5 ms·

One could argue they filled out their niche. Took the VC money, made the thing global, does what it says on the tin. The world now has a broadcast-short-message

One could argue they filled out their niche. Took the VC money, made the thing global, does what it says on the tin. The world now has a broadcast-short-messages service that can be used by people to reach their audience. Unfortunately that's not enough, since these tech firms tend to be priced to eat the whole planet, thus requiring a lot more than going global with a little thing that works.

mywittyname 5y ago
Adding to this: it's really hard for Do One Thing Well companies to pivot.
- the_other 5y ago
  Well, they could pivot to a paid-for service without ads and sponsored content. Then we'd see their real value.
beebmam 5y ago
They're not even remotely priced at the magnitude to eat the whole planet. And yet, their market IS eating the entire world (except China, due to insular political reasons). That points to me like they're significantly undervalued.
- ericmay 5y ago
  When you say they are you referring to Twitter specifically or social media/US tech companies in general? If you mean Twitter specifically I'd be interested in reading your thoughts on the "bull case" for this takeover. I like Twitter and use it to shout into the void from time to time. I wonder if it's just like.. a company and not a growth company? Like what if we just had Twitter with some monetization and then it just paid out dividends to shareholders? Why is that such a bad thing?
- underwater 5y ago
  What is Twitter's market? They seem increasingly like just another online community. Most of my feed is the same few Twitter influencers with high follower counts. The drama, conventions, and memes all make it feel insular and hostile to outsiders. Feels more like Tumblr than some global, open, platform.
  - echelon 5y ago
    Twitter has all of the "smart people" and "money" on it, unlike Reddit, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, etc. Billionaires are tweeting each other in the open. Politicians. Reporters. CEOs, CFOs. No other social network is like that. It's the only thing keeping Twitter relevant. TikTok and Instagram have their celebrities and trend setters (which is where the ad dollars are), but you don't see anyone musing about "metaverse", "web3", and what their latest fund is going to pursue, geopolitics, OSINT, stocks, etc.
    - altdataseller 5y ago
      Those topics are only important to you and your bubble though. Not to the vast majority of regular Joes like my mom, grandmothers, people in 3rd world countries, etc.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
    - weq 5y ago
      LOL tiktok investors are not a thing? twitter won; no doubt - but there is no stick or way to money-tise that doesnt not turn into a facebook slow drain gurrgler on your userbase. this is the conundreum of social enagement based apps. Your a fad, and your only another fad away from history! GREAT long term investment? NAahhhhh. Traditional PUMP n DUMP stock. Billionaires get made, mom and pops get DESTROYED! Celebs will go wherever the endorsement money is. Life will continue. These apps wont.
    - foepys 5y ago
      I don't believe for a second that anything being tweeted by billionaires, C*Os, and politicians is not approved by some marketing and/or social media department. It's not like people are required to tweet, they choose to tweet. In the end Twitter is just the illusion of people talking to each other. It's all just to further their brand or to push their goals, not insight they give up for free. Sometimes someone slips up but this just results in even more carefully crafted tweets.
- Barrin92 5y ago
  just because you reach the whole world doesn't necessarily mean there's a good way to monetize it, at least without losing what makes the service attractive. Sure they could start slapping ads on everything, even paywall the site but at the end of the day there'd be significant competition eroding profits. Twitter almost makes more sense as an open protocol than a commercial service, which is basically what Mastodon is. It's even what Dorsey wanted to do at one point with Bluesky, not sure if that's still alive.
- stjohnswarts 5y ago
  I think the only thing that keeps them afloat is their importance to political figures who LOVE the short form sound bites. Of course that could just be the conspiracist in me :)
  - AniseAbyss 5y ago
    The average voter prefers to base his/her opinion on a soundbyte. And I don't blame them people have actual lives and loved ones nobody has time to waste on democracy.
riffic 5y ago
> world now has a broadcast-short-messages service Twitter is a company that has a track record of both user and developer hostility. They shouldn't be this for the world, and they don't need to be either. I like to say if you're skating where the puck is going to be, you should be skating towards running your own software that speaks ActivityPub. By you, I don't mean you per se. I mean organizations with budgets who would typically be assigning email accounts and that keep an LDAP directory. Twitter could even sell a white-labeled version of this and manage it on your behalf on their own servers. Some of the target organizations may not want to be subject to rules applicable to American corporations. They're free to operate something like this outside those bounds and use an interoperable protocol.
reaperducer 5y ago
One could argue they filled out their niche Between this and Facebook's recent woes, I wish this was a sign of a global tiring of social media in general. I'm frequently wrong about these things, but one can hope.
- doublepg23 5y ago
  Wouldn’t TikToks rise be in opposition to that idea?
  - shakezula 5y ago
    It’s not the end of social media, just nearing the end of its first gods.
    - Traubenfuchs 5y ago
      TikTok can be considered at least 3rd generation, if FB and Twitter were second and first is MySpace. I am sure one could argue there are more generations. Twitter is not among the first social media god generation.
      - klyrs 5y ago
        In my experience, first generation happened on BBSs (contemporaneous with usenet, which wasn't on my radar until it was nearly dead). Then came niche community discussion boards and AOL. Then, Geocities and webrings. Friendster came out a few months earlier than MySpace, but they were close enough to be the same generation. By my count, TikTok is sixth generation? I can't help but feel that I'm missing a few; not even considering my anglocentric experience.
      - oldsecondhand 5y ago
        TikTok is just another iteration on Vine. It doesn't seem an upgrade from that just has more money behind it.
  - the_other 5y ago

mywittyname 5y ago

Adding to this: it's really hard for Do One Thing Well companies to pivot.

the_other 5y ago
Well, they could pivot to a paid-for service without ads and sponsored content. Then we'd see their real value.

beebmam 5y ago

They're not even remotely priced at the magnitude to eat the whole planet. And yet, their market IS eating the entire world (except China, due to insular political reasons). That points to me like they're significantly undervalued.

ericmay 5y ago
When you say they are you referring to Twitter specifically or social media/US tech companies in general? If you mean Twitter specifically I'd be interested in reading your thoughts on the "bull case" for this takeover. I like Twitter and use it to shout into the void from time to time. I wonder if it's just like.. a company and not a growth company? Like what if we just had Twitter with some monetization and then it just paid out dividends to shareholders? Why is that such a bad thing?
underwater 5y ago
What is Twitter's market? They seem increasingly like just another online community. Most of my feed is the same few Twitter influencers with high follower counts. The drama, conventions, and memes all make it feel insular and hostile to outsiders. Feels more like Tumblr than some global, open, platform.
- echelon 5y ago
  Twitter has all of the "smart people" and "money" on it, unlike Reddit, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, etc. Billionaires are tweeting each other in the open. Politicians. Reporters. CEOs, CFOs. No other social network is like that. It's the only thing keeping Twitter relevant. TikTok and Instagram have their celebrities and trend setters (which is where the ad dollars are), but you don't see anyone musing about "metaverse", "web3", and what their latest fund is going to pursue, geopolitics, OSINT, stocks, etc.
  - altdataseller 5y ago
    Those topics are only important to you and your bubble though. Not to the vast majority of regular Joes like my mom, grandmothers, people in 3rd world countries, etc.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  - weq 5y ago
    LOL tiktok investors are not a thing? twitter won; no doubt - but there is no stick or way to money-tise that doesnt not turn into a facebook slow drain gurrgler on your userbase. this is the conundreum of social enagement based apps. Your a fad, and your only another fad away from history! GREAT long term investment? NAahhhhh. Traditional PUMP n DUMP stock. Billionaires get made, mom and pops get DESTROYED! Celebs will go wherever the endorsement money is. Life will continue. These apps wont.
  - foepys 5y ago
    I don't believe for a second that anything being tweeted by billionaires, C*Os, and politicians is not approved by some marketing and/or social media department. It's not like people are required to tweet, they choose to tweet. In the end Twitter is just the illusion of people talking to each other. It's all just to further their brand or to push their goals, not insight they give up for free. Sometimes someone slips up but this just results in even more carefully crafted tweets.
Barrin92 5y ago
just because you reach the whole world doesn't necessarily mean there's a good way to monetize it, at least without losing what makes the service attractive. Sure they could start slapping ads on everything, even paywall the site but at the end of the day there'd be significant competition eroding profits. Twitter almost makes more sense as an open protocol than a commercial service, which is basically what Mastodon is. It's even what Dorsey wanted to do at one point with Bluesky, not sure if that's still alive.
stjohnswarts 5y ago
I think the only thing that keeps them afloat is their importance to political figures who LOVE the short form sound bites. Of course that could just be the conspiracist in me :)
- AniseAbyss 5y ago
  The average voter prefers to base his/her opinion on a soundbyte. And I don't blame them people have actual lives and loved ones nobody has time to waste on democracy.

riffic 5y ago

> world now has a broadcast-short-messages service Twitter is a company that has a track record of both user and developer hostility. They shouldn't be this for the world, and they don't need to be either. I like to say if you're skating where the puck is going to be, you should be skating towards running your own software that speaks ActivityPub. By you, I don't mean you per se. I mean organizations with budgets who would typically be assigning email accounts and that keep an LDAP directory. Twitter could even sell a white-labeled version of this and manage it on your behalf on their own servers. Some of the target organizations may not want to be subject to rules applicable to American corporations. They're free to operate something like this outside those bounds and use an interoperable protocol.

reaperducer 5y ago

One could argue they filled out their niche Between this and Facebook's recent woes, I wish this was a sign of a global tiring of social media in general. I'm frequently wrong about these things, but one can hope.

doublepg23 5y ago
Wouldn’t TikToks rise be in opposition to that idea?
- shakezula 5y ago
  It’s not the end of social media, just nearing the end of its first gods.
  - Traubenfuchs 5y ago
    TikTok can be considered at least 3rd generation, if FB and Twitter were second and first is MySpace. I am sure one could argue there are more generations. Twitter is not among the first social media god generation.
    - klyrs 5y ago
      In my experience, first generation happened on BBSs (contemporaneous with usenet, which wasn't on my radar until it was nearly dead). Then came niche community discussion boards and AOL. Then, Geocities and webrings. Friendster came out a few months earlier than MySpace, but they were close enough to be the same generation. By my count, TikTok is sixth generation? I can't help but feel that I'm missing a few; not even considering my anglocentric experience.
    - oldsecondhand 5y ago
      TikTok is just another iteration on Vine. It doesn't seem an upgrade from that just has more money behind it.
- the_other 5y ago