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Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

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Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#481

Post by rbetts »

taurath wrote: post #89

Since apparently nobody else in the thread has any empathy for those who've lost their jobs, future access to healthcare (in the US and less civilized countries), and financial security, I guess I'll be the first: I feel bad for people who are laid off by the machinations of billionaires. I wish we lived in a society where it wasn't optimal to act like raving lunatics will tear down every bit of security you have at…

One of the richest people in the world overpays capital holders and slashes labor by 50% in order to own "the world's town square". Remarkable demonstration of labor weakness.

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#482

Post by mikkergp »

SilverBirch wrote: post #170
code51 wrote: post #63

> "Twitter’s newsletter service Revue will be shut down by the end of the year. Revue was acquired by Twitter in January 2021 for an undisclosed amount. The report also says that Notes, a longform posting feature, is on hold, as is Twitter’s plan to build crypto wallets." All these are look so distant to Twitter's core value.

Why do you think that? Twitter has tonnes of journalists who are running a substack or patreon, Revue would have let Twitter get in on that revenue stream. Building a tool for longer form content seems like a totally reasonable leap for twitter, and crypto - whilst a bit bullshitty - would be a fine way of moving payments into twitter which is another great monetization strategy. All of those projects seem reasonable…

Also odd since Jason Calacanis promoted this idea via "essays":

https://twitter.com/Jason/status/1515094823337832448

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#484

Post by dmix »

Tainnor wrote: post #429

I don't care a lot about Twitter itself, and I'm willing to entertain the notion that it could function equally "well" with a much smaller fraction of the workforce... But this is something that should be implemented gradually. Here is someone who just stepped into the company, and he's laying off people en masse. Even if you concede that Musk is some sort of genius (which I don't, but that's besides the point), that…

It's almost like blaming the new president for having to raise taxes after the last president spent too much $$ and raised the deficit during the good times.

When Twitter massively expanded their headcount over the last 3 years their stock price was nearly 30%+ higher than it was before the stock market tanked.

People here aren't paying the bills or looking at the financial sheets. We're taking a human look at it (which is good) but there's more to this stuff.

The C-suite was probably waiting for Musk to take over to make any hard choices that were coming anyway.

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#485

Post by marcus_holmes »

losvedir wrote: post #180

And so the grand experiment begins. I feel bad for the folks losing their job because that always sucks, and I hope there's a decent severance package. Now we'll see what happens to Twitter... I hardly use it, so if it implodes it won't bother me too much. But I am curious to see if all the "how do you need X people to do Y?" commenters are correct in this case. The app is simple but doing simple things at scale is h…

I'm curious about whether a paid-for social media business can survive. We so thoroughly educated everyone that social media is free, and there seems to be such resistance to the idea of paying for it, that I doubt it. But I tend to agree with ol' Musky that this has to move from the ad-supported model to improve.

I'm also curious at the rumblings from US politicians. What would happen if the USA nationalised Twitter? Given that politicians from all over the world use it too. A case for a UN intervention?

So many people I know are leaving Twitter, but the political class seems to need it, so I don't see it dying any time soon.

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#486

Post by jjtheblunt »

KaiserPro wrote: post #308

THe issue we all have here is this: if Musk is successful then treating employees nicely will fall out of fashion. Tech was a bastion of "treat your employees right, and they'll be productive". Musk is not a proponent of that. He is a micromanaging, capricious, easily distracted, arrogant and vindictive CEO. If twitter thrives then we can expect copycats to try and spread his shitty work philosophy (like everyone ido…

Jobs wasn't like Musk or Bezos, cared deeply about employees, despite the famous youthful tantrum stories (probably also true, but salacious so more famous): my friend's wife had a hard to diagnose condition (autoimmune it turned out, I believe) and Jobs offered unlimited use of his private jet to get her to any doctor anywhere.

I was similarly told to be with my very sick parent, no time constraints, and I was part of an inner sanctum engineering team, and later similar when I had a pet get ill, in all cases because we all had one another's backs, and we all were NOT fungible assets, but, rather, harmoniously integrated by years of working together and a strict hiring filter in the first place.

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#487

Post by thedorkknight »

PM_me_your_math wrote: post #414
KaiserPro wrote: post #308

THe issue we all have here is this: if Musk is successful then treating employees nicely will fall out of fashion. Tech was a bastion of "treat your employees right, and they'll be productive". Musk is not a proponent of that. He is a micromanaging, capricious, easily distracted, arrogant and vindictive CEO. If twitter thrives then we can expect copycats to try and spread his shitty work philosophy (like everyone ido…

Twitter employees were treated nicely. Too nicely. And yet they were not productive. The only new features they introduced in 10 years were losses in excess of 200MM to 1bn+ and the banning/shadow banning of those who went against the group think, fun police, and thought-gestapo. Each staffer had 10 bosses and every department had a ton of waste. Musk could never show up again after some changes, and the company woul…

>banning/shadow banning of those who went against the group think, fun police, and thought-gestapo.

Why would they agree to a ToS that clearly lays out things like "don't intentionally misgender people" if they fully planned on breaking their agreement

"But no one reads the ToS!" sure, but when you have your account suspended until you agree to delete a specific tweet and are given the exact area in the ToS you agreed to that you violated, then you should revoke your agreement to the ToS

When it's brought to your attention that you signed a document agreeing to Twitter being the thought Gestapo, just... cancel your agreement. Don't continue to agree to it in writing while whining about it publicly.

I agree with the rest of your comment though

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#488

Post by smolder »

nxmnxm99 wrote: post #394
KaiserPro wrote: post #308

THe issue we all have here is this: if Musk is successful then treating employees nicely will fall out of fashion. Tech was a bastion of "treat your employees right, and they'll be productive". Musk is not a proponent of that. He is a micromanaging, capricious, easily distracted, arrogant and vindictive CEO. If twitter thrives then we can expect copycats to try and spread his shitty work philosophy (like everyone ido…

Quoted post unavailable.

> trying to unionize despite being the most privileged class of people in human history.

That's absurd. They're not even close to the most privileged class today, let alone in history. The most privileged class of people today are old money, born wealthy. Apart from them, there are plenty of new-money C level execs, finance people, celebrities, and so on who are rich enough to never work again, let alone unionize. Religious leaders can be extremely privileged as well.

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#489

Post by kaashif »

bentt wrote: post #448
losvedir wrote: post #180

And so the grand experiment begins. I feel bad for the folks losing their job because that always sucks, and I hope there's a decent severance package. Now we'll see what happens to Twitter... I hardly use it, so if it implodes it won't bother me too much. But I am curious to see if all the "how do you need X people to do Y?" commenters are correct in this case. The app is simple but doing simple things at scale is h…

In a few years, if not sooner, Twitter will be right there with Tesla/SpaceX in terms of resume cachet. Everyone will see their culture has been transformed to one of rigor and performance. The "A" players will surface and they will do more with half the staff (or less even) than they ever did with 7500 people... and it will be noteworthy. Musk will be in the mix heavy for about 6 months. He'll make executive hires t…

Even if all of that is true, I'd be surprised if Musk manages to make a positive return on his investment.

However good you are, if you pay way too much for something, you're worse than someone who just didn't overpay and made no other changes.

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#490

Post by bogomipz »

tomp wrote: post #122
redwood wrote: post #9

In my view no single medium (the media is the message) has done more to weaken the quality of public discourse in the world than Twitter. But maybe Facebook proves that even if you're allowed to use prose crazies dominate so maybe the issue is deeper

Really? On which other platform can you directly communicate (or at least listen to, unfiltered) to the worlds dictators, political leaders, and billionaires?

Why is it important to directly communicate with or even "listen to unfiltered" the world's dictators and billionaires? As for communicating directly with politicians it's very unlikely that the vast majority of them manage their own social media accounts. You probably have the same level of direct communication as you do sending their office a letter or an email.
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