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At some point I saw speculation that the idea is to turn twitter into some sort of super-app like wechat. If that is true then it makes sense to button down loo

At some point I saw speculation that the idea is to turn twitter into some sort of super-app like wechat. If that is true then it makes sense to button down loose "ecosystem" thingies that were setup during a more innocent and hopeful era. This will probably destroy a whole bunch of use-cases and motivations for people and organizations to use twitter, but might retain enough of a core (mostly low-information) user base to seed what will practically be an entirely new venture but one with a recognizable name. There might, for example, be new API's, for corporates to push product algorithmically and embed instant, buy now - pay later, buttons.

altacc 4y ago
I think that's nothing more than a pipe dream. It seems that Twitter is bordering dysfunctional internally and is hemorrhaging money at the worst possible time (massive debts to support, slowing economy, less accessible loans). I think Twitter's current strategy is desperately trying to make money and stop the losses. Many APIs do have price tiers but it depends upon the business model, if the API is the product, or the app is the product and the API drives traffic and use cases. For a super-app, arguably the app is the product & profit generator and an open, free API would support usage of that.
- arlcode 4y ago
  Also regulators in on some of Twitters core markets (EU and US) are not to fond of ginormous Techconglomerates at the moment and might have a few words to say about that. In fact the EU recently passed laws to nip budding "market dominant companies" before they take out all of the competition and bundle lots of unrelated services. The political climate soured with regards to Big Tech and that's happening across party lines.
  - college_physics 4y ago
    The perplexing thing is that all these headwinds are fairly well known and for some time (even though probably internalized more by participants in this particular forum). So this raises the question whether there was any rationality attached to the infamous $44bln purchase. One could hypothesise that it was just a random, discretionary action, made possible by an insane system that has lost any sense of value, purpose or accountability. In either case this story will definitely increase popcorn consumption.
    - arlcode 4y ago
      I'm in the "impulsive purchase including buyers remorse" camp. Also yes (wo)men in Elons Musks inner circle who are unable to contradict him. Now that the deals i done he needs to make the best of it (for his ego but also for Tesla control reasons). What will come of it remains to be seen. It could still end in a number of ways
      - anigbrowl 4y ago
        I don't think it's that simple. Imagine if you had 'overpaid' for ownership of most US radio broadcasting in 1938. On paper it might look like a terrible investment, but depending on your goals and alliances it might be worth massively more than the book value.
        arlcode 4y ago
        Could be and billionaires have a tendency to fall very softly. I'm still figuring out how the "no due diligence, no exit hatch - final offer" figures into this. Why no not do it like you usually approach a takeover of this scale. He did try to wiggle out of it almost instantly and found himself locked into the contract by "himself". To me this feels like he made a fairly emotional decision, used his influential network and personal assets to setup the deal but was afraid to "chicken out"/face reality when given the chance.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
- tee_0 4y ago
  Bordering on dysfunctional internally? Do you have any evidence to support that? Real evidence, so that we aren’t thrashing in a sea of conjecture, speculation and politics. People confidently predicted that twitter would grind to a halt a month or two ago… the rumor gained momentum and everyone was saying it. And it turned out to be nonsense. If people actually required a little evidence before believing things instead of playing make-believe like you then it would save people from looking really stupid and wasting their time with vapid rumors.
achr2 4y ago
Who in their right mind would trust twitter with anything more 512 character banal musings after this tumultuous year? Mobile payments or secure messaging? Yikes!
- pessimizer 4y ago
  Teslas are cars. They may accidentally race through Chinese cities at 150 miles an hour sometimes, but people still buy and drive them.
dmitriid 4y ago
> At some point I saw speculation that the idea is to turn twitter into some sort of super-app like wechat. If that is true then it makes sense to button down loose "ecosystem" thingies that were setup during a more innocent and hopeful era. What do you think WeChat is if not integration of hundreds of external apps and developers? If you were really serious about turning Twitter into WeChat, you would: - have an actual plan how to do it - have this plan publicly available - explain the changes to the APIs beforehand - have the pricing info for the changes beforehand - give developers a clear path of moving to this new wechat thingie - give developers plenty of time to move to this new wechat thingie, work closely with them and figure out and iron out any issues What Elon did: - killed third-party ecosystem (Twitter wouldn't be twitter without third-party apps: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34640515 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34640515) with no warning and no path forward - killed a huge third-party ecosystem [1] with a week's warning and no path forward [1] Of course it's not just bots. Does he really think that news outlets, media outlets, celebrities etc. post to Twitter manually by hand?
- dmak 4y ago
  At this point, I think the person who paid bajillion dollars for twitter can do as they see fit. I'm just waiting for a new social media platform to pop up now.

altacc 4y ago

I think that's nothing more than a pipe dream. It seems that Twitter is bordering dysfunctional internally and is hemorrhaging money at the worst possible time (massive debts to support, slowing economy, less accessible loans). I think Twitter's current strategy is desperately trying to make money and stop the losses. Many APIs do have price tiers but it depends upon the business model, if the API is the product, or the app is the product and the API drives traffic and use cases. For a super-app, arguably the app is the product & profit generator and an open, free API would support usage of that.

arlcode 4y ago
Also regulators in on some of Twitters core markets (EU and US) are not to fond of ginormous Techconglomerates at the moment and might have a few words to say about that. In fact the EU recently passed laws to nip budding "market dominant companies" before they take out all of the competition and bundle lots of unrelated services. The political climate soured with regards to Big Tech and that's happening across party lines.
- college_physics 4y ago
  The perplexing thing is that all these headwinds are fairly well known and for some time (even though probably internalized more by participants in this particular forum). So this raises the question whether there was any rationality attached to the infamous $44bln purchase. One could hypothesise that it was just a random, discretionary action, made possible by an insane system that has lost any sense of value, purpose or accountability. In either case this story will definitely increase popcorn consumption.
  - arlcode 4y ago
    I'm in the "impulsive purchase including buyers remorse" camp. Also yes (wo)men in Elons Musks inner circle who are unable to contradict him. Now that the deals i done he needs to make the best of it (for his ego but also for Tesla control reasons). What will come of it remains to be seen. It could still end in a number of ways
    - anigbrowl 4y ago
      I don't think it's that simple. Imagine if you had 'overpaid' for ownership of most US radio broadcasting in 1938. On paper it might look like a terrible investment, but depending on your goals and alliances it might be worth massively more than the book value.
      - arlcode 4y ago
        Could be and billionaires have a tendency to fall very softly. I'm still figuring out how the "no due diligence, no exit hatch - final offer" figures into this. Why no not do it like you usually approach a takeover of this scale. He did try to wiggle out of it almost instantly and found himself locked into the contract by "himself". To me this feels like he made a fairly emotional decision, used his influential network and personal assets to setup the deal but was afraid to "chicken out"/face reality when given the chance.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
tee_0 4y ago
Bordering on dysfunctional internally? Do you have any evidence to support that? Real evidence, so that we aren’t thrashing in a sea of conjecture, speculation and politics. People confidently predicted that twitter would grind to a halt a month or two ago… the rumor gained momentum and everyone was saying it. And it turned out to be nonsense. If people actually required a little evidence before believing things instead of playing make-believe like you then it would save people from looking really stupid and wasting their time with vapid rumors.

achr2 4y ago

Who in their right mind would trust twitter with anything more 512 character banal musings after this tumultuous year? Mobile payments or secure messaging? Yikes!

pessimizer 4y ago
Teslas are cars. They may accidentally race through Chinese cities at 150 miles an hour sometimes, but people still buy and drive them.

dmitriid 4y ago

> At some point I saw speculation that the idea is to turn twitter into some sort of super-app like wechat. If that is true then it makes sense to button down loose "ecosystem" thingies that were setup during a more innocent and hopeful era. What do you think WeChat is if not integration of hundreds of external apps and developers? If you were really serious about turning Twitter into WeChat, you would: - have an actual plan how to do it - have this plan publicly available - explain the changes to the APIs beforehand - have the pricing info for the changes beforehand - give developers a clear path of moving to this new wechat thingie - give developers plenty of time to move to this new wechat thingie, work closely with them and figure out and iron out any issues What Elon did: - killed third-party ecosystem (Twitter wouldn't be twitter without third-party apps: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34640515 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34640515) with no warning and no path forward - killed a huge third-party ecosystem [1] with a week's warning and no path forward [1] Of course it's not just bots. Does he really think that news outlets, media outlets, celebrities etc. post to Twitter manually by hand?

dmak 4y ago
At this point, I think the person who paid bajillion dollars for twitter can do as they see fit. I'm just waiting for a new social media platform to pop up now.