4 ms·

I will never understand luddites like you. You honestly can't see any value in Twitter, in any respect?

by marknutter 17y ago

davidw 17y ago
To play the devil's advocate, there is value in CB radio too.
- dbshapco 17y ago
  At least nobody is making movies and songs about Twitter. Endless references in popular media, yes. Songs and movies, no. "Breaker, breaker, looks like we got ourselves a convoy."
  - davidw 17y ago
    Heh - that's about the worst song ever, isn't it? It manages to mix the worst of the country twang, the CB stuff, and that sort of disco-ish chorus line.
paulitex 17y ago
I have to admit I'm pretty amazed that someone with a hacker news account just got called a luddite.
- marknutter 17y ago
  It amazes me that someone on HN can't understand why Twitter is useful.
  - andreyf 17y ago
    marknutter, please read this: http://www.paulgraham.com/disagree.html http://www.paulgraham.com/disagree.html
    - marknutter 17y ago
      You've changed my life..
  - elblanco 17y ago
    illuminate us.
axod 17y ago
I think it does rather remain to be seen if Twitter is a fad, or a sustainable long term business. The value is in the community, which could be lured onto something else pretty quickly.
- percept 17y ago
  What he said ^^. What's the next trend going to be? I'd guess something mobile (though Twitter already has short messaging covered).
- marknutter 17y ago
  > The value is in the community, which could be lured onto something else pretty quickly. Tell that to the MS Bing folks. Luring people can be more difficult than you might think.
  - axod 17y ago
    MS Bing have a truly awful brand. Widely detested and associated with crashing computers. I agree it's difficult for one person to lure a community, just as it's difficult for any one person to win the lottery. But the probability that someone will win the lotto is very close to 1. I don't think twitter has a large amount of lockin yet.
    - elblanco 17y ago
      They only retain about 40% of their users. I haven't seen any figures on how long those 40% stick around either.
cookiecaper 17y ago
I don't think it's that Twitter is utterly irredeemable in value; there are a few valuable uses for it, imo. I think it's mostly that the way the public regards and deploys Twitter is incredibly obnoxious. Twitter is ascribed far more value and relevance than it deserves. Seriously, valuations in the hundreds of millions just because CNN thought they could foresee the "next Facebook" and tout the product incessantly? Twitter has not devised any system of profitability and to do so seems a very difficult task indeed. To me, Twitter is annoying because it represents a desperate, clinging ignorance on the part of its proponents. The value Twitter actually provides, which is basically broadcasting SMS messages across various formats and aggregating popular discussion topics, is so miniscule compared to its assigned preeminence. This gives off the impression that Twitter's major proponents are impostors. And I think that's true. I think that Twitter has come so far because the executives at several media companies beheld Facebook, Myspace, and others, and were determined to get ahead of the "next big thing", so that they could exploit the platform as it took off instead of buying up a fad all too late (News Corp buying MySpace). Twitter had cel-shading, big letters, coordinated colors, and a Mac-esque chic about it, there may have been consultants involved, but for whatever reason, these ignorant, angry old media executives ordained Twitter as the instrument-of-choice in their hypercharged desperation to remain relevant and profit off of the internet. The promoters of old media's franchises have likewise endorsed the platform, and I'm sure the first thing every celebrity agent instructs is a Twitter account. The agents are probably the ones updating it, too. So, to many of us, it feels "unclean", as it were. The utility obviously doesn't match the praise and promotion that it gets. It's a platform flooded with wannabes and fraudsters. It's a darling of media pundits, which we find asinine not only because it's so undeserving as a consumer service, but also because it's so undeserving as a business; Twitter generates no profit now and I've not yet met a proposal for profitability that makes sense. Hacker News is filled with businesspeople who work hard on businesses with tangible profit opportunity, and I'm sure many of us are annoyed to see so unworthy a competitor get the glory as we toil away on useful but unrecognized products. That's my opinion anyway. I really don't like Twitter because of this; perhaps that's unfair in itself because Twitter isn't really responsible for the actions of its external disciples. It's not a jealousy per se, as I don't hold [much] contempt for Twitter's employees or founders directly, but it is an annoyance at the insensibility of the world we live in. tl;dr Twitter has some utility but mostly it represents old media's desperation to exploit a space that they refuse to understand.
elblanco 17y ago
Twitter is the equivalent of this scene http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9mioHO4hoM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9mioHO4hoM Sure sit ups have redeeming value. Crazy guy: You know those sites, where anybody can post about what's going on in their day? Blogs? Which would you read, a blog post about somebody's lunch or no more than 140 characters about somebody's lunch? Not Crazy Guy: I would...read...the 140 characters about their lunch because I'm not interested in what they ate. Crazy guy: EXACTLY! We guarantee a little information of value as blogs, but you don't have to waste as much time reading about absolutely nothing! Not Crazy Guy: Well....what if....somebody came out with something that was 130 characters? Crazy guy: twitches a bit no! Not 130 characters, 140! 140! Not Crazy Guy: oohh.....o...ok...ok... Crazy guy: Step into my office, because you are fired! So it this place going to overtake Twitter? http://adocu.com/ http://adocu.com/

I will never understand luddites like you. You honestly can't see any value in Twitter, in any respect?

davidw 17y ago

To play the devil's advocate, there is value in CB radio too.

dbshapco 17y ago
At least nobody is making movies and songs about Twitter. Endless references in popular media, yes. Songs and movies, no. "Breaker, breaker, looks like we got ourselves a convoy."
- davidw 17y ago
  Heh - that's about the worst song ever, isn't it? It manages to mix the worst of the country twang, the CB stuff, and that sort of disco-ish chorus line.

paulitex 17y ago

I have to admit I'm pretty amazed that someone with a hacker news account just got called a luddite.

marknutter 17y ago
It amazes me that someone on HN can't understand why Twitter is useful.
- andreyf 17y ago
  marknutter, please read this: http://www.paulgraham.com/disagree.html http://www.paulgraham.com/disagree.html
  - marknutter 17y ago
    You've changed my life..
- elblanco 17y ago
  illuminate us.

axod 17y ago

I think it does rather remain to be seen if Twitter is a fad, or a sustainable long term business. The value is in the community, which could be lured onto something else pretty quickly.

percept 17y ago
What he said ^^. What's the next trend going to be? I'd guess something mobile (though Twitter already has short messaging covered).
marknutter 17y ago
> The value is in the community, which could be lured onto something else pretty quickly. Tell that to the MS Bing folks. Luring people can be more difficult than you might think.
- axod 17y ago
  MS Bing have a truly awful brand. Widely detested and associated with crashing computers. I agree it's difficult for one person to lure a community, just as it's difficult for any one person to win the lottery. But the probability that someone will win the lotto is very close to 1. I don't think twitter has a large amount of lockin yet.
  - elblanco 17y ago
    They only retain about 40% of their users. I haven't seen any figures on how long those 40% stick around either.

cookiecaper 17y ago

I don't think it's that Twitter is utterly irredeemable in value; there are a few valuable uses for it, imo. I think it's mostly that the way the public regards and deploys Twitter is incredibly obnoxious. Twitter is ascribed far more value and relevance than it deserves. Seriously, valuations in the hundreds of millions just because CNN thought they could foresee the "next Facebook" and tout the product incessantly? Twitter has not devised any system of profitability and to do so seems a very difficult task indeed. To me, Twitter is annoying because it represents a desperate, clinging ignorance on the part of its proponents. The value Twitter actually provides, which is basically broadcasting SMS messages across various formats and aggregating popular discussion topics, is so miniscule compared to its assigned preeminence. This gives off the impression that Twitter's major proponents are impostors. And I think that's true. I think that Twitter has come so far because the executives at several media companies beheld Facebook, Myspace, and others, and were determined to get ahead of the "next big thing", so that they could exploit the platform as it took off instead of buying up a fad all too late (News Corp buying MySpace). Twitter had cel-shading, big letters, coordinated colors, and a Mac-esque chic about it, there may have been consultants involved, but for whatever reason, these ignorant, angry old media executives ordained Twitter as the instrument-of-choice in their hypercharged desperation to remain relevant and profit off of the internet. The promoters of old media's franchises have likewise endorsed the platform, and I'm sure the first thing every celebrity agent instructs is a Twitter account. The agents are probably the ones updating it, too. So, to many of us, it feels "unclean", as it were. The utility obviously doesn't match the praise and promotion that it gets. It's a platform flooded with wannabes and fraudsters. It's a darling of media pundits, which we find asinine not only because it's so undeserving as a consumer service, but also because it's so undeserving as a business; Twitter generates no profit now and I've not yet met a proposal for profitability that makes sense. Hacker News is filled with businesspeople who work hard on businesses with tangible profit opportunity, and I'm sure many of us are annoyed to see so unworthy a competitor get the glory as we toil away on useful but unrecognized products. That's my opinion anyway. I really don't like Twitter because of this; perhaps that's unfair in itself because Twitter isn't really responsible for the actions of its external disciples. It's not a jealousy per se, as I don't hold [much] contempt for Twitter's employees or founders directly, but it is an annoyance at the insensibility of the world we live in. tl;dr Twitter has some utility but mostly it represents old media's desperation to exploit a space that they refuse to understand.

elblanco 17y ago

Twitter is the equivalent of this scene http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9mioHO4hoM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9mioHO4hoM Sure sit ups have redeeming value. Crazy guy: You know those sites, where anybody can post about what's going on in their day? Blogs? Which would you read, a blog post about somebody's lunch or no more than 140 characters about somebody's lunch? Not Crazy Guy: I would...read...the 140 characters about their lunch because I'm not interested in what they ate. Crazy guy: EXACTLY! We guarantee a little information of value as blogs, but you don't have to waste as much time reading about absolutely nothing! Not Crazy Guy: Well....what if....somebody came out with something that was 130 characters? Crazy guy: twitches a bit no! Not 130 characters, 140! 140! Not Crazy Guy: oohh.....o...ok...ok... Crazy guy: Step into my office, because you are fired! So it this place going to overtake Twitter? http://adocu.com/ http://adocu.com/