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Sure, these people understandably turn to an easy and familiar tool in a time of crisis. But the problem is that Twitter has no incentive to do anything at all

Sure, these people understandably turn to an easy and familiar tool in a time of crisis. But the problem is that Twitter has no incentive to do anything at all other than optimize for ad revenue. Which is not a judgement -- it's just physics. We cannot expect large, private, for-profit enterprises to act compassionately out of moral obligation. The answer is going to lie elsewhere.

smoyer 5y ago
Well ... a) It's not just Physics as it's not Physics at all. b) If society is simply behaving in a way that maximizes short-term profits, we're doomed (or doomeder?). The good news is that there is a ton of evidence that this behavior is tempered by at least a little bit of thought for the future. c) Companies still recognize that "customer goodwill" is a valuable asset even though it's neither quantifiable or convertible.
- montroser 5y ago
  Relying on a for-profit company for our communications with one another, a company to whom we pay nothing -- this is doomed to failure. For thousands of years, we've relied on various forms of public and private postal service. The public ones were funded and run by whatever government, and the private ones provided a service for their customers in exchange for payment. Phone companies have mostly been technically private but heavily regulated, and funded directly by their customers. That all worked well enough. In contrast, what we have here with Twitter is a system where the customers are the advertisers. The communications on the platform are a byproduct. In this scenario how could we expect Twitter to act any differently? We need something way different and we tech folk can be part of the solution. Distributed open platforms with public funding and which welcome regulation -- this seems like a direction with some hope. But I will not be betting on a few do-gooders at Twitter having a little bit of thought for the future acting as our savior.
  - smoyer 5y ago
    > But I will not be betting on a few do-gooders at Twitter having a little bit of thought for the future acting as our savior Agreed! And we desperately need a savior. I just wanted to point out that it isn't as simple as assuming companies are simply aiming to algorithmically maximize profits.

smoyer 5y ago

Well ... a) It's not just Physics as it's not Physics at all. b) If society is simply behaving in a way that maximizes short-term profits, we're doomed (or doomeder?). The good news is that there is a ton of evidence that this behavior is tempered by at least a little bit of thought for the future. c) Companies still recognize that "customer goodwill" is a valuable asset even though it's neither quantifiable or convertible.

montroser 5y ago
Relying on a for-profit company for our communications with one another, a company to whom we pay nothing -- this is doomed to failure. For thousands of years, we've relied on various forms of public and private postal service. The public ones were funded and run by whatever government, and the private ones provided a service for their customers in exchange for payment. Phone companies have mostly been technically private but heavily regulated, and funded directly by their customers. That all worked well enough. In contrast, what we have here with Twitter is a system where the customers are the advertisers. The communications on the platform are a byproduct. In this scenario how could we expect Twitter to act any differently? We need something way different and we tech folk can be part of the solution. Distributed open platforms with public funding and which welcome regulation -- this seems like a direction with some hope. But I will not be betting on a few do-gooders at Twitter having a little bit of thought for the future acting as our savior.
- smoyer 5y ago
  > But I will not be betting on a few do-gooders at Twitter having a little bit of thought for the future acting as our savior Agreed! And we desperately need a savior. I just wanted to point out that it isn't as simple as assuming companies are simply aiming to algorithmically maximize profits.