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Twitter Soars After Surprise Sales Gain, First Real Profit

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Re: Twitter Soars After Surprise Sales Gain, First Real Profit

#111

Post by tinymollusk »

aaron-lebo wrote: post #95
md224 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a different perspective: Twitter is a digital Public Sphere, and Public Spheres are always noisy. "Controversy" is just another name for clashes of opinions that have occurred since the beginning of humankind and will likely continue to occur until the extinction of our species. These clashes occur within discursive spaces, and Twitter is one such space. This is why I'm bullish on Twitter. It's a space for con…

Twitter is a digital Public Sphere, and Public Spheres are always noisy. When in human history have public spheres like Twitter existed? The public sphere up until about 50 years ago for most people was strictly local. You could not broadcast dumb narcissistic ignorance for free to millions of people. It wasn't possible. Twitter is not good at what it does. It does not elevate public discourse. It's the equivalent of…

What if the size of the sphere is the determining characteristic about the level of discourse? I just read Geoffrey West's book, "Scale", and it is interesting to think of a sub-linear relationship, with "quality of discussion" on the y-axis and "number of people participating" on the X.

It's possible the current state of "bad" affairs is a natural consequence of the democratizing power of the internet itself. Reduced friction means anyone can participate; more participants means lower quality of discussion.

Just a theory as I try to synthesize West's ideas.

Re: Twitter Soars After Surprise Sales Gain, First Real Profit

#112

Post by chisleu »

Steeeve wrote: post #18

Twitter loves Trump. It's not just twitter... the whole profit center around online communities is based on active communities. Most topics are cyclical - once the Superbowl is over, it's hard to keep a football community active. Only so many people are interested in the draft, in coaching changes, etc. But throw in some controversy and all of a sudden everything lights up again. The problem, or _a_ problem, is that…

Reddit has become very much the same as Tumbler and Twitter became. It's no longer a tool for expression and conversation. It's an echo chamber with separate factions occupying separate areas... downvoting and banning every opinion that goes against the "reddit circle jerk".

Hacker News has become the only place I can have reasoned conversations about science, politics, etc without so much of an issue. The requirement of quality comments eliminates the karma farming from memes and nonsense and the inability to downvote until you are somewhat established prevents mass downvoting of opinions. It's a quality model IMHO.

Re: Twitter Soars After Surprise Sales Gain, First Real Profit

#113

Post by untog »

the-dude wrote: post #104
aaron-lebo wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Twitter is a digital Public Sphere, and Public Spheres are always noisy. When in human history have public spheres like Twitter existed? The public sphere up until about 50 years ago for most people was strictly local. You could not broadcast dumb narcissistic ignorance for free to millions of people. It wasn't possible. Twitter is not good at what it does. It does not elevate public discourse. It's the equivalent of…

The tweet is in fact excellent, and the phenomenon predates Trump : stock markets will go down on good macro news in fear of interest rate hikes. This has been going on for at least 5 yrs, if not 10. This fact has nothing to do with Trump.

I'm not sure that's relevant to the OP's point - it's the arguing beneath the tweet they were referring to, nothing to do with the content of the tweet itself.

Re: Twitter Soars After Surprise Sales Gain, First Real Profit

#114

Post by rhizome »

craftyguy wrote: post #81
grad_ml wrote: post #67

Twitter is the world's news paper now. I think, as world newspaper, it is worth it's value.

It's not a 'news paper', it's a street corner in medieval Europe lined with 'prophets' all spewing shit in an attempt to attract followers.

Your comparison is inapt. One tweet in your timeline can not drown out other tweets.

Re: Twitter Soars After Surprise Sales Gain, First Real Profit

#115

Post by aaron-lebo »

tinymollusk wrote: post #111
aaron-lebo wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Twitter is a digital Public Sphere, and Public Spheres are always noisy. When in human history have public spheres like Twitter existed? The public sphere up until about 50 years ago for most people was strictly local. You could not broadcast dumb narcissistic ignorance for free to millions of people. It wasn't possible. Twitter is not good at what it does. It does not elevate public discourse. It's the equivalent of…

What if the size of the sphere is the determining characteristic about the level of discourse? I just read Geoffrey West's book, "Scale", and it is interesting to think of a sub-linear relationship, with "quality of discussion" on the y-axis and "number of people participating" on the X. It's possible the current state of "bad" affairs is a natural consequence of the democratizing power of the internet itself. Reduce…

Yeah, I agree with you. It's very Eternal Septemberish. Many of the political discussions about the flaws of democracy are probably relevant here, too.

Zakaria has some similar arguments:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Future_of_Freedom

This is then applied to America to argue that the increased democratization of American society and culture is what has caused the perceived failures of the government and governing elites.

We have a tendency to see size and democracy as obvious goods, but there are certainly some limits there. It's funny how around the time Digg got going, all the talk was about the "wisdom of the crowds". Not sure anyone wants to make that argument today after 15 years of social media.

Re: Twitter Soars After Surprise Sales Gain, First Real Profit

#116

Post by the-dude »

untog wrote: post #113
the-dude wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The tweet is in fact excellent, and the phenomenon predates Trump : stock markets will go down on good macro news in fear of interest rate hikes. This has been going on for at least 5 yrs, if not 10. This fact has nothing to do with Trump.

I'm not sure that's relevant to the OP's point - it's the arguing beneath the tweet they were referring to, nothing to do with the content of the tweet itself.

I think it is relevant to point out that is not the content of the tweet which evokes this arguing.

Re: Twitter Soars After Surprise Sales Gain, First Real Profit

#117

Post by MrJagil »

chisleu wrote: post #112
Steeeve wrote: post #18

Twitter loves Trump. It's not just twitter... the whole profit center around online communities is based on active communities. Most topics are cyclical - once the Superbowl is over, it's hard to keep a football community active. Only so many people are interested in the draft, in coaching changes, etc. But throw in some controversy and all of a sudden everything lights up again. The problem, or _a_ problem, is that…

Reddit has become very much the same as Tumbler and Twitter became. It's no longer a tool for expression and conversation. It's an echo chamber with separate factions occupying separate areas... downvoting and banning every opinion that goes against the "reddit circle jerk". Hacker News has become the only place I can have reasoned conversations about science, politics, etc without so much of an issue. The requiremen…

https://www.reddit.com/r/NeutralPolitics has an interesting take on moderation.

Re: Twitter Soars After Surprise Sales Gain, First Real Profit

#118

Post by theseatoms »

aaron-lebo wrote: post #95
md224 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a different perspective: Twitter is a digital Public Sphere, and Public Spheres are always noisy. "Controversy" is just another name for clashes of opinions that have occurred since the beginning of humankind and will likely continue to occur until the extinction of our species. These clashes occur within discursive spaces, and Twitter is one such space. This is why I'm bullish on Twitter. It's a space for con…

Twitter is a digital Public Sphere, and Public Spheres are always noisy. When in human history have public spheres like Twitter existed? The public sphere up until about 50 years ago for most people was strictly local. You could not broadcast dumb narcissistic ignorance for free to millions of people. It wasn't possible. Twitter is not good at what it does. It does not elevate public discourse. It's the equivalent of…

It's the purest form (yet discovered) of McLuhan's Global Village: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeDnPP6ntic

Fittingly, I first learned of this concept on Twitter.

Re: Twitter Soars After Surprise Sales Gain, First Real Profit

#119

Post by gowld »

jedberg wrote: post #78
Steeeve wrote: post #18

Twitter loves Trump. It's not just twitter... the whole profit center around online communities is based on active communities. Most topics are cyclical - once the Superbowl is over, it's hard to keep a football community active. Only so many people are interested in the draft, in coaching changes, etc. But throw in some controversy and all of a sudden everything lights up again. The problem, or _a_ problem, is that…

> The problem, or _a_ problem, is that people can only handle so much controversy. They have lives to lead. You're so spot on. You know how everyone says, "Seinfeld is a show about nothing!" It wasn't about nothing, but what did make it different is that the characters never changed. They didn't have these huge arcs and defining life moments. They just went about their lives and we watched. People say "it was about n…

If most people don't like drama, why are drama shows so popular? Including reality shows, which are pure drama and no plot.

Re: Twitter Soars After Surprise Sales Gain, First Real Profit

#120

Post by craftyguy »

rhizome wrote: post #114
craftyguy wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a 'news paper', it's a street corner in medieval Europe lined with 'prophets' all spewing shit in an attempt to attract followers.

Your comparison is inapt. One tweet in your timeline can not drown out other tweets.

I never said that, nor do I think that was implied.
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