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Tweetbot. April 2011 – January 2023

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Re: Tweetbot. April 2011 – January 2023

#141

Post by sosodev »

gfodor wrote: post #101
MBCook wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Starting Feb 1st using a third part client will require Twitter Blue.” That’s all it would have taken. Probably would have made a huge increase in subscribers too. This is 100% a control move. He wants full control over how everyone experiences Twitter (not sure why). So this was pulled. Of course you can NEVER go back from this move.

I think that is right. A public API radically slows down product iteration since each feature needs to be considered in terms of its blast radius to third party clients. It probably burned the bridge for good this time, but killing the API to speed up product velocity isn’t an insane move if you value that more than the existing 3rd party ecosystem.

That's not really true. Many websites version their API and/or release new features without providing support (at least initially) via the API.

That's the route Reddit has taken. There are several features that only work through the official app or website. It can be frustrating as a user of a third party client but it's a much better alternative to cutting everybody off.

Re: Tweetbot. April 2011 – January 2023

#143

Post by shadowgovt »

SamoyedFurFluff wrote: post #92
shadowgovt wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She's still probably better off, because what happens next to Twitter will continue to be less and less pretty. The sooner people jump off the ship, the better for each of them.

Where will she jump to?

That is the challenge. Musk's tantrum has made an already-solved problem for a lot of people something they now have to re-solve. I'm generally recommending Mastodon to people (and can recommend a handful of specific nodes), but nothing auto-replaces Twitter.

Point is, unfortunately, Twitter's dying and its prognosis is poor. We can imagine it'll get better but the realistic strategy is to bail.

(My previous post lacked empathy, and I apologize for that. Some billionaire asshole spent a lot of money to break something that worked for a lot of people. That's not fair to them.)

Re: Tweetbot. April 2011 – January 2023

#144

Post by akmarinov »

Guys, it’s fine, the first party client will follow soon enough

Twitter’s revenue fell off a cliff and they have dozens of billions to start paying back soon

The platform wasn’t that profitable before and there’s no easy way to make it pay for itself

It’ll very likely die in the near future

Re: Tweetbot. April 2011 – January 2023

#145

Post by mewse-hn »

hiidrew wrote: post #77
jmann99999 wrote: post #31

I just don't see the replacement for Twitter as Mastodon -- which it seems the Tweetbot people are targeting. Twitter will likely file for bankruptcy later this year due to the debt burden. However, the replacement for Twitter won't be a Twitter "clone." Things will move on. I'm not smart enough to know what people will move on to... But they will move on.

I wonder what happens after that? 40B acquisition to bankruptcy sounds brutal. I'm sure there's some nuanced financial way they can recover and continue but wow.

Elon had backers for the twitter purchase, they're going to be left holding the bag. They're probably desperately hoping he'll leave and install a permanent CEO as promised ASAP

Re: Tweetbot. April 2011 – January 2023

#146

Post by dualboot »

riazrizvi wrote: post #134
ericmay wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the saying? First they came for the moderation, but I didn't care because they weren't moderating me. Then they fired employees so as to not have to pay severance or whatever but I didn't care because I don't work at Twitter. Then they came for the API and there was noone left to speak for me... Twitter and Elon have already done quite a bit of damage to the company, platform, and reputation. This is just a co…

This feels like the same thing with Gawker and the HBO show Silicon Valley. It feels like people with money are shutting down, neutering, avenues where they receive criticism. Since much of the money for the buyout came from the Saudis and the Chinese, it feels like the people behind this are more concerned with subduing Twitter than turning a profit. Maybe why they had to make it private, it’s illegal to run a publi…

Agree 100%

Elon has always slashed customer service and PR in the companies he runs.

Twitter for all it's warts, was still a haven for public accountability when traditional customer service avenues fell short.

Not surprising that following an unprecedented consolidation of wealth (2020), we see someone take that opportunity to dismantle that.

Re: Tweetbot. April 2011 – January 2023

#148

Post by wpietri »

smoldesu wrote: post #119
ericmay wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the saying? First they came for the moderation, but I didn't care because they weren't moderating me. Then they fired employees so as to not have to pay severance or whatever but I didn't care because I don't work at Twitter. Then they came for the API and there was noone left to speak for me... Twitter and Elon have already done quite a bit of damage to the company, platform, and reputation. This is just a co…

I agree that people have held out way too long. My more nihilistic interpretation is that taking any of Twitter's functionality for granted was a mistake. It's a publicly traded business, and if you didn't want big money to ruin the experience, you shouldn't have put faith in money in the first place. YouTube is on a similar precipice. People think it's irreplaceable because YouTube displaces every competitor. In tru…

Honestly, it was partly my faith in money that made me comfortable with Twitter as a public company. They (gradually and often reluctantly) learned that if they wanted to be a viable business, they had to provide a reasonably safe place for a lot of people. For purely pecuniary reasons, they also thought they needed to be a good partner to people building things related to Twitter.

All that has gone by the wayside, of course. Part of the problem here is that Musk had so much money he could afford to burn tens of billions of dollars on a weird personal fixation. [1] A problem that the market has happily started to correct, [2] but perhaps not soon enough to save Twitter.

[1] One possible explanation is here: https://defector.com/i-was-almost-elon-musks-twitter-voice

[2] He even set a record! https://www.npr.org/2023/01/12/1148634966/elon-musk-guinness...

Re: Tweetbot. April 2011 – January 2023

#150

Post by DoughnutHole »

riazrizvi wrote: post #134
ericmay wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the saying? First they came for the moderation, but I didn't care because they weren't moderating me. Then they fired employees so as to not have to pay severance or whatever but I didn't care because I don't work at Twitter. Then they came for the API and there was noone left to speak for me... Twitter and Elon have already done quite a bit of damage to the company, platform, and reputation. This is just a co…

This feels like the same thing with Gawker and the HBO show Silicon Valley. It feels like people with money are shutting down, neutering, avenues where they receive criticism. Since much of the money for the buyout came from the Saudis and the Chinese, it feels like the people behind this are more concerned with subduing Twitter than turning a profit. Maybe why they had to make it private, it’s illegal to run a publi…

What happened to Silicon Valley that was in the same vein as Gawker’s destruction?
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