6 ms·

but Twitter didn't even matter when it was just Twitter. Twitter was a minor, failing social media site up until Musk bought it.

by mjfl 3y ago

kalupa 3y ago
not sure that's been corrected yet. Seems to be becoming more minor and more failing
- nancyhn 3y ago
  By what metric?
  - dspillett 3y ago
    The increased number of viable competitors (in terms of mind-share, I'm not suggesting there has been significant movement in terms of capabilities in the last twelve months) and the level of interested in then certainly makes twitter's position rather less comfortable than it might otherwise have been. There certainly seemed to be a number of advertisers who reduced, or entirely removed, their commitments to purchase space on the platform. While many have since reversed somewhat on that, many have not or have not completely unless there has been a major change this quarter (the just full figures I've seen reported in were for 2023Q2 and IIRC the total advertising sales were down >55% compared to 2022Q2). That is two fairly negative indicators with demonstrable evidence. Do you have any positive metrics in mind?
- aksss 3y ago
  I'm guessing they're financially healthier on the opex side of things than they've ever been. I mean, they've never been profitable, the revenue loss was reactionary and it's not crazy to think that will come back as Twitter hits record user minute metrics and such. Thread is probably going to be robbing its own revenue from other Meta platforms more than Twitter's, I'm guessing. I read somebody today remarking that Twitter was an indignation machine, but I think twitter is very productive if you're following people who produce content or information rather than following political pundits and reporters.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
gumby 3y ago
I can't argue with this: > Twitter was a minor, failing social media site up until Musk bought it. Maybe "slowly failing", accelerating after the purchase. But I slightly disagree with this: > Twitter didn't even matter when it was just Twitter. I think twitter was disproportionally more significant, though not as hugely so as its denizens believed. If there were a graph of "number of subscribers" (X) vs "influence over Zeitgeist" (Y), Twitter would appear a little above the curve. The reason is that a lot of journalists corresponded on it so things discussed on it would appear in the press. I started using it last summer or so -- a few months before the sale. I never (and don't) like the short form. I'm more likely to see something outside my "bubble" on TW than FB, but frankly FB is more useful to me (I just want to know news about my friends and family, and their kids, basically, plus cat and dog pictures). Climate Twitter is pretty good; for some reason the same kind of thing doesn't appear on FB (Machinist FB is good and there appears to be no Machinist Twitter that I can find). If this sounds like a defense of twitter: it isn't. I'm just saying that "didn't matter" is probably too absolute. It never mattered a lot, though.
Karrot_Kream 3y ago
A lot of frequent HN commenters had or have Twitter followings and view/ed themselves as Twitter influencers. Even though Twitter didn't matter that much for most people, to this crowd it matters a lot, and likewise creators whose blogs and platforms get posted on HN.
Jeff_Brown 3y ago
If there's any platform where famous people talk to each other and even sometimes to non-famous people, Twitter is it -- even now.
LexiMax 3y ago
> Twitter was a minor, failing social media site up until Musk bought it. Twitter was anything but a minor player in the social media space. Financially, it was treading water due to the difficulty of monetizing its userbase. What doomed the site was the Elon purchase. The additional debt has basically ensured the sites deterioration, long before Elon started alienating his advertisers and demonstrating his lack of commitment to free speech.
kaitai 3y ago
Twitter mattered to the thinking/writing class. It had a big influence on journalism and the kinds of people who write think pieces or tutorials or posts that get widely read by people like those who read HN. A relatively small amount of force, but applied to just the right place, you know...

but Twitter didn't even matter when it was just Twitter. Twitter was a minor, failing social media site up until Musk bought it.

by mjfl 3y ago

but Twitter didn't even matter when it was just Twitter. Twitter was a minor, failing social media site up until Musk bought it.

kalupa 3y ago

not sure that's been corrected yet. Seems to be becoming more minor and more failing

nancyhn 3y ago
By what metric?
- dspillett 3y ago
  The increased number of viable competitors (in terms of mind-share, I'm not suggesting there has been significant movement in terms of capabilities in the last twelve months) and the level of interested in then certainly makes twitter's position rather less comfortable than it might otherwise have been. There certainly seemed to be a number of advertisers who reduced, or entirely removed, their commitments to purchase space on the platform. While many have since reversed somewhat on that, many have not or have not completely unless there has been a major change this quarter (the just full figures I've seen reported in were for 2023Q2 and IIRC the total advertising sales were down >55% compared to 2022Q2). That is two fairly negative indicators with demonstrable evidence. Do you have any positive metrics in mind?
aksss 3y ago
I'm guessing they're financially healthier on the opex side of things than they've ever been. I mean, they've never been profitable, the revenue loss was reactionary and it's not crazy to think that will come back as Twitter hits record user minute metrics and such. Thread is probably going to be robbing its own revenue from other Meta platforms more than Twitter's, I'm guessing. I read somebody today remarking that Twitter was an indignation machine, but I think twitter is very productive if you're following people who produce content or information rather than following political pundits and reporters.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

gumby 3y ago

I can't argue with this: > Twitter was a minor, failing social media site up until Musk bought it. Maybe "slowly failing", accelerating after the purchase. But I slightly disagree with this: > Twitter didn't even matter when it was just Twitter. I think twitter was disproportionally more significant, though not as hugely so as its denizens believed. If there were a graph of "number of subscribers" (X) vs "influence over Zeitgeist" (Y), Twitter would appear a little above the curve. The reason is that a lot of journalists corresponded on it so things discussed on it would appear in the press. I started using it last summer or so -- a few months before the sale. I never (and don't) like the short form. I'm more likely to see something outside my "bubble" on TW than FB, but frankly FB is more useful to me (I just want to know news about my friends and family, and their kids, basically, plus cat and dog pictures). Climate Twitter is pretty good; for some reason the same kind of thing doesn't appear on FB (Machinist FB is good and there appears to be no Machinist Twitter that I can find). If this sounds like a defense of twitter: it isn't. I'm just saying that "didn't matter" is probably too absolute. It never mattered a lot, though.

Karrot_Kream 3y ago

A lot of frequent HN commenters had or have Twitter followings and view/ed themselves as Twitter influencers. Even though Twitter didn't matter that much for most people, to this crowd it matters a lot, and likewise creators whose blogs and platforms get posted on HN.

Jeff_Brown 3y ago

If there's any platform where famous people talk to each other and even sometimes to non-famous people, Twitter is it -- even now.

LexiMax 3y ago

> Twitter was a minor, failing social media site up until Musk bought it. Twitter was anything but a minor player in the social media space. Financially, it was treading water due to the difficulty of monetizing its userbase. What doomed the site was the Elon purchase. The additional debt has basically ensured the sites deterioration, long before Elon started alienating his advertisers and demonstrating his lack of commitment to free speech.

kaitai 3y ago

Twitter mattered to the thinking/writing class. It had a big influence on journalism and the kinds of people who write think pieces or tutorials or posts that get widely read by people like those who read HN. A relatively small amount of force, but applied to just the right place, you know...