I think that comparing Twitter or Slack to IRC in that manner is a broken comparison. Neither of those services can possibly stand up next to IRC, an open proto

I think that comparing Twitter or Slack to IRC in that manner is a broken comparison. Neither of those services can possibly stand up next to IRC, an open protocol with several dozen client and server implementations and millions of users. IRC thrives because it's so open and easy to use from a programmer's point of view. There's no centralized authority or point of failure with IRC.