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Funny how the mainstream media seems to focus on the one or two attention seekers leaving - as opposed to the actual data which shows the platform thriving. It

by cbeach 4y ago

Funny how the mainstream media seems to focus on the one or two attention seekers leaving - as opposed to the actual data which shows the platform thriving. It’s almost as if the establishment wants to pick a political fight with Elon…

_djo_ 4y ago
At this point there's little reliable 'actual data' proving that, with us having to take Musk's word for it and his past penchant for winging it and exaggeration making that a risky proposition. Being a private company there's now also much less need for accuracy in public financial statements.
mikkergp 4y ago
Is there other data available? It seems like high usage data could be as much a indicator of rubbernecking as it is of the platform “thriving”. Additionally, do you think we can tell this early on if the company is thriving?
- badwolf 4y ago
  There's also ... an Election that just happened.
- rsj_hn 4y ago
  My guess is that the fortunes of twitter continue to be tied to the news cycle. When there are a lot of newsworthy events, traffic on twitter will increase, and when things quiet down, so will the traffic. This is not really something twitter can control, but I wouldn't be surprised to see high usage stats around the midterm election. The suggestion that Elon was intentionally creating drama in order to drive up usage stats is another one of those fun stories that probably doesn't have much behind it. Nor do I see Twitter really growing a whole lot in terms of new users, as it's already saturated the market. The idea that outraged techies leaving twitter will materially affect usage stats seems implausible to me. A platform with ~300 million monthly active users isn't going to notice this. Earnings growth depends on cutting costs or selling subscriptions. In this sense, what Musk did was what anyone else would have done. My impression is that Elon Musk surrounds himself with drama wherever he goes, but that doesn't mean slashing headcount and raising subscription prices wasn't the way forward. It was probably the only way forward, but a lot of the drama is squarely on Musk.
HappySweeney 4y ago
I suspect it's more that taking billionaires down a peg moves copy.

by cbeach 4y ago

_djo_ 4y ago

At this point there's little reliable 'actual data' proving that, with us having to take Musk's word for it and his past penchant for winging it and exaggeration making that a risky proposition. Being a private company there's now also much less need for accuracy in public financial statements.

mikkergp 4y ago

Is there other data available? It seems like high usage data could be as much a indicator of rubbernecking as it is of the platform “thriving”. Additionally, do you think we can tell this early on if the company is thriving?

badwolf 4y ago
There's also ... an Election that just happened.
rsj_hn 4y ago
My guess is that the fortunes of twitter continue to be tied to the news cycle. When there are a lot of newsworthy events, traffic on twitter will increase, and when things quiet down, so will the traffic. This is not really something twitter can control, but I wouldn't be surprised to see high usage stats around the midterm election. The suggestion that Elon was intentionally creating drama in order to drive up usage stats is another one of those fun stories that probably doesn't have much behind it. Nor do I see Twitter really growing a whole lot in terms of new users, as it's already saturated the market. The idea that outraged techies leaving twitter will materially affect usage stats seems implausible to me. A platform with ~300 million monthly active users isn't going to notice this. Earnings growth depends on cutting costs or selling subscriptions. In this sense, what Musk did was what anyone else would have done. My impression is that Elon Musk surrounds himself with drama wherever he goes, but that doesn't mean slashing headcount and raising subscription prices wasn't the way forward. It was probably the only way forward, but a lot of the drama is squarely on Musk.

HappySweeney 4y ago

I suspect it's more that taking billionaires down a peg moves copy.