7 ms·

I told my team to pause our $750K/month Twitter ads budget last week

52 points by mzs 4y ago

helloharvey 4y ago
- djanogo 4y ago
  They also said "for non-ideological or virtue signaling reasons", but proceeded to find cases where their ad was shown beside supposedly antisemitic content - based on their opinion, with no evidence. Also has budget of $80M/year but needs AM, designer, analyst, and creative specialist from Twitter to support him.
  - MrMan 4y ago
kazinator 4y ago
$80M per year on ads is a medium-sized company now?
- josephd79 4y ago
  Gotta spend money to make money.
- Ekaros 4y ago
  Wouldn't it be over 1000 workers if spend employing people at median wage? Thus a large company?
  - aorloff 4y ago
    That is the budget spent on ads. Not the budget for the ad buying team
randyrand 4y ago
He says its not for virtue signaling but literally the 2nd point is virtue signaling.* The only point that really matters as far as ads are concerned is the first one, but without numbers it’s not much to go on. In other words, it’s not a very useful article for how non-virtue signaling companies will respond. * Ad purchasers having little tolerance for being placed next to racists posts made by the user’s own subscribers and the user’s own content choices is a recent phenomenon, and is literally the definition of virtue signaling
- hello_friendos 4y ago
  > Serious brand safety issues. Our organic social and CS teams got dozens of screenshots of our ads next to awful content. Replies to our posts with hardcore antisemitism and adult spam remained up for days even when flagged Not wanting your advertisements displayed right next to objectionable content is not 'virtue signalling' lol.
  - randyrand 4y ago
    It is the definition of virtue signaling.
    - mlyle 4y ago
      The definition of virtue signaling is: "the action or practice of publicly expressing opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one's good character or the moral correctness of one's position on a particular issue." Thinking that it might be bad for brand reputation to have engagement with your posts to be filled with antisemitism and porn isn't exactly virtue signaling.
- helen___keller 4y ago
  > He says it not for virtue signaling but literally the 2nd point is virtue signaling. I think it means not for virtue signaling [about musk/twitter]. Avoiding brand damage and other “common” virtue signaling (like sticking American flags on things for July 4th, sticking rainbows on things for pride, etc) are just called “marketing”. It’s standard operating procedure for someone looking to make money.
gorkish 4y ago
A "Financial Services Company" that can afford to spend a million bucks a month on Twitter ads is probably not selling anything I'd like to be buying. As a user, I'm not exactly clear about why I should feel outraged. I say, please, more of this. Addendum: HN downvotes are the sweetest tears because you can tell who is crying.
- mlyle 4y ago
  Oh, the ads going away may be fine for end-users, but it may not be so great for the income statement of Twitter or its ability to meet its (now very high) debt service obligations.
  - rsynnott 4y ago
    Won't necessarily be great for users, either. There'll always be bottom feeders who'll advertise anywhere; typically crypto scams and the dodgier online casinos and so forth.
  - gorkish 4y ago
    'And nothing of value was lost.' - The Critic When I very first learned about Twitter, I honestly thought the entire thing was a joke that was always a month away from revealing itself. That feeling has remained startlingly consistent over the last 16 years. I just expect Jack Dorsey to pop around the corner and be like "Haha you silly gooses, here's our real product that we have actually been working on!"
- rezistik 4y ago
  https://www.statista.com/statistics/192126/us-ad-spending-of-jpmorgan-chase/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/192126/us-ad-spending-of... https://mediaradar.com/blog/robinhood-against-investment-firms/ https://mediaradar.com/blog/robinhood-against-investment-fir... Banks and brokerages spend billions on advertising...
  - gorkish 4y ago
    That's all well and good. Perhaps more people should view excessive or nebulous advertising as the negative indicator that it often is.
PakistaniDenzel 4y ago
It's always fun trying to translate sentences from corporate types to normal english: "running a team that deploys about $80M in ad spend/year." = "running a team that spends $80M on ads every year"
- stalfosknight 4y ago
  I'm always kind of bemused by people who can't seem to talk or write without every other word being corporatespeak.
- blamazon 4y ago
  I get it - it implies that they're not just signing checks, they are engineering sophisticated ad campaigns. That is a relevant detail to set up the story, and changing one word is an efficient way to convey that.
plgonzalezrx8 4y ago
> for non-ideological or virtue signaling reasons Immediately proceeds to make it about virtue signaling 2 steps below.
lost_tourist 4y ago
Twitter will never financially recover from this.
fiat_fandango 4y ago
The irony here is that TeamBlind is entertaining to most users (tech ppl with technical background) because it's degenerate and off the cuff. To limit ad spend on Twitter for "ethical" reasons is the most degenerately ironic take I've heard all year!
- Dudelander 4y ago
  How is it "degenerate"?
- yucky 4y ago
  I thought the irony was that they were fine with Twitter when they shared the platform with Louis Farrakhan, ISIS, and countless child predators, but Elon Musk owns it now and reinstated the account of the former president so that's where they draw the line.
  - Dudelander 4y ago
    Okay this is just right wing propaganda. Promotion of terrorism, grooming, and bigoted behavior were all against the Twitter TOS before Musk took over, and violations have only increased after Musk laid off the majority of the moderation team - not to mention people posting copyrighted material.
    - yucky 4y ago
      It's propaganda to correctly point out that ISIS, Farakhan and numerous child predators had accounts for years? It's a fact. So how is that propaganda?
      - Dudelander 4y ago
        Yes, because it had absolutely nothing to do with TFA or the discussion. Farakahn still has a twitter account, before and after Musk took over. The point is, Twitter has a smaller mod team and that is leading to tons of behavior that's making advertisers more hesitant to use it as a platform.
thatgerhard 4y ago
Corporate virtue signalling
Ferrotin 4y ago
> Performance fell significantly. Did Twitter get rid of a bunch of bots? This is the fakest thing about this post.

52 points by mzs 4y ago

helloharvey 4y ago

djanogo 4y ago
They also said "for non-ideological or virtue signaling reasons", but proceeded to find cases where their ad was shown beside supposedly antisemitic content - based on their opinion, with no evidence. Also has budget of $80M/year but needs AM, designer, analyst, and creative specialist from Twitter to support him.
- MrMan 4y ago

kazinator 4y ago

$80M per year on ads is a medium-sized company now?

josephd79 4y ago
Gotta spend money to make money.
Ekaros 4y ago
Wouldn't it be over 1000 workers if spend employing people at median wage? Thus a large company?
- aorloff 4y ago
  That is the budget spent on ads. Not the budget for the ad buying team

randyrand 4y ago

He says its not for virtue signaling but literally the 2nd point is virtue signaling.* The only point that really matters as far as ads are concerned is the first one, but without numbers it’s not much to go on. In other words, it’s not a very useful article for how non-virtue signaling companies will respond. * Ad purchasers having little tolerance for being placed next to racists posts made by the user’s own subscribers and the user’s own content choices is a recent phenomenon, and is literally the definition of virtue signaling

hello_friendos 4y ago
> Serious brand safety issues. Our organic social and CS teams got dozens of screenshots of our ads next to awful content. Replies to our posts with hardcore antisemitism and adult spam remained up for days even when flagged Not wanting your advertisements displayed right next to objectionable content is not 'virtue signalling' lol.
- randyrand 4y ago
  It is the definition of virtue signaling.
  - mlyle 4y ago
    The definition of virtue signaling is: "the action or practice of publicly expressing opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one's good character or the moral correctness of one's position on a particular issue." Thinking that it might be bad for brand reputation to have engagement with your posts to be filled with antisemitism and porn isn't exactly virtue signaling.
helen___keller 4y ago
> He says it not for virtue signaling but literally the 2nd point is virtue signaling. I think it means not for virtue signaling [about musk/twitter]. Avoiding brand damage and other “common” virtue signaling (like sticking American flags on things for July 4th, sticking rainbows on things for pride, etc) are just called “marketing”. It’s standard operating procedure for someone looking to make money.

gorkish 4y ago

A "Financial Services Company" that can afford to spend a million bucks a month on Twitter ads is probably not selling anything I'd like to be buying. As a user, I'm not exactly clear about why I should feel outraged. I say, please, more of this. Addendum: HN downvotes are the sweetest tears because you can tell who is crying.

mlyle 4y ago
Oh, the ads going away may be fine for end-users, but it may not be so great for the income statement of Twitter or its ability to meet its (now very high) debt service obligations.
- rsynnott 4y ago
  Won't necessarily be great for users, either. There'll always be bottom feeders who'll advertise anywhere; typically crypto scams and the dodgier online casinos and so forth.
- gorkish 4y ago
  'And nothing of value was lost.' - The Critic When I very first learned about Twitter, I honestly thought the entire thing was a joke that was always a month away from revealing itself. That feeling has remained startlingly consistent over the last 16 years. I just expect Jack Dorsey to pop around the corner and be like "Haha you silly gooses, here's our real product that we have actually been working on!"
rezistik 4y ago
https://www.statista.com/statistics/192126/us-ad-spending-of-jpmorgan-chase/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/192126/us-ad-spending-of... https://mediaradar.com/blog/robinhood-against-investment-firms/ https://mediaradar.com/blog/robinhood-against-investment-fir... Banks and brokerages spend billions on advertising...
- gorkish 4y ago
  That's all well and good. Perhaps more people should view excessive or nebulous advertising as the negative indicator that it often is.

PakistaniDenzel 4y ago

It's always fun trying to translate sentences from corporate types to normal english: "running a team that deploys about $80M in ad spend/year." = "running a team that spends $80M on ads every year"

stalfosknight 4y ago
I'm always kind of bemused by people who can't seem to talk or write without every other word being corporatespeak.
blamazon 4y ago
I get it - it implies that they're not just signing checks, they are engineering sophisticated ad campaigns. That is a relevant detail to set up the story, and changing one word is an efficient way to convey that.

plgonzalezrx8 4y ago

> for non-ideological or virtue signaling reasons Immediately proceeds to make it about virtue signaling 2 steps below.

lost_tourist 4y ago

Twitter will never financially recover from this.

fiat_fandango 4y ago

The irony here is that TeamBlind is entertaining to most users (tech ppl with technical background) because it's degenerate and off the cuff. To limit ad spend on Twitter for "ethical" reasons is the most degenerately ironic take I've heard all year!

Dudelander 4y ago
How is it "degenerate"?
yucky 4y ago
I thought the irony was that they were fine with Twitter when they shared the platform with Louis Farrakhan, ISIS, and countless child predators, but Elon Musk owns it now and reinstated the account of the former president so that's where they draw the line.
- Dudelander 4y ago
  Okay this is just right wing propaganda. Promotion of terrorism, grooming, and bigoted behavior were all against the Twitter TOS before Musk took over, and violations have only increased after Musk laid off the majority of the moderation team - not to mention people posting copyrighted material.
  - yucky 4y ago
    It's propaganda to correctly point out that ISIS, Farakhan and numerous child predators had accounts for years? It's a fact. So how is that propaganda?
    - Dudelander 4y ago
      Yes, because it had absolutely nothing to do with TFA or the discussion. Farakahn still has a twitter account, before and after Musk took over. The point is, Twitter has a smaller mod team and that is leading to tons of behavior that's making advertisers more hesitant to use it as a platform.

thatgerhard 4y ago

Corporate virtue signalling

Ferrotin 4y ago

> Performance fell significantly. Did Twitter get rid of a bunch of bots? This is the fakest thing about this post.