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How Much Longer Can Twitter Last, Really?

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Re: How Much Longer Can Twitter Last, Really?

#42

Can someone succinctly and definitively explain why everyone wants Twitter to fail? It's a beat to death news headline at this point.

"I don't like Elon Musk and it frustrates me that he managed to purchase Twitter even though everyone in my bubble told me it wouldn't happen and/or that the process of doing so would bankrupt him, and neither of those things ended up happening" optionally, additionally: "also I liked Twitter better when only celebrities and friends of people who worked at Twitter could be Verified, because I was one of those friends…

I don't like elon musk and I do think it is bad that a rich person can buy an entire platform widely used for public discussion because they don't like how it's being used.

You're having fun mocking it but I don't think there's anything particularly inconsistent or outrageous about this position. Musk is annoying and hangs out with shitty annoying people, now shitty annoying people are more prevalent on twitter. The changes he's made to timeline, presentation, letting the white nationalists back on make it actively worse for me, in ways it wasn't before. None of these are preposterous preferences my man.

Re: How Much Longer Can Twitter Last, Really?

#43
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, and he also has long-term plans to build a Tesla autonomous android, and a SpaceX Mars colony. I wish him the best of luck, but I'm not going to put money on any of those plans succeeding any time soon.

of those three things, turning Twitter into WeChat seems by far the most plausible, achievable, marketable, sustainable, and profitable—so, what point are you trying to make here?

The way he's been running Twitter, at this point a Mars colony does seem more likely. It hasn't just been erratic but actively buffoonish. The "plan" seems to be whatever whim he has day-to-day, made infinitely worse by his seemingly 24/7 capering on Twitter himself.

Re: How Much Longer Can Twitter Last, Really?

#44

it seems to be working just fine despite all the layoffs. many of these complaints seem more political than practical. I understand that a set of people exists who are dissatisfied with twitter and/or are eagerly anticipating some grand implosion of the company, but many more people than this set use the platform, so questions like "how much longer can twitter last, really?" come across as having come from a very ins…

Political complaints are practical. The entire thing and every decision is in the hands of someone who has proven himself petty, vindictive, and capricious. Flawed as it was there was at least a process before.

What his failed "twitter files" scandal did reveal was that it was previously run by people who may have been in some ways wrong or incompetent, but at least were generally operating with a sense of professional responsibility. Musk actively flouts professional responsibility & ethics, which is strictly worse with a large scale international social media platform.

Re: How Much Longer Can Twitter Last, Really?

#45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There have been constant problems since Musk took over. Just yesterday retweets were showing up in people's feeds without the attribution of who retweeted them, so they looked like random people showing up in your feed.

it would be hard to argue that the scope of the issues directly correlates with the scale of the layoffs

[deleted]

Re: How Much Longer Can Twitter Last, Really?

#46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There have been constant problems since Musk took over. Just yesterday retweets were showing up in people's feeds without the attribution of who retweeted them, so they looked like random people showing up in your feed.

it would be hard to argue that the scope of the issues directly correlates with the scale of the layoffs

The layoffs are certainly one piece of the puzzle, but the incompetent leadership style of Musk, complete lack of viable strategy and failing financials are also to blame.

Re: How Much Longer Can Twitter Last, Really?

#47

Can someone succinctly and definitively explain why everyone wants Twitter to fail? It's a beat to death news headline at this point.

I don’t want Twitter to fail, I want Elon to fail. And I want him to fail because he’s been acting like an asshat ever since taking over.

Re: How Much Longer Can Twitter Last, Really?

#48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I don't like Elon Musk and it frustrates me that he managed to purchase Twitter even though everyone in my bubble told me it wouldn't happen and/or that the process of doing so would bankrupt him, and neither of those things ended up happening" optionally, additionally: "also I liked Twitter better when only celebrities and friends of people who worked at Twitter could be Verified, because I was one of those friends…

I don't like elon musk and I do think it is bad that a rich person can buy an entire platform widely used for public discussion because they don't like how it's being used. You're having fun mocking it but I don't think there's anything particularly inconsistent or outrageous about this position. Musk is annoying and hangs out with shitty annoying people, now shitty annoying people are more prevalent on twitter. The…

Maybe, but it was already owned by private individuals.

Re: How Much Longer Can Twitter Last, Really?

#49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't like elon musk and I do think it is bad that a rich person can buy an entire platform widely used for public discussion because they don't like how it's being used. You're having fun mocking it but I don't think there's anything particularly inconsistent or outrageous about this position. Musk is annoying and hangs out with shitty annoying people, now shitty annoying people are more prevalent on twitter. The…

Maybe, but it was already owned by private individuals.

Do you think that's a useful insight here? My beef isn't with the nature of ownership, it's with the specific dynamics of this ownership. One single person is different from a group, and it being this specific individual is also highly relevant.

Re: How Much Longer Can Twitter Last, Really?

#50

Can someone succinctly and definitively explain why everyone wants Twitter to fail? It's a beat to death news headline at this point.

The world's formerly richest man has successfully flushed 25 Billion -- with a B -- dollars in value down the toilet in a mere six months. That's like real money even for the lifestyles of the rich and shameless set.

I think a lot of people are sitting around with a bag of popcorn watching this debacle in hopes that just for once some rich jerk fails so hard, his money and powerful connections can't fix it, can't save face, can't let him fail upwards as usual.

I think it's like a weirdo fantasy that maybe the rich and powerful will all learn their lesson by proxy if this goes up in flames bad enough.

And failing that, it's schadenfreude for all the not billionaires who are just sick to death of money insulating the rich from the consequences of their actions which all too often seem to hurt anyone and everyone but them.

/wild ass guess department

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