Something I've never been able to wrap my head around is how does Twitter make money? I mean real money. Not valuation of eyeballs, not VC cash, but honest to God profit? It has always baffled me and I wish I knew what the unicorns say to the VC's when (hopefully) someone asks this question.
Twitter Plans Hundreds More Job Cuts as Soon as This Week
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Re: Twitter Plans Hundreds More Job Cuts as Soon as This Week
#32I know this is premature, but I can't help but wonder what the effect of Twitter going under would have on the Bay Area tech scene.
If Twitter went under, modern TV journalism would have a seizure as their source of lazy reaction quotes disappears.
Re: Twitter Plans Hundreds More Job Cuts as Soon as This Week
#33Can we talk about Fabric again? Fabric [1] is a product done by Twitter but heavily de-emphasizes the Twitter association -- it's a value-added Twitter SDK that apps can build into themselves and get crash reporting (ex-Crashlytics) and ad network integration (MoPub) too. In the scheme of Twitter's self-reflection trying to figure out how to cut costs and find what it wants to do, do you feel Fabric fits into it? Do…
Fabric fits in by providing twitter with a boat load of demographic and app usage data. They may still want that data for advertising purposes.
Having said that, I'm personally always wary about using an infrastructure piece for free. If my app relies on something, it's pretty important that it not easily go away. I can't count the HN threads of upset developers, frustrated about something being shuttered that was provided free.
Disclosure: I'm the co-founder of https://raygun.com which does mobile crash reporting, and more.
Re: Twitter Plans Hundreds More Job Cuts as Soon as This Week
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
Twitter employs around 3900 people total, 2300 in San Francisco (numbers are from some random google sources, so may be off by a bit/time). In the first quarter, Yahoo laid off 3,135 people in the Bay Area. Twitter going under would be newsworthy, but I don't think make too much of a splash in the job market -- at least not any more than the normal tides.
Maybe the loss of Twitter as a platform for social media self-promotion would be more significant than the direct effects of 2300 people suddenly on the job market?
Conversely, other platforms have already come along that target some of Twitter's use-cases and offered better UX and user engagement. I'm sure they, or a new player, could fill the void (successfully).
This is also less of a problem today (as opposed to years ago) when everyone with a meaningful social presence cross-posts or maintains a split presence on multiple platforms.
Re: Twitter Plans Hundreds More Job Cuts as Soon as This Week
#35I've always sort of had this question that continues to feel naive - but I'm not sure I know the answer: why do so many companies feel like they have to grow perpetually? Why can't Twitter just be happy being Twitter, knowing its limits and making a stable profit? Instead it's more users, more VC money, more staff... constantly burning as quickly as possible. There's a ceiling on every business; it's all bound to com…
Not everyone is like a cannonball wanting to burn so hot as to melt themselves. I would also like a patio-11 type of software business; so you're not alone!
As far as twitter, they unfortunately took a bite of "poison apple" of public investment, and as such are beholden to investors, so must perform (and grow) to ever more higher levels. What would happen - i wonder - if twitter became private again, or better yet some sort of non-profit? What if their platform somehow became the genesis of the new, decentralized web somehow...In other words "phoenix" their way out of this mess by literally -reinventing themselves...If by "reinventing themselves", it might be really more of a major tweak to their operation mode. If twitter - the protocol - as opposed to twitter - the ad/communication platform - reinvented itself in that way, i think i might consider going back and using it; that is, if I'm able to retain control of my own content. Until then, I'll stick with matrix.org (specifically riot.im).
Re: Twitter Plans Hundreds More Job Cuts as Soon as This Week
#36I've always sort of had this question that continues to feel naive - but I'm not sure I know the answer: why do so many companies feel like they have to grow perpetually? Why can't Twitter just be happy being Twitter, knowing its limits and making a stable profit? Instead it's more users, more VC money, more staff... constantly burning as quickly as possible. There's a ceiling on every business; it's all bound to com…
Because society works better when it's growing. In a positive-sum game, coöperation is a winning strategy. In a zero-sum game, the only way to get ahead is by taking.
Re: Twitter Plans Hundreds More Job Cuts as Soon as This Week
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
People have answered this before, and what it boils down to is: because they took VC money, and then went public. If you bootstrap a business from nothing and grow it on its own, then sustainable growth and stable profit is fine. But Twitter got VC and IPO money with a promise that it would have Facebook-like growth in return. I think the analogy I saw used was that they promised investors a Porsche and instead deliv…
Are they liable for those promises though? I am legitimately curious to know if they are contractually obligated to grow at a certain rate or be at certain valuation at this point in time.
Who does "they" refer to in your sentence? Twitter management? If so, then it's not about a contract but about what the owners of the company (the shareholders) have hired them to do.
Re: Twitter Plans Hundreds More Job Cuts as Soon as This Week
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Would you buy a stock that is guaranteed to stay flat for the discernible future? No? Then you have your answer. (let's not forget that, thanks to inflation, 'flat' is actually losing money over time.)
If a that stock over time covers inflation and pays a dividend, absolutely.
At that point wouldn't bonds make more sense? Seems like the risk vs. reward balance is skewed the wrong way if you own a piece of stock that stays flat.
Re: Twitter Plans Hundreds More Job Cuts as Soon as This Week
#39Something I've never been able to wrap my head around is how does Twitter make money? I mean real money. Not valuation of eyeballs, not VC cash, but honest to God profit? It has always baffled me and I wish I knew what the unicorns say to the VC's when (hopefully) someone asks this question.
Selling display ads (ie. the same way Facebook and Google have done and succeeded)
Re: Twitter Plans Hundreds More Job Cuts as Soon as This Week
#40I've always sort of had this question that continues to feel naive - but I'm not sure I know the answer: why do so many companies feel like they have to grow perpetually? Why can't Twitter just be happy being Twitter, knowing its limits and making a stable profit? Instead it's more users, more VC money, more staff... constantly burning as quickly as possible. There's a ceiling on every business; it's all bound to com…
One reason is the rise of other players.
This is perhaps the current best response to the question. The idea that twitter can exists as it currently does indefinitely is probably false. It will either grow or die when a competitor better exploits the ecological niche.