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I agree that people have held out way too long. My more nihilistic interpretation is that taking any of Twitter's functionality for granted was a mistake. It's

I agree that people have held out way too long. My more nihilistic interpretation is that taking any of Twitter's functionality for granted was a mistake. It's a publicly traded business, and if you didn't want big money to ruin the experience, you shouldn't have put faith in money in the first place. YouTube is on a similar precipice. People think it's irreplaceable because YouTube displaces every competitor. In truth, Google has simply monetized the distribution of video content so well that nobody else has a reason to compete. Streaming video on a competing platform is almost always a shitshow. But, eventually YouTube will fail or implement a heartbreaking change that forces everyone off. Maybe Larry Ellison will make a bid for it, and we'll complete the Lex Luthor arc for American billionaires. Either way, it's another "too big to fail" service that is sure to fall apart at some point. If you want to avoid situations like this, take ownership of the media you like and don't let your voice rely on other people's platforms.

qotgalaxy 4y ago
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wpietri 4y ago
Honestly, it was partly my faith in money that made me comfortable with Twitter as a public company. They (gradually and often reluctantly) learned that if they wanted to be a viable business, they had to provide a reasonably safe place for a lot of people. For purely pecuniary reasons, they also thought they needed to be a good partner to people building things related to Twitter. All that has gone by the wayside, of course. Part of the problem here is that Musk had so much money he could afford to burn tens of billions of dollars on a weird personal fixation. [1] A problem that the market has happily started to correct, [2] but perhaps not soon enough to save Twitter. [1] One possible explanation is here: https://defector.com/i-was-almost-elon-musks-twitter-voice https://defector.com/i-was-almost-elon-musks-twitter-voice [2] He even set a record! https://www.npr.org/2023/01/12/1148634966/elon-musk-guinness-world-records https://www.npr.org/2023/01/12/1148634966/elon-musk-guinness...
- smoldesu 4y ago
  They didn't learn much of anything, though. Twitter lost money when they played nice, and they lose less money when they play mean and lean. Either way Twitter was bloated and overvalued, but anything bought with wealth leveraged against Tesla shares can't be worth much in the first place.
  - wpietri 4y ago
    No, they really did learn things. For example, consider the racist mobbing of Leslie Jones in 2016: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/jul/18/leslie-jones-racist-tweets-ghostbusters https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/jul/18/leslie-jones... Twitter learned that they really had to take harm reduction more seriously if they didn't want to be known for things like that. I believe that their improvements there were part of what set them on the path to their later profits: https://www.netcials.com/financial-net-profit-year-quarter-usa/1418091-TWITTER-INC/#secondlist https://www.netcials.com/financial-net-profit-year-quarter-u... And as far as losing money goes, their "lean and mean" approach isn't doing so well. Ad revenues are reportedly down ~40% as the same time Musk is going to have to come up with billion-dollar interest payments.
    - smoldesu 4y ago
      Ad revenue can be down 40% if your overall paid workforce was reduced by ~85%. It wasn't working out for Twitter either way, if they wanted to be profitable then something had to change. As an impartial non-Twitter user, I think it's safe to say that neither version of Twitter was healthy for it's platform or users.
      - wpietri 4y ago
        Twitter has been profitable in the recent past and could be again. Drama was not necessary. I think your claim on profitability is flat out wrong. If you think that's the case, what are the exact numbers you are imagining that would make Twitter profitable?
      - 4y ago

qotgalaxy 4y ago

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wpietri 4y ago

Honestly, it was partly my faith in money that made me comfortable with Twitter as a public company. They (gradually and often reluctantly) learned that if they wanted to be a viable business, they had to provide a reasonably safe place for a lot of people. For purely pecuniary reasons, they also thought they needed to be a good partner to people building things related to Twitter. All that has gone by the wayside, of course. Part of the problem here is that Musk had so much money he could afford to burn tens of billions of dollars on a weird personal fixation. [1] A problem that the market has happily started to correct, [2] but perhaps not soon enough to save Twitter. [1] One possible explanation is here: https://defector.com/i-was-almost-elon-musks-twitter-voice https://defector.com/i-was-almost-elon-musks-twitter-voice [2] He even set a record! https://www.npr.org/2023/01/12/1148634966/elon-musk-guinness-world-records https://www.npr.org/2023/01/12/1148634966/elon-musk-guinness...

smoldesu 4y ago
They didn't learn much of anything, though. Twitter lost money when they played nice, and they lose less money when they play mean and lean. Either way Twitter was bloated and overvalued, but anything bought with wealth leveraged against Tesla shares can't be worth much in the first place.
- wpietri 4y ago
  No, they really did learn things. For example, consider the racist mobbing of Leslie Jones in 2016: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/jul/18/leslie-jones-racist-tweets-ghostbusters https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/jul/18/leslie-jones... Twitter learned that they really had to take harm reduction more seriously if they didn't want to be known for things like that. I believe that their improvements there were part of what set them on the path to their later profits: https://www.netcials.com/financial-net-profit-year-quarter-usa/1418091-TWITTER-INC/#secondlist https://www.netcials.com/financial-net-profit-year-quarter-u... And as far as losing money goes, their "lean and mean" approach isn't doing so well. Ad revenues are reportedly down ~40% as the same time Musk is going to have to come up with billion-dollar interest payments.
  - smoldesu 4y ago
    Ad revenue can be down 40% if your overall paid workforce was reduced by ~85%. It wasn't working out for Twitter either way, if they wanted to be profitable then something had to change. As an impartial non-Twitter user, I think it's safe to say that neither version of Twitter was healthy for it's platform or users.
    - wpietri 4y ago
      Twitter has been profitable in the recent past and could be again. Drama was not necessary. I think your claim on profitability is flat out wrong. If you think that's the case, what are the exact numbers you are imagining that would make Twitter profitable?
    - 4y ago