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Depends on the product and on the people. If a twitter mob is large enough to influence your bottom line it matters.

raffraffraff 6y ago
But... "if enough people and companies simply ignored Twitter, entirely" ... then that mob is just a bunch off assholes screaming into a void. So the only difference is the void.
- _AzMoo 6y ago
  The void is not nothing though, it's other people, who may be influenced and then in many cases influence others on other platforms. I think ignoring a platform of 330 million users when a good chunk of those are on a witch hunt for your product or brand would be asking for trouble.
  - Retric 6y ago
    Assuming those numbers are accurate 4.2% of the global population is on Twitter. Which seems highly suspect. But for the sake of argument, if 4% of your customers are on the platform it’s highly unlikely for those users to be influenced about your product. Aka, how much does Twitter inform people choice of paper towels etc. Now, that possibly changes for hype or fad based industries. If you’re creating buzz around a new movie sure Twitter might be relevant.
    - shuntress 6y ago
      If your customers make up almost 100% of the population of the earth then yeah you can probably ignore anything said anywhere including twitter. But for the sake of argument, if your customers overlap significantly with that 4% of earth's population that use twitter, then it is highly likely for those users to be influenced about your product. Aka, how much does Twitter inform people's of choice of news website, blockbuster movie, tech blog, etc.
    - searchableguy 6y ago
      Only something like 10% of users tweet regularly. I wouldn't be surprised if most twitter accounts are run by PR firms, bots and blue check marks. The other active ones are probably alts of power users who were self aware of their behavior and decided to be anonymous. https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/22/21148516/twitter-suspends-mike-bloomberg-facebook-google-platform-manipulation https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/22/21148516/twitter-suspends... https://www.vox.com/2018/10/19/17990946/twitter-russian-trolls-bots-election-tampering https://www.vox.com/2018/10/19/17990946/twitter-russian-trol... https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/05/20/859814085/researchers-nearly-half-of-accounts-tweeting-about-coronavirus-are-likely-bots https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/0...
  - coldtea 6y ago
    I don't see much influencing -- it's mostly businesses caving in to the first lunies that complain - not because their bottom end was hurt due to the lunies actual influence...
  - whywhywhywhy 6y ago
    > I think ignoring a platform of 330 million users How many are active? of those how many tweet even once a month? It's not as all encompassing as you think
encom 6y ago
Has that ever really happened? Recently? The only way to deal with an outraged Twitter mob is to ignore them. They can never be appeased. It seems to me like Twitter is the new Tumblr. Full of crazy people.
- TallGuyShort 6y ago
  >> They can never be appeased And if you do then appease them, you'll face an equal but opposite backlash for appeasing them. If America's not headed for a civil war, it's definitely headed for a society where red people patronize red businesses, blue people patronize blue businesses, and everything else is a people boycotting or third-parties not caring to play.
  - war1025 6y ago
    "Separate but equal" I hear it works out great.
  - Nasrudith 6y ago
    Headed for? It has been that way for decades if not centuries or millenia! (Eastern Roman Empire sports politics say hi.) There aren't exaxtly many self proclaimed communists hanging out at Bubba's BBQ Bar and Grill - with demographics always comes politics implicitly. Worrying about it is the same undue hysteria as thinking Citizen's United means that Pepsi and Coke support is more significant than any voter issues because they have large ad spends.
- oneplane 6y ago
  That's why I wrote "If" and " influence your bottom line ". It's practically just turning it upside down: instead of assuming twitter needs to be paid attention to because it's twitter, it is far more practical to say: "things that have a significant influence on us/our bottom line/our brand need to be paid attention to". If there is a case where that's a twitter mob, then that is a case. If not, then you ignore them.

But... "if enough people and companies simply ignored Twitter, entirely" ... then that mob is just a bunch off assholes screaming into a void. So the only difference is the void.

_AzMoo 6y ago
The void is not nothing though, it's other people, who may be influenced and then in many cases influence others on other platforms. I think ignoring a platform of 330 million users when a good chunk of those are on a witch hunt for your product or brand would be asking for trouble.
- Retric 6y ago
  Assuming those numbers are accurate 4.2% of the global population is on Twitter. Which seems highly suspect. But for the sake of argument, if 4% of your customers are on the platform it’s highly unlikely for those users to be influenced about your product. Aka, how much does Twitter inform people choice of paper towels etc. Now, that possibly changes for hype or fad based industries. If you’re creating buzz around a new movie sure Twitter might be relevant.
  - shuntress 6y ago
    If your customers make up almost 100% of the population of the earth then yeah you can probably ignore anything said anywhere including twitter. But for the sake of argument, if your customers overlap significantly with that 4% of earth's population that use twitter, then it is highly likely for those users to be influenced about your product. Aka, how much does Twitter inform people's of choice of news website, blockbuster movie, tech blog, etc.
  - searchableguy 6y ago
    Only something like 10% of users tweet regularly. I wouldn't be surprised if most twitter accounts are run by PR firms, bots and blue check marks. The other active ones are probably alts of power users who were self aware of their behavior and decided to be anonymous. https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/22/21148516/twitter-suspends-mike-bloomberg-facebook-google-platform-manipulation https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/22/21148516/twitter-suspends... https://www.vox.com/2018/10/19/17990946/twitter-russian-trolls-bots-election-tampering https://www.vox.com/2018/10/19/17990946/twitter-russian-trol... https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/05/20/859814085/researchers-nearly-half-of-accounts-tweeting-about-coronavirus-are-likely-bots https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/0...
- coldtea 6y ago
  I don't see much influencing -- it's mostly businesses caving in to the first lunies that complain - not because their bottom end was hurt due to the lunies actual influence...
- whywhywhywhy 6y ago
  > I think ignoring a platform of 330 million users How many are active? of those how many tweet even once a month? It's not as all encompassing as you think

encom 6y ago

Has that ever really happened? Recently? The only way to deal with an outraged Twitter mob is to ignore them. They can never be appeased. It seems to me like Twitter is the new Tumblr. Full of crazy people.

TallGuyShort 6y ago
>> They can never be appeased And if you do then appease them, you'll face an equal but opposite backlash for appeasing them. If America's not headed for a civil war, it's definitely headed for a society where red people patronize red businesses, blue people patronize blue businesses, and everything else is a people boycotting or third-parties not caring to play.
- war1025 6y ago
  "Separate but equal" I hear it works out great.
- Nasrudith 6y ago
  Headed for? It has been that way for decades if not centuries or millenia! (Eastern Roman Empire sports politics say hi.) There aren't exaxtly many self proclaimed communists hanging out at Bubba's BBQ Bar and Grill - with demographics always comes politics implicitly. Worrying about it is the same undue hysteria as thinking Citizen's United means that Pepsi and Coke support is more significant than any voter issues because they have large ad spends.
oneplane 6y ago
That's why I wrote "If" and " influence your bottom line ". It's practically just turning it upside down: instead of assuming twitter needs to be paid attention to because it's twitter, it is far more practical to say: "things that have a significant influence on us/our bottom line/our brand need to be paid attention to". If there is a case where that's a twitter mob, then that is a case. If not, then you ignore them.