important outlet.
paulcole 8y ago
People don't give the guy enough credit. Whether intentionally or accidentally he developed a strategy that hasn't been beaten yet. If Democrats in America don't realize this, he's going to win 2020, too. If Twitter shut down, he'd have a HUGE say in which platform would be its replacement. MILLIONS of people (both left and right) would start accounts to follow him. Honestly, I can't think of another celebrity for whom that would be true.

Daemon6 8y ago

Some opportunist guy whould create a clone very fast, demand creates supply.

muzani 8y ago
This is similar to what happened in Malaysia when Uber closed down. The clone app got so much traffic it fell apart.
m-localhost 8y ago
I don't think it's so easy to make people move to another platform that fast and to create the same/similar eco system that allows twitter right now, to influence public opinion (with popular hashtags build up by bot networks, or politicians tweeting)
veddox 8y ago
Mastodon would skyrocket, although it wouldn't take on everybody. Facebook would probably profit too.

gesman 8y ago

I won't be able to invoke human intervention from otherwise ignorant service providers. Twitter is my fastline to customer support.

jackgolding 8y ago
I hate this about companies that use social support. Because its still in its infancy a lot of companies have marketing teams on their social media, someone complains to marketing - they skip the queue and call the desk line of one of the customer support managers.

rafiki6 8y ago

Lots of annoying articles would be written about it, its stock price would tank and we'd forget about it in about 3 months.

CM30 8y ago

1. Loads of people and companies would set up Twitter clones/successors to try and cash in. Some of these would be federated/open source, some wouldn't, but either way, it's likely one or more would take off thanks to the Twitter refugees. 2. Existing Twitter alternatives would see a huge boost in popularity. Mastodon would get thousands of new signups in a matter of minutes/hours, and niche alternatives like Minds and Gab would probably see a fair bit of growth as well. 3. The media would panic as they realise the 'easy source of news' they've been relying on is gone and they don't know which replacement will take off yet. 4. Some 'lucky' alternative would end up attracting Donald Trump, and the popularity (from both fans and critics) would likely send the servers into meltdown. Given his political views, I can see Gab being the winner there. 5. The job market would see an increase in software engineers, designers, dev ops guys, etc if Twitter's workforce were also laid off/the company didn't exist anymore. It wouldn't be too noticeable (those fields are already super packed with candidates as is), but you'd see a small jump in numbers none the less. 6. Many, many news sites, blogs, wikis and forums would break horribly, since they used tweets as sources in articles and posts. Think the recent Photobucket catastrophe was bad? Well, the number of Twitter embeds likely dwarfs that by a thousandfold. I think that sums it up.

m-localhost 8y ago
Very good points. I haven't thought about the broken website problem due to embeds.

kzwkt 8y ago

facebook will profit

tboyd47 8y ago

There would be replacements but they wouldn't have staying power. Twitter works because there's only one. Powerful people in the world can use it to monitor popular opinion on any topic. So its main role today in the lives of young people is political in nature. It allows them to come together and deliver a message to the establishment in a way that no other institution in society does. Think about the difference between Occupy Wall Street and #MeToo. People complain a lot about Twitter witch hunts, but that just shows you that Twitter movements actually get results. I can't think of a single goal from the Occupy movements that was met. The thing is that Twitter does not encourage dialogue or cooperation across subcultures of people. So likely, if Twitter were gone, each community would come up with its own replacement, and the powers that be would have no use for those.

methusala8 8y ago

All the political parties in India would lack an avenue to vent against each other and also lose a wonderful avenue for mass-propaganda.