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Jack Dorsey says it’s time to rethink the fundamental dynamics of Twitter

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Re: Jack Dorsey says it’s time to rethink the fundamental dynamics of Twitter

#291

Post by ed_elliott_asc »

mirimir wrote: post #258
ricefield wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Might be an unpopular opinion, but I actually really like this feature. I'm usually not able to get to everything, so it's great to know when something important or interesting got tweeted and I know to check it out. That notification was actually what slowly made me an active Twitter user, because they kept surfacing me interesting content and giving me a reason to come back and it became a gateway for me to discove…

I don't use Twitter, except to look at tweets that people on HN or whatever link to. And the main reason that I don't is that the idea of "following" just doesn't work for me. I tried it. But even people who sometimes post stuff that interests me mostly post stuff that just gets in my way. I like HN. But I never look at particular users' posts. I just look at the front page, or sometimes at the comments list, so see…

Hacker news is pretty well regulated though in that bad comments are voted down now retweeted to more people.

I think for it to work people would have to start blocking more and using more mute words.

The thing where someone retweets something horrible because they disagree with it is so wrong and is what is being badly gamed.

Re: Jack Dorsey says it’s time to rethink the fundamental dynamics of Twitter

#292

Post by randomsearch »

darawk wrote: post #210
code_duck wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Twitter is a great example of fairly talentless people with large egos somehow finding success, and mistakenly thinking it is due to their merits. If Dorsey was going to make a good social network, it would have happened 5-8 years ago. It’s a lot like Etsy - someone had drive, funding and concepts to make a project at the right time. However, they were not actually good at running a business and had no idea what the…

You know that Jack Dorsey also founded another successful company in Square, right? Pretty hard to argue that he lucked into both of those things.

Jack Dorsey was hardly the brains behinds Twitter, he came back to run it, and he’s done a bad job.

Re: Jack Dorsey says it’s time to rethink the fundamental dynamics of Twitter

#293

Post by randomsearch »

55555 wrote: post #252
billyhoffman wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get your point, but seriously, go read Nick Bilton's book about the early history or Twitter. From the time of Odeo to Jack coming back, none of the people in charge of this company or the board had a consistent idea of what they were building, an appropriate roadmap to get there, or how to monetize effectively relative to other social networks. This happened for years . Square is amazing, but a B2B, modern Point-o…

I don't know what I'm talking about, but judging from the fact that Ev Williams founded or co-founded Blogger, Twitter, and Medium, perhaps he was the real visionary behind the idea. That's three different "write stuff online and share it" startups. He clearly understands social media and blogging and micro-blogging. Maybe Jack is more of the 'biz guy'?

From what I’ve read, Ev deserves more credit.

My take on the founding of twitter is that you had a bunch of people and no clear leadership, and that different people had different opinions of what twitter should be. That ambiguity has undermined the platform from day one, no focus, no clear mission, no clear plan on how to spend their money.

Re: Jack Dorsey says it’s time to rethink the fundamental dynamics of Twitter

#294

Post by rapsey »

aantix wrote: post #267
rorykoehler wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. Once he had VCs attention he could do what he wanted as he wasn't exactly starting from zero.

Because money is all that's needed for a successful company?

Funding, attention from VCs in terms of advice and contacts is an incredible asset and makes a whole world of difference.

Re: Jack Dorsey says it’s time to rethink the fundamental dynamics of Twitter

#295

Post by meowface »

echlebek wrote: post #245
markdog12 wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently created a Twitter account, mostly as an experiment. I just followed some programmers, stuck to programming content. Immediately and every day after, I was constantly being displayed Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Justin Trudeau, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, etc. Not a single politician or voice not on the left. Considering how powerful Twitter has become, this is troubling. I know this is just one…

I'll happily take the downvotes to point out that you could follow gamers, gun afficionados and Jordan Petersonites to get another brand of politics.

I think video game players are probably actually left-leaning on average. GamerGate seems to have created massive misunderstandings on all sides of the issues. (And no, I'm not defending it or denying things that occurred.)

Re: Jack Dorsey says it’s time to rethink the fundamental dynamics of Twitter

#296

Post by meowface »

arduanika wrote: post #255
udwum wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Programmers are usually very vocal leftists. I've always assumed that those who don't speak openly about politics don't care or are right wingers, but who knows.

are usually very vocal leftists...those who don't speak openly about politics don't care or are right wingers It generalizes.

Right-wingers are plenty vocal. It's just that Twitter is not necessarily what they use to vocalize their views, for reasons that are probably obvious.

Re: Jack Dorsey says it’s time to rethink the fundamental dynamics of Twitter

#297

Post by HlessClaudesman »

Its almost impossible to de-dumb-ass-afy any social network or comment section. How can you prevent the lowest common denominator on public forums from posting heinous content / ignorant opinions? Moderators checking every post doesn't scale and AI may never understand nuance.

One direction would be Hacker News' model of a more restrictive approach where new users must grind up their trust score in order to receive full citizenship.

Re: Jack Dorsey says it’s time to rethink the fundamental dynamics of Twitter

#298

Post by mirimir »

ed_elliott_asc wrote: post #291
mirimir wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't use Twitter, except to look at tweets that people on HN or whatever link to. And the main reason that I don't is that the idea of "following" just doesn't work for me. I tried it. But even people who sometimes post stuff that interests me mostly post stuff that just gets in my way. I like HN. But I never look at particular users' posts. I just look at the front page, or sometimes at the comments list, so see…

Hacker news is pretty well regulated though in that bad comments are voted down now retweeted to more people. I think for it to work people would have to start blocking more and using more mute words. The thing where someone retweets something horrible because they disagree with it is so wrong and is what is being badly gamed.

Yes, that is a bizarre thing about Twitter. And it's a huge part of why I don't like it.

It's funny. For all that I support free speech, I don't have the patience to read much of it. So I end up gravitating to well moderated forums.

Re: Jack Dorsey says it’s time to rethink the fundamental dynamics of Twitter

#299

Post by meowface »

walshemj wrote: post #106
bhargav wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

During the Joe Rogan podcast, he mentioned that what they are trying to attempt to give people the "other side" of the story rather than promoting creation of echo chambers.

Ah like Farage monopolising BBCQT - no thank you.

I think Farage is a moron and I couldn't disagree with him more, but what a disappointingly closed-minded view you have. That view is one of the worst problems of Twitter, in my opinion.

I think Dorsey is trying to blow smoke up our ass on the other issues, because their core business is advertising no matter what he says, but I actually believe him on this and think it's one of the few really good things he's sincerely trying to do (though I doubt he'll succeed, unfortunately). Echo chambers are poison to good discourse, democracy, philosophy, humanism, and humanity in general. I strongly believe Brexit is monumentally and egregiously terrible, a result of some of our worst and most base instincts in many cases, but if you think Brexit backers don't deserve a fair seat at the discourse table, don't be surprised when that accomplishes the polar opposite of your desired goals.

Re: Jack Dorsey says it’s time to rethink the fundamental dynamics of Twitter

#300

Post by meowface »

astrodust wrote: post #179
bhargav wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

During the Joe Rogan podcast, he mentioned that what they are trying to attempt to give people the "other side" of the story rather than promoting creation of echo chambers.

"Here we have a climatologist, and for balance, someone who believes the Earth is a computer simulation, and another who is certain it's flat and was created by the Illuminati who are alien lizards."

Elon Musk seems to fall into both of the first groups.
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