Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Twitter, Elliott Strike Truce That Leaves CEO Dorsey in Place

wsj.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 107 posts

Re: Twitter, Elliott Strike Truce That Leaves CEO Dorsey in Place

#31

Post by teddyh »

johannes1234321 wrote: post #24
luckylion wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In many ways it's more important to society than FB & G (picking them as the 2 of the big 5 that are pure information plays), in that it hosts semi-public conversations and helps experts stay informed. Out of all interactions on Twitter I've witnessed, conversations comes to mind the least to describe them. It's either people screaming at each other which barely makes it past a scripted dialogue of replies, or it's…

The length limitation makes proper discussions hard. I can't even discuss the Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz a German law on labeling meat, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rinderkennzeichnungs-_und_Ri... ) in a tweet. Little space for more than a troll bit or a link.

> The length limitation makes proper discussions hard.

Twitter has the exact same problem, if not worse, than TV had since ever: In order to be heard, your statement must fit in a soundbite, but nothing except very simple statements can fit. This is why everything is either reinforcing the status quo or rejecting something outright without qualification, leading to apparent polarization and radicalization: The medium itself enforces it.

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concision_(media_studies)

Re: Twitter, Elliott Strike Truce That Leaves CEO Dorsey in Place

#32

Post by aguyfromnb »

somurzakov wrote: post #10

this deal together with share buybacks will buy Jack some time to get rid of his Twitter shares at good valuation and be prepared to leave Twitter job

Good to know that the guy worth $5 Billion will have time to bail financially unscathed.

Re: Twitter, Elliott Strike Truce That Leaves CEO Dorsey in Place

#33

Post by JCole »

paxys wrote: post #20

I really thought Dorsey would use this opportunity to negotiate a nice exit package. I can't see him (or really anyone) wanting to be Twitter CEO at this point, especially since he also has that Square thing going on.

Dorsey has enough money, and Twitter is his legacy - echoing the other comments here that this looks like the first step in a managed departure.

Re: Twitter, Elliott Strike Truce That Leaves CEO Dorsey in Place

#34

Post by smachiz »

zaptheimpaler wrote: post #26

Twitter is awesome because it doesn't operate under the growth for growths sake mentality plaguing many other companies. It really is an incredible public utility provided you liberally mute/block/unfollow all the petty fighting and find good people. Jack seems to understand that. I hope it doesn't devolve into a narrow reveneue maximizing ad-filled trashfire, but thats probably what the hedge fund will push for. I t…

> Twitter is awesome because it doesn't operate under the growth for growths sake mentality plaguing many other companies.

Is that really true though? They've been a huge beneficiary of fake news, astroturfing and bots. They've only relatively recently started to do something resembling policing of these things.

Re: Twitter, Elliott Strike Truce That Leaves CEO Dorsey in Place

#36

Post by saluki »

zaptheimpaler wrote: post #26

Twitter is awesome because it doesn't operate under the growth for growths sake mentality plaguing many other companies. It really is an incredible public utility provided you liberally mute/block/unfollow all the petty fighting and find good people. Jack seems to understand that. I hope it doesn't devolve into a narrow reveneue maximizing ad-filled trashfire, but thats probably what the hedge fund will push for. I t…

If they saturate Twitter with ads I think we could see a new twitter, small team, simple basic ads to pay salaries and keep the app running smooth.

Same with Google Search, someone could just create Classic Search, what Google used to be, a few simple ads and relevant search results.

I think there is an opportunity for new companies to get back to basics (minimal ads + privacy) with lots of sites/services we used to love but have turned in to screens full of ads and selling user data.

Re: Twitter, Elliott Strike Truce That Leaves CEO Dorsey in Place

#37

Post by ForHackernews »

awinter-py wrote: post #15

It's always been confusing to me what twitter is as a company -- it feels more like a utility, or like the public service part of 20th century journalism without the profit model In many ways it's more important to society than FB & G (picking them as the 2 of the big 5 that are pure information plays), in that it hosts semi-public conversations and helps experts stay informed Would be interesting for some small coun…

It is genuinely frightening to me that influential people apparently believe this. Twitter is terrible. Even smart people sound like idiots on Twitter. The format deliberately rewards controversial hot takes and inaccurate garbage "breaking news". I can't think of another major internet property that's less in the public interest.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/04/twitt...

Re: Twitter, Elliott Strike Truce That Leaves CEO Dorsey in Place

#38

Post by spamizbad »

HeroOfAges wrote: post #21
_red wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is Jack too woke for you or not woke enough? Hard to make sense of your criticisms...what do you envision twitter should be?

I don't think Jack is either woke or not woke enough. Twitter doesn't have a COO, but I do believe whomever is making day-to-day decisions at Twitter has a liberal bias. One need only look at the NY Post journalist that was recently suspended for tweeting a picture of the house Carlos Maza listed as an address while registering to vote, when nothing happened to Maza when he tweeted a picture of James Carville's home.

It's incredibly amazing people think Twitter's problem is dumb partisan bullshit related to the United States. Industrial-strength bikeshedding.

Re: Twitter, Elliott Strike Truce That Leaves CEO Dorsey in Place

#39

Post by actionscripted »

smachiz wrote: post #34
zaptheimpaler wrote: post #26

Twitter is awesome because it doesn't operate under the growth for growths sake mentality plaguing many other companies. It really is an incredible public utility provided you liberally mute/block/unfollow all the petty fighting and find good people. Jack seems to understand that. I hope it doesn't devolve into a narrow reveneue maximizing ad-filled trashfire, but thats probably what the hedge fund will push for. I t…

> Twitter is awesome because it doesn't operate under the growth for growths sake mentality plaguing many other companies. Is that really true though? They've been a huge beneficiary of fake news, astroturfing and bots. They've only relatively recently started to do something resembling policing of these things.

Growth for growth's sake doesn't have anything to do with fake news, astroturfing or bots.

Re: Twitter, Elliott Strike Truce That Leaves CEO Dorsey in Place

#40

Post by annadane »

zaptheimpaler wrote: post #26

Twitter is awesome because it doesn't operate under the growth for growths sake mentality plaguing many other companies. It really is an incredible public utility provided you liberally mute/block/unfollow all the petty fighting and find good people. Jack seems to understand that. I hope it doesn't devolve into a narrow reveneue maximizing ad-filled trashfire, but thats probably what the hedge fund will push for. I t…

I mean they did start publicly displaying "likes". That's what retweet is for. They're not immune to bullshit design decisions
Post reply on HN