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This employer behavior is a result of the business model of collecting a critical mass of the users and later cutting operation costs. It's viable because Twit

by thih9 2y ago

This employer behavior is a result of the business model of collecting a critical mass of the users and later cutting operation costs. It's viable because Twitter/X controls the access to the audiences of their users - if you leave, you lose your network. I'd like next gen social media platforms to allow transitions from one provider to another. While related, I think this is a different topic than centralized/federated.

seper8 2y ago
I think you should look at the facts and that is that X is both way more in the media than before - both in a good and a bad way - and the userbase has grown while a significant portion of operational expenses have been cut.
- XorNot 2y ago
  How would you determine if the userbase has grown when by most accounts there has been an explosion in the number of bots while advertising revenue has plummeted by 80%?
- flohofwoe 2y ago
  > and the userbase has grown Most of those 'users' are probably bots though. The bot activity has increased massively since Musk has bought the company (just look at all the like-bots nobody seems to do anything about).
  - microtonal 2y ago
    Yeah, I get new bot followers nearly every day, this rarely happened in pre-Musk Twitter.
- ijk 2y ago
  And revenue has dropped through the floor: https://fortune.com/2024/08/15/elon-musk-tesla-stock-sale-twitter-x-advertiser-boycott-finances-bradford-ferguson/ https://fortune.com/2024/08/15/elon-musk-tesla-stock-sale-tw... https://mashable.com/article/twitter-x-revenue-falls-x-payments-plans https://mashable.com/article/twitter-x-revenue-falls-x-payme...
  - ben_w 2y ago
    That's one error it can survive, given who owns it.
    - smcl 2y ago
      He can afford it as long as the stock market remains convinced Tesla deserve to be the most valuable car company in the world while being outside the top ten in sales ...
      - mensetmanusman 2y ago
        Tesla is a battery company that sells cars.
      - ben_w 2y ago
        Even then; so far as I can see (which is limited) he's also making bank from SpaceX.
        jordanb 2y ago
        How do you figure? SpaceX needs about a billion dollars of new capital injection every 18 months or so..
        ben_w 2y ago
        Last I heard, it was making a profit despite spending about 5bn on Starship: https://archive.ph/20230817224420/https://www.wsj.com/tech/behind-the-curtain-of-elon-musks-secretive-spacex-revenue-growth-and-rising-costs-2c828e2b https://archive.ph/20230817224420/https://www.wsj.com/tech/b... (I count "can make Starship on the side" as a QED of "making bank"). Regardless of how Starship concludes, when it does so it saves them ongoing costs, and turns "small profit" into "huge profit": either Falcon becomes redundant, or the R&D team does.
    - H8crilA 2y ago
      Profit is the whole point of owning a company, unless it's run by an oligarch, like is the case with Twitter. Not too dissimilar from Abramovich or another Sheriff from Moldova owning a sports club.
- snowwrestler 2y ago
  The X user base has shrunk dramatically, which is the main reason major consumer companies have dropped their ad spend there. They were getting far less for their money and effort and hassle. It’s also why Trump has not bothered to come back to his (now un-banned) account there. X also receives far less media exposure than Twitter used to. For example in the U.S. about a decade ago, it was common for every ad and news broadcast to include the Twitter icon with their Twitter handle on the screen. Entire movies were made with Twitter as a central plot element (e.g. Jon Favreau’s Chef). Reporters were hired and fired based on the size of their Twitter audience. None of that happens anymore. X gets a bit of news coverage primarily from random controversies and that’s it.
- _fizz_buzz_ 2y ago
  > the userbase has grown Do you have a source for that? Many of the accounts that I follow on twitter are now completely dead. I think most of them are not deleted, but they have basically no activity. This is of course very subjective, but is there any reliable data how many active user x now has?

by thih9 2y ago

seper8 2y ago

I think you should look at the facts and that is that X is both way more in the media than before - both in a good and a bad way - and the userbase has grown while a significant portion of operational expenses have been cut.

XorNot 2y ago
How would you determine if the userbase has grown when by most accounts there has been an explosion in the number of bots while advertising revenue has plummeted by 80%?
flohofwoe 2y ago
> and the userbase has grown Most of those 'users' are probably bots though. The bot activity has increased massively since Musk has bought the company (just look at all the like-bots nobody seems to do anything about).
- microtonal 2y ago
  Yeah, I get new bot followers nearly every day, this rarely happened in pre-Musk Twitter.
ijk 2y ago
And revenue has dropped through the floor: https://fortune.com/2024/08/15/elon-musk-tesla-stock-sale-twitter-x-advertiser-boycott-finances-bradford-ferguson/ https://fortune.com/2024/08/15/elon-musk-tesla-stock-sale-tw... https://mashable.com/article/twitter-x-revenue-falls-x-payments-plans https://mashable.com/article/twitter-x-revenue-falls-x-payme...
- ben_w 2y ago
  That's one error it can survive, given who owns it.
  - smcl 2y ago
    He can afford it as long as the stock market remains convinced Tesla deserve to be the most valuable car company in the world while being outside the top ten in sales ...
    - mensetmanusman 2y ago
      Tesla is a battery company that sells cars.
    - ben_w 2y ago
      Even then; so far as I can see (which is limited) he's also making bank from SpaceX.
      - jordanb 2y ago
        How do you figure? SpaceX needs about a billion dollars of new capital injection every 18 months or so..
        ben_w 2y ago
        Last I heard, it was making a profit despite spending about 5bn on Starship: https://archive.ph/20230817224420/https://www.wsj.com/tech/behind-the-curtain-of-elon-musks-secretive-spacex-revenue-growth-and-rising-costs-2c828e2b https://archive.ph/20230817224420/https://www.wsj.com/tech/b... (I count "can make Starship on the side" as a QED of "making bank"). Regardless of how Starship concludes, when it does so it saves them ongoing costs, and turns "small profit" into "huge profit": either Falcon becomes redundant, or the R&D team does.
  - H8crilA 2y ago
    Profit is the whole point of owning a company, unless it's run by an oligarch, like is the case with Twitter. Not too dissimilar from Abramovich or another Sheriff from Moldova owning a sports club.
snowwrestler 2y ago
The X user base has shrunk dramatically, which is the main reason major consumer companies have dropped their ad spend there. They were getting far less for their money and effort and hassle. It’s also why Trump has not bothered to come back to his (now un-banned) account there. X also receives far less media exposure than Twitter used to. For example in the U.S. about a decade ago, it was common for every ad and news broadcast to include the Twitter icon with their Twitter handle on the screen. Entire movies were made with Twitter as a central plot element (e.g. Jon Favreau’s Chef). Reporters were hired and fired based on the size of their Twitter audience. None of that happens anymore. X gets a bit of news coverage primarily from random controversies and that’s it.
_fizz_buzz_ 2y ago
> the userbase has grown Do you have a source for that? Many of the accounts that I follow on twitter are now completely dead. I think most of them are not deleted, but they have basically no activity. This is of course very subjective, but is there any reliable data how many active user x now has?