Twitter Names Jack Dorsey Chief Executive • Hacker News Board

Re: Twitter Names Jack Dorsey Chief Executive

#161

Post by qq66 » Mon, Oct 05, 2015, 7:30 PM UTC

kylebgorman wrote: post #44

I'm short Twitter. The fact of the matter is it that Twitter should never have become a multibillion-dollar company. There is no barrier to entry into this space---any competent web developer could make a non-scaling Twitter in an afternoon---except network effects, and those have proved weak due to poor user experience, particularly for new users. Twitter should have treated itself like a utility, and focused less o…

Making a Twitter minus the scaling and network effects is like playing basketball minus dribbling or shooting.

Re: Twitter Names Jack Dorsey Chief Executive

#162

Post by ma2rten » Mon, Oct 05, 2015, 7:33 PM UTC

mattzito wrote: post #116

Osmium wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> SpaceX [doesn't] really require day-to-day CEO attention Really? What's special about SpaceX that it doesn't require a full-time CEO? I'd imagine, considering the scope of their task and the scale of their ambition, it'd require more hands-on time than most.

I'm not the GP, but I think its' not a very full-time role because movement is slow and progressive. They have the next 18 months of what the company is going to do locked down and defined. I would also suspect they have strong 2nd level exec leadership to handle day to day. Elon only needs to get involved on big strategic decisions and crises, plus routine periodic budget and financial assessments. I'm sure he's sti…

I've read on Glassdoor that Musk interviews every interview candidate.

Re: Twitter Names Jack Dorsey Chief Executive

#163

Post by Karunamon » Mon, Oct 05, 2015, 7:39 PM UTC

CPLX wrote: post #132

Karunamon wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You describe a tech problem, and not a really intractable one. It already has "real time communications (as, yknow, the main purpose of the service)", it can already do GPS coords, and expect payment integration soon. I'd love to see Twitter become a "command line of the web". Add voice integration on top of it via siri/google/etc, and it come become the plaintext glue between a lot of services. What we have here is…

But this is nonsensical. As far as I can see there are two parties to this hypothetical transaction, me the smartphone owner, and Uber the company. I open the Uber app and use it. Why do I want to insert Twitter in the middle of this transaction? What problem is it that you're trying to solve?

The problem that you need a unique app to interact with every single service out there. How do you feel about random websites pushing you onto their application and then neglecting the web experience? It's fragmentation city.

This is the same problem, but for services (in the people doing things for other people sense) rather than hypertext.

Think of it as a glue layer that gets you around the need to have 50 different apps installed for 50 different services.

Re: Twitter Names Jack Dorsey Chief Executive

#164

Post by jonwachob91 » Mon, Oct 05, 2015, 7:40 PM UTC

code4tee wrote: post #140

meatysnapper wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost certainly. Twitter's user base is not growing, and their product basically hasn't changed in 5 years. They have a valuable brand, but they need to figure out how to fundamentally improve the ease of use of the whole thing and make a decent value proposition. Photos, messages, videos, search... make the app not suck. Snapchat and Instagram are very quickly taking over the celebrity/new/sports one-to-many angle…

One of the big challenges is that Twitter is largely geared towards people looking to engage on topical issues in a public forum. If you're an expert in a particular area and consistently engage with other experts in a public forum where the occasional random user chimes in then Twitter has a value proposition for you. I mean it's right there in the platform... people "follow" you, they're not your "friend" or "linke…

Last I checked; thought leaders don't convey their thoughts in 140 characters or less.

Nothing of really value is that short. Sorry.

Unless you figure out the Theory of Everything... That'll be of value ;)

Re: Twitter Names Jack Dorsey Chief Executive

#165

Post by nailer » Mon, Oct 05, 2015, 7:43 PM UTC

hockley wrote: post #148

killwhitey wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then his job is find something else for Twitter to make. Facebook has launched a lot of experimental apps like Paper, Rooms, Slingshot, Messenger. And they bought Instagram which is very successful. Under Costolo Twitter bought vine and periscope, but they haven't tried to experiment with new app ideas internally.

If they went back to their roots as a messaging API for other apps, they would not have to build new apps. Become the messaging backbone for the Internet. That's plenty of scale to go after.

Pretty sure that's the basis of removing the 140 char limit for DMs. Some people are way more likely to use Twitter than an 'SMS' type messenger that wants phone numbers that they don't know.

Re: Twitter Names Jack Dorsey Chief Executive

#166

Post by rsync » Mon, Oct 05, 2015, 7:58 PM UTC

jonwachob91 wrote: post #164

code4tee wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the big challenges is that Twitter is largely geared towards people looking to engage on topical issues in a public forum. If you're an expert in a particular area and consistently engage with other experts in a public forum where the occasional random user chimes in then Twitter has a value proposition for you. I mean it's right there in the platform... people "follow" you, they're not your "friend" or "linke…

Last I checked; thought leaders don't convey their thoughts in 140 characters or less. Nothing of really value is that short. Sorry. Unless you figure out the Theory of Everything... That'll be of value ;)

  # wc -m

  Last I checked; thought leaders don't convey their thoughts in 140 characters or less.
  Nothing of really value is that short. Sorry.

  133

Re: Twitter Names Jack Dorsey Chief Executive

#167

Post by jonwachob91 » Mon, Oct 05, 2015, 8:07 PM UTC

rsync wrote: post #166

jonwachob91 wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last I checked; thought leaders don't convey their thoughts in 140 characters or less. Nothing of really value is that short. Sorry. Unless you figure out the Theory of Everything... That'll be of value ;)

# wc -m Last I checked; thought leaders don't convey their thoughts in 140 characters or less. Nothing of really value is that short. Sorry. 133

I didn't really provide any value. Just being a clown ;p

Re: Twitter Names Jack Dorsey Chief Executive

#168

Post by cdelsolar » Mon, Oct 05, 2015, 8:19 PM UTC

code4tee wrote: post #15

nreece wrote: post #2

Here's his announcement on Twitter, among other details: https://twitter.com/jack/status/651003190628872192

Totally unreadable. This sums up a lot of what's wrong with Twitter. If even the CEO struggles to communicate effectively using the platform then...

Totally unreadable? Scrolling down is that difficult?

Re: Twitter Names Jack Dorsey Chief Executive

#169

Post by sulam » Mon, Oct 05, 2015, 8:20 PM UTC

antiffan wrote: post #74

Slightly off-topic, but I recently interviewed at Square, and I also have some long-time contacts there. I can honestly say they have some of the most brilliant engineering minds I have encountered working there. Whether it's a trickle-down effect from Dorsey or otherwise, they have succeeded in recruiting and retaining many extremely talented individuals. I am curious if anyone has recent anecdotes in regards to the…

The quality of the Twitter engineering team is very high. This is why people are poaching them hard right now.

Re: Twitter Names Jack Dorsey Chief Executive

#170

Post by CPLX » Mon, Oct 05, 2015, 8:21 PM UTC

Karunamon wrote: post #163

CPLX wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But this is nonsensical. As far as I can see there are two parties to this hypothetical transaction, me the smartphone owner, and Uber the company. I open the Uber app and use it. Why do I want to insert Twitter in the middle of this transaction? What problem is it that you're trying to solve?

The problem that you need a unique app to interact with every single service out there. How do you feel about random websites pushing you onto their application and then neglecting the web experience? It's fragmentation city. This is the same problem, but for services (in the people doing things for other people sense) rather than hypertext. Think of it as a glue layer that gets you around the need to have 50 differe…

> The problem that you need a unique app to interact with every single service out there.

This is not an actual problem. And to the extent that it is 140 characters of text doesn't come close to fixing it. And in the unlikely event that it did why wouldn't SMS do the same thing without having to bring some random third party company into the mix and have both parties at their mercy for zero value added?