Live data from Hacker News

Twitter is Pivoting

daltoncaldwell.com

21–30 of 130 posts

Re: Twitter is Pivoting

#21
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This adds news (Chernin's involvement) and knowledgeable analysis in context. And, for an insurgent platform/viewpoint to succeed, it needs tireless promotion. (Graphomania, even.) Skip his blog posts if you don't like them, others find them valuable.

Look, his post may be insightful and interesting, but the point is that if any other startup on here spent post after post publicly criticising their direct competitor, it would hopefully be viewed as a negative thing. Why is App.net any different? There are plenty of ways to promote your scrappy and noble insurgency without sticking it in the eye of your competitor. Again, I think what app.net is doing is interestin…

Why should a company criticising competition be viewed as a negative thing? Content quality trumps everything else. When something smart is being said, why does it matter who said it?

Re: Twitter is Pivoting

#22
post #2

I hate to be that (negative) guy, but I'm starting to get really tired of Dalton constantly pissing all over twitter. Particularly because he's competing against them. I'm an App.net backer, and I think it's cool what he's doing, but FFS, let someone else carry the water, if it even needs carrying at all. This all just feels really petty and whiney, particularly when you're already at work solving the problem.

I had no idea who he is, and that he is competing with Twitter. I would have welcomed a disclaimer about his conflict of interests somewhere in the post.

Re: Twitter is Pivoting

#23
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This adds news (Chernin's involvement) and knowledgeable analysis in context. And, for an insurgent platform/viewpoint to succeed, it needs tireless promotion. (Graphomania, even.) Skip his blog posts if you don't like them, others find them valuable.

Look, his post may be insightful and interesting, but the point is that if any other startup on here spent post after post publicly criticising their direct competitor, it would hopefully be viewed as a negative thing. Why is App.net any different? There are plenty of ways to promote your scrappy and noble insurgency without sticking it in the eye of your competitor. Again, I think what app.net is doing is interestin…

But the predations of the Facebook/Twitter business model are both the founding impetus and sustaining animus of App.net. They're always on topic for Caldwell, and especially when new information advancing and refining the critique comes up.

And the analogy of 'spending' posts isn't quite right. There is no budget constraint on internet writing to advance your cause: in many cases more is better as long as you're not repeating the exact same points. (And as I mentioned: I see both new news and analysis in this post, even though it advances a familiar theme/viewpoint.)

Re: Twitter is Pivoting

#25
I think its outrages that a member of the board of directors of twitter has absolutely no idea what he's doing on twitter. I have no knowledge of Dalton's other business then this blogpost, and therefore it doesn't strike me as annoying, just a well written critical analyses of what twitter is doing wrong. I really hate the protectionistic (i.e. stupid) way twitter is doing business and I hope if enough people vocalize it, twitter might do something about it.

Re: Twitter is Pivoting

#26
I think its outrages that a member of the board of directors of twitter has absolutely no idea what he's doing on twitter. I have no knowledge of Dalton's other business then this blogpost, and therefore it doesn't strike me as annoying, just a well written critical analyses of what twitter is doing wrong. I really hate the protectionistic (i.e. stupid) way twitter is doing business and I hope if enough people vocalize it, twitter might do something about it.

Re: Twitter is Pivoting

#27
post #9

I get the impression that social media douchebags already pivoted Twitter in that direction a few years ago, and now Twitter is just confirming it. The sad part IMO is that it seems like they could fix their developer relations problems and their business model by charging to send relevant tweets to existing followers, not unrelated ads. Of course, I don’t even use Twitter so you probably shouldn’t ask me.

True, but the root problem is in education. Our schools are passing out "social media douchebag" degrees left and right - we can expect nothing less.

This is only partially tongue-in-cheek. The balance of information systems operate on trust, just as economies do, and eroding trust at the institutional level is a bad sign.

Re: Twitter is Pivoting

#29
post #4

Of all the rhetorical points that Dalton makes, this one was the most damning for me: >>> His announcement was formatted as a direct reply to the official Twitter account. This means the announcement would only be seen by his followers that also follow the official Twitter account. I don’t get the feeling he did this on purpose. An experienced Twitter user would know to add a “.” at the beginning of his message so th…

http://www.quora.com/Twitter-1/Why-do-some-tweets-have-a-per...

i knew twitter was broken but this takes the cake. i have been using twitter for years and had no idea.

Re: Twitter is Pivoting

#30
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look, his post may be insightful and interesting, but the point is that if any other startup on here spent post after post publicly criticising their direct competitor, it would hopefully be viewed as a negative thing. Why is App.net any different? There are plenty of ways to promote your scrappy and noble insurgency without sticking it in the eye of your competitor. Again, I think what app.net is doing is interestin…

But the predations of the Facebook/Twitter business model are both the founding impetus and sustaining animus of App.net. They're always on topic for Caldwell, and especially when new information advancing and refining the critique comes up. And the analogy of 'spending' posts isn't quite right. There is no budget constraint on internet writing to advance your cause: in many cases more is better as long as you're not…

Eh, maybe. Twitter got started after Facebook, but I don't remember seeing Twitter talking about Facebook.
Post reply on HN