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Twitter, Elliott Strike Truce That Leaves CEO Dorsey in Place

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

#51
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorta. This feels more like Jack/activist investor coming to common ground on the direction of the company and also a proper succession plan for Dorsey to walk away from Twitter. He only owns 2% of the company, and at this point I’d imagine his only options were to strike this truce & have control over how he exits as opposed to be outed right now with a power vacuum causing Twitter to destabilize a bit. I’d expect t…

Jack tweeting to users to ask for the next feature to implement did not inspire confidence.

What? He used the platform to solicit feedback of the platform. How is that not a good thing?

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

#52

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…

> 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…

Great article on this topic: The Internet of Beefs https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2020/01/16/the-internet-of-beefs/

Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22101244

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

#54
post #34

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.

On Facebook you're bound to your friends/family/co-workers/etc, on Reddit you're bound to the shallowest lowest common denominator content (front page) or else endless spam and self-promotion (sort by new.)

Twitter is where you're meaningfully in control of who you follow and what you see. That means it's on you to curate that, and many won't want to do that. I was on Twitter for a while before I found the real niche and strategies that made it my favorite place. Once I got it, the curation became an activity that I enjoy, part of the loop, and it's rewarding when it's working well. If you're seeing fake news regularly it's because you want to see it.

One key thing to do is avoid the algorithmic timeline, Twitter does force bullshit down your throat to maximize engagement metrics, but where is that not the norm anymore? My Twitter experience might crumble if I lose access to the app that removes ads and suggested content from the timeline and keeps it fully chronological.

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

#55
post #54
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

On Facebook you're bound to your friends/family/co-workers/etc, on Reddit you're bound to the shallowest lowest common denominator content (front page) or else endless spam and self-promotion (sort by new.) Twitter is where you're meaningfully in control of who you follow and what you see. That means it's on you to curate that, and many won't want to do that. I was on Twitter for a while before I found the real niche…

I fully agree. Twitter is a platform where I can truly curate what I see and interact with in a meaningful fashion.

On Reddit you can follow a community but then you’re bound by the quality of the community and it’s moderation. If on Twitter I want to follow an author I follow them. I engage with them. No additional noise or BS.

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

#56

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…

> It really is an incredible public utility provided you liberally mute/bloctk/unfollow all the petty fighting and find good people.

How do you find good people on Twitter? My interests are esoteric and as far as I can tell not represented on Twitter. I've read people assert that most every interest is covered on Twitter, but that's not even close to true as far as I can tell.

https://ruben.verborgh.org/blog/2012/10/25/social-media-as-s...

> virtually every topic is covered. The connection between butterfly wings and sea snails? Check. The latest trends in space law? Check. In fact, every niche has its Tweeters because of the long tail effect. And if you’re researching something really rare and unique, well, congrat­ulations—you get to be a pioneer as a first online news source on your topic!

I don't see a reason to be a "pioneer" on someone else's platform (with character limits, etc.) when I think publishing a website on my interests would better reach people with the same interests.

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

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I not sure that is the only thing we need to do. For instance, Trump regularly threatens violence on twitter and doesn't get banned. So perhaps they have a conservative bias. Using your sort of puerile logic, anyway.

Do you mean President Trump has threatened a specific individual with violence? Can you give me an example? What part of my reply do you consider childish?

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

#58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

What would you say is a significant problem with Twitter? I'm interested in what you think would make Twitter a better service for its users.

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

#59
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jack tweeting to users to ask for the next feature to implement did not inspire confidence.

What? He used the platform to solicit feedback of the platform. How is that not a good thing?

It suggests that he doesn't have a roadmap / vision. That kind of thing drives investors nuts. My guess is that Elliott was able to use that as leverage and it worked.

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

#60
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? He used the platform to solicit feedback of the platform. How is that not a good thing?

It suggests that he doesn't have a roadmap / vision. That kind of thing drives investors nuts. My guess is that Elliott was able to use that as leverage and it worked.

He's building a community, so it makes total sense for him to solicit feedback from that community, via that community. The value of Twitter _is_ the community, not the "product roadmap".

He's not turning to random people on Twitter because he's out of ideas... he's trying to understand more, and build a community of people who feel invested in the future of Twitter.

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