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Twitter may receive formal bid, suitors said to include Salesforce and Google

cnbc.com

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Re: Twitter may receive formal bid, suitors said to include Salesforce and Google

#41

Post by AJ007 »

owenwil wrote: post #23

Google acquiring Twitter is actually the best end result here. Salesforce is probably the worst. Lots of people hate the idea of a Google acquisition, but I think it's well suited because: - Google learnt from its mistakes with Google+ and is eager to not repeat them - The company is a very different one now from years ago - Google doesn't want to mess up identity again, so that wouldn't be an issue - Google mostly j…

Trying to acquire a social network with flat or declining user growth while competitors continue to grow is certainly a sign that perhaps the wrong lessons were learned.

Frankly, I think there are some "lessons learned" that are critical and are relevant, but looking backwards only accurately tells you how to successfully create something in the past.

Re: Twitter may receive formal bid, suitors said to include Salesforce and Google

#42

Post by dvdcxn »

the_duke wrote: post #3

Unclear is what kind of "deal" they are talking about. A considerable buy in? A full acquisition? And, assuming a full acquisition... what would be the gain? Google has a bad story with attempts at social media, apart from YouTube. (Bought Orkut, killed it, tried Google Plus, went nowhere). Twitter is hard to make profitable without alienating the users with too many ads. For Google, it would probably be an acquisiti…

>Twitter is hard to make profitable without alienating the users with too many ads.

TBH I don't think google would buy Twitter with the expectation of making money off of it. Its value is its continued data gathering, which would inform other google products.

Re: Twitter may receive formal bid, suitors said to include Salesforce and Google

#43

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

Jtsummers wrote: post #31
nvk wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's a "private" utility. But I take your point. If they remove all the fat making a tweet page 5mb it could be hosted for nearly nothing by some FOSS org.

Except for all the backend connecting each user's messages to their followers. That's no mean feat. And certainly would cost more than "nearly nothing".

Yes, Twitter's backend is actually quite sophisticated.

It's one thing to build a very small Twitter clone for you and your friends, it's quite another to scale that up to hundreds of millions of users and keep everything running smoothly.

Re: Twitter may receive formal bid, suitors said to include Salesforce and Google

#44

Post by the_duke »

muse900 wrote: post #39
the_duke wrote: post #3

Unclear is what kind of "deal" they are talking about. A considerable buy in? A full acquisition? And, assuming a full acquisition... what would be the gain? Google has a bad story with attempts at social media, apart from YouTube. (Bought Orkut, killed it, tried Google Plus, went nowhere). Twitter is hard to make profitable without alienating the users with too many ads. For Google, it would probably be an acquisiti…

Sorry I don't think youtube is profitable by itself and sustainable. Although its the biggest video platform in the world attracting 1/3 of the worlds population to it. I think the data itself that can be gathered via youtube are profitable for google and google's purpose really (AI). If they buy twitter it won't be because they can turn it into being sustainable itself but because they can make it profitable for the…

I said that they probably bought it with the assumption that it might never be profitable.

As far as public information goes, Youtube is most likely not.

Re: Twitter may receive formal bid, suitors said to include Salesforce and Google

#45

Post by pmalynin »

giarc wrote: post #40
wlesieutre wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bought Orkut, killed it, tried Google Plus, went nowhere > Don't forget Buzz! That time when they default opted-in Gmail users into publishing a list of frequently contacted users on their google profile. Auto-follow was a terrible terrible idea.

And Wave.

Wave was too ahead of its time. Bots in channels that could translate and issue arbitrary actions? In 2009? Nonsense.

Re: Twitter may receive formal bid, suitors said to include Salesforce and Google

#46

Post by exergy »

refulgentis wrote: post #35
taeric wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google learned from Google+? Where is the evidence? Also, Twitter is unprofitable, but my understanding was that they were heavily trusted by the public.

There's copious evidence that's public, look for how it's talked about externally. I think you're substituting a particular group of Twitter users for the public - the general perception is Twitter is full of hateful trolls and management can't be bothered to control them.

I would have said that the de-integration of Google+ from YouTube was a good example of them learning from their mistakes, except fucking Allo shows that they're still rather clueless about a lot of things related to people communicating online.

Re: Twitter may receive formal bid, suitors said to include Salesforce and Google

#47

Post by the_duke »

joobus wrote: post #16
the_duke wrote: post #3

Unclear is what kind of "deal" they are talking about. A considerable buy in? A full acquisition? And, assuming a full acquisition... what would be the gain? Google has a bad story with attempts at social media, apart from YouTube. (Bought Orkut, killed it, tried Google Plus, went nowhere). Twitter is hard to make profitable without alienating the users with too many ads. For Google, it would probably be an acquisiti…

How is a company which "might never be profitable" considered a "significant asset"?!

Money isn't everything.

YouTube is a hugely popular service, driving lots of data, traffic and brand image towards Google.

Could be the same for Twitter.

Re: Twitter may receive formal bid, suitors said to include Salesforce and Google

#48

Post by tantalor »

joobus wrote: post #16
the_duke wrote: post #3

Unclear is what kind of "deal" they are talking about. A considerable buy in? A full acquisition? And, assuming a full acquisition... what would be the gain? Google has a bad story with attempts at social media, apart from YouTube. (Bought Orkut, killed it, tried Google Plus, went nowhere). Twitter is hard to make profitable without alienating the users with too many ads. For Google, it would probably be an acquisiti…

How is a company which "might never be profitable" considered a "significant asset"?!

YouTube isn't profitable either.

http://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-still-doesnt-make-goo...

Re: Twitter may receive formal bid, suitors said to include Salesforce and Google

#49

Post by reitanqild »

athenot wrote: post #24
nvk wrote: post #6

Twitter should be a public utility.

That would be nice but who would pay for servers? I would love an "Open Twitter" built on standard protocols and implementable by anyone, however if SMTP and NNTP are any indication, most people prefer convenient silos over open solutions. And the reality of a hostile internet mean that there is a need for active resources devoted to protecting any service from abuse.

Isn't the problem with NNTP that people are being pushed away from it rather than not wanting to use it?

Re: Twitter may receive formal bid, suitors said to include Salesforce and Google

#50

Post by overcast »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #43
Jtsummers wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except for all the backend connecting each user's messages to their followers. That's no mean feat. And certainly would cost more than "nearly nothing".

Yes, Twitter's backend is actually quite sophisticated. It's one thing to build a very small Twitter clone for you and your friends, it's quite another to scale that up to hundreds of millions of users and keep everything running smoothly.

But that's exactly what is what as the beginning. Twitter spent a significant amount of its early days sitting on the Fail Whale screen. Sure, now it's stable, when you throw a complete rewrite, and millions of dollars at it.
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