6 ms·

Fascinating that Musk continues to run Twitter in a "move fast and break things" mode. When the entities that affect the company's existence the most i.e. regu

Fascinating that Musk continues to run Twitter in a "move fast and break things" mode. When the entities that affect the company's existence the most i.e. regulators and advertisers are asking for more thoughtful, measured and safe changes. And instead he's obsessed with adding end-user features which based on the woeful Twitter Blue subscription numbers seems like a dead-end strategy.

monero-xmr 3y ago
He’s the richest person on earth and has a very solid track record. I’m betting he knows more than the average bitter commenter.
- simonw 3y ago
  His track record at running Twitter has been abysmal so far.
  - chasd00 3y ago
    Twitter works fine for me.
    - simonw 3y ago
      That's not incompatible with what I said. It mostly "works fine" for me too.
      - lazyeye 3y ago
        Works fine for me too. And am looking forward to all the new features they now have in the pipeline.
        foderking 3y ago
        same
- woeirua 3y ago
  You can't squeeze blood from a turnip, and you can't make Twitter profitable. Twitter's problem is, and always has been, the business model. If you want to make money off ads then you have to keep the content acceptable to advertisers. Advertisers don't want their ads next to neo-Nazi propaganda on Twitter. Elon's approach to this is totally assbackwards if his goal is to make money.
  - celdon25 3y ago
    Can you point to some examples of this propaganda?
    - LightBug1 3y ago
      Have you used Twitter?
      - celdon25 3y ago
        yes?
    - nickthegreek 3y ago
      Here is Musk himself trying to provide cover to one last week when he really had no reason to open his mouth about the shooting at all. https://fortune.com/2023/05/10/elon-musk-twitter-texas-mall-gunman-misinformation/ https://fortune.com/2023/05/10/elon-musk-twitter-texas-mall-...
      - celdon25 3y ago
        Do you have a link to the tweets? I'm not reading through that
        nickthegreek 3y ago
        I am not your errand boy. I sent you the information you requested. You have all the details you need to research if you so desire.
- eviks 3y ago
  That's a losing bet since we actually have enough information about his knowledge beyond the simplistic heuristic "he's rich so he's right"
  - sugarpile 3y ago
    So you'll be willing to sell me calls in an Elon owned company then, yes?
    - hef19898 3y ago
      For Twitter? Sure, it just wasn't possible anymore. And Tesla is still down 30 % as of now in the last 12 months, despite a 50% rally since January. I guess quite a few shortsellers made quite some money on that. None of that is mitigated by the fact that Tesla is still up 718% since 2018, not everybody invested back then, nor is everybody, especially shorts and their counterparts in thier trades, long term investors.
    - viraptor 3y ago
      This doesn't make sense whether you know he's failing or not. With that amount of money he can literally buy a temporary success when needed. That makes betting against his companies extremely risky - even if you're sure they'll collapse long term. If Twitter could still be traded, he could announce his X app with some broken features, buy lots of ads, pay for influencers and reviews, and Twitter price would go up. And he's the kind of person who we know could totally do it.
    - eviks 3y ago
      These words you're using, I don't think they mean what you think they mean Your question makes no sense without price information, and even then, that's way too broad a target to reflect the knowledge of a guy, where just listening is more than enough
- threeseed 3y ago
  a) He's not the richest person on earth. b) His track record in general is not without faults. c) His track record with Twitter is clear for everyone to see. Revenue has plummeted, Twitter Blue subscription numbers are just embarrassing and BlueSky is every day attracting more and more key content creators. Twitter is slowly but surely going to end up being nothing more than a Truth Social / Gab clone.
  - somenameforme 3y ago
    Revenue doesn't matter, profit does. Articles focusing on the former are being intentionally disingenuous. Twitter's employed headcount has fallen to to ~1800 from 7500, and their contractor headcount to ~1100 from 5500. And among the layoffs include most (all?) of the former executive positions, many of which drew quite absurd comp. For instance Vijaya Gadde's final comp was ~$17 million for a year. That's going to be a dramatic decrease in costs. Their revenue since is going to be difficult if not impossible to fairly assess. Many (most?) of the largest advertisers like Apple/Amazon have returned, but likely with discounted enticements which, to my knowledge, are not public. So all one can do is speculate. I think the only fair conclusion is that it's hardly doomsday for Twitter, but it's also not quite time for a victory parade either. I genuinely hope alternatives, especially decentralized ones, succeed. Competition improves everybody. But the reason Elon spent $40 billion on Twitter is not for the software, but for the users. Network effect is seemingly impossible to overcome, regardless of the merit of a site.
- croes 3y ago
  >He’s the richest person on earth Mainly because of Tesla, which is overvalued also according to him. >bitter commenter. This fits for Elon too.
- amitrip 3y ago
  [dead]
- madeofpalk 3y ago
  Its idea that people covet a rich person just because they're rich is bizzare.
baby 3y ago
Twitter needs to improve its DM feature. It’s a nobrainer. They’ve been stuck forever on shitty DMs, they need to move faster.
- RhodesianHunter 3y ago
  Who are the people who actually GAF about e2e encryption in Twitter DMs though? Of all the places to have private conversations, that ain't it.
  - hammyhavoc 3y ago
    It's a press release to drum up interest with the Musk-obsessed media though, and press coverage probably generates revenue.
  - a13o 3y ago
    Twitter itself, because now it doesn't have to scan and moderate DMs for CSAM and other illegal activity. Implementing E2E encryption is a part of why they can run a skeleton crew moderation team. Users don't benefit from this change. In fact, more people will be harmed by Twitter's product with its inclusion. source: NYT 2019 investigation into the link between the rise of social media and the spread of CSAM https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/11/09/us/internet-child-sex-abuse.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/11/09/us/internet-c...
    - diebeforei485 3y ago
      Scanning 1:1 DM's is overly obtrusive. Apple iMessage and Facebook WhatsApp don't scan DM's either. > Users don't benefit from this change. Twitter blocked links to the New York Post in DM's over their Hunter Biden story. Clearly all users would benefit if they don't MITM 1:1 DM's.
  - londons_explore 3y ago
    There are entire communities (mostly schools and universities) that use Twitter Dm's almost entirely for communication. I'm not sure why either.
papito 3y ago
It's not "move fast and break things", he is just a horrible manager. Musk is a "big ideas guy", and he is good at pushing people to the breaking point to achieve those, but you have to keep him away from the important dials - like they do over at SpaceX and to some extent at Tesla. Him micromanaging a business is a death knell. The guy is probably awake all the time from uppers, and you don't make good decisions where you are sleep-deprived.

monero-xmr 3y ago

He’s the richest person on earth and has a very solid track record. I’m betting he knows more than the average bitter commenter.

simonw 3y ago
His track record at running Twitter has been abysmal so far.
- chasd00 3y ago
  Twitter works fine for me.
  - simonw 3y ago
    That's not incompatible with what I said. It mostly "works fine" for me too.
    - lazyeye 3y ago
      Works fine for me too. And am looking forward to all the new features they now have in the pipeline.
      - foderking 3y ago
        same
woeirua 3y ago
You can't squeeze blood from a turnip, and you can't make Twitter profitable. Twitter's problem is, and always has been, the business model. If you want to make money off ads then you have to keep the content acceptable to advertisers. Advertisers don't want their ads next to neo-Nazi propaganda on Twitter. Elon's approach to this is totally assbackwards if his goal is to make money.
- celdon25 3y ago
  Can you point to some examples of this propaganda?
  - LightBug1 3y ago
    Have you used Twitter?
    - celdon25 3y ago
      yes?
  - nickthegreek 3y ago
    Here is Musk himself trying to provide cover to one last week when he really had no reason to open his mouth about the shooting at all. https://fortune.com/2023/05/10/elon-musk-twitter-texas-mall-gunman-misinformation/ https://fortune.com/2023/05/10/elon-musk-twitter-texas-mall-...
    - celdon25 3y ago
      Do you have a link to the tweets? I'm not reading through that
      - nickthegreek 3y ago
        I am not your errand boy. I sent you the information you requested. You have all the details you need to research if you so desire.
eviks 3y ago
That's a losing bet since we actually have enough information about his knowledge beyond the simplistic heuristic "he's rich so he's right"
- sugarpile 3y ago
  So you'll be willing to sell me calls in an Elon owned company then, yes?
  - hef19898 3y ago
    For Twitter? Sure, it just wasn't possible anymore. And Tesla is still down 30 % as of now in the last 12 months, despite a 50% rally since January. I guess quite a few shortsellers made quite some money on that. None of that is mitigated by the fact that Tesla is still up 718% since 2018, not everybody invested back then, nor is everybody, especially shorts and their counterparts in thier trades, long term investors.
  - viraptor 3y ago
    This doesn't make sense whether you know he's failing or not. With that amount of money he can literally buy a temporary success when needed. That makes betting against his companies extremely risky - even if you're sure they'll collapse long term. If Twitter could still be traded, he could announce his X app with some broken features, buy lots of ads, pay for influencers and reviews, and Twitter price would go up. And he's the kind of person who we know could totally do it.
  - eviks 3y ago
    These words you're using, I don't think they mean what you think they mean Your question makes no sense without price information, and even then, that's way too broad a target to reflect the knowledge of a guy, where just listening is more than enough
threeseed 3y ago
a) He's not the richest person on earth. b) His track record in general is not without faults. c) His track record with Twitter is clear for everyone to see. Revenue has plummeted, Twitter Blue subscription numbers are just embarrassing and BlueSky is every day attracting more and more key content creators. Twitter is slowly but surely going to end up being nothing more than a Truth Social / Gab clone.
- somenameforme 3y ago
  Revenue doesn't matter, profit does. Articles focusing on the former are being intentionally disingenuous. Twitter's employed headcount has fallen to to ~1800 from 7500, and their contractor headcount to ~1100 from 5500. And among the layoffs include most (all?) of the former executive positions, many of which drew quite absurd comp. For instance Vijaya Gadde's final comp was ~$17 million for a year. That's going to be a dramatic decrease in costs. Their revenue since is going to be difficult if not impossible to fairly assess. Many (most?) of the largest advertisers like Apple/Amazon have returned, but likely with discounted enticements which, to my knowledge, are not public. So all one can do is speculate. I think the only fair conclusion is that it's hardly doomsday for Twitter, but it's also not quite time for a victory parade either. I genuinely hope alternatives, especially decentralized ones, succeed. Competition improves everybody. But the reason Elon spent $40 billion on Twitter is not for the software, but for the users. Network effect is seemingly impossible to overcome, regardless of the merit of a site.
croes 3y ago
>He’s the richest person on earth Mainly because of Tesla, which is overvalued also according to him. >bitter commenter. This fits for Elon too.
amitrip 3y ago
[dead]
madeofpalk 3y ago
Its idea that people covet a rich person just because they're rich is bizzare.

baby 3y ago

Twitter needs to improve its DM feature. It’s a nobrainer. They’ve been stuck forever on shitty DMs, they need to move faster.

RhodesianHunter 3y ago
Who are the people who actually GAF about e2e encryption in Twitter DMs though? Of all the places to have private conversations, that ain't it.
- hammyhavoc 3y ago
  It's a press release to drum up interest with the Musk-obsessed media though, and press coverage probably generates revenue.
- a13o 3y ago
  Twitter itself, because now it doesn't have to scan and moderate DMs for CSAM and other illegal activity. Implementing E2E encryption is a part of why they can run a skeleton crew moderation team. Users don't benefit from this change. In fact, more people will be harmed by Twitter's product with its inclusion. source: NYT 2019 investigation into the link between the rise of social media and the spread of CSAM https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/11/09/us/internet-child-sex-abuse.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/11/09/us/internet-c...
  - diebeforei485 3y ago
    Scanning 1:1 DM's is overly obtrusive. Apple iMessage and Facebook WhatsApp don't scan DM's either. > Users don't benefit from this change. Twitter blocked links to the New York Post in DM's over their Hunter Biden story. Clearly all users would benefit if they don't MITM 1:1 DM's.
- londons_explore 3y ago
  There are entire communities (mostly schools and universities) that use Twitter Dm's almost entirely for communication. I'm not sure why either.

papito 3y ago

It's not "move fast and break things", he is just a horrible manager. Musk is a "big ideas guy", and he is good at pushing people to the breaking point to achieve those, but you have to keep him away from the important dials - like they do over at SpaceX and to some extent at Tesla. Him micromanaging a business is a death knell. The guy is probably awake all the time from uppers, and you don't make good decisions where you are sleep-deprived.