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Twitter Plans Hundreds More Job Cuts as Soon as This Week

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Re: Twitter Plans Hundreds More Job Cuts as Soon as This Week

#21

Post by groby_b »

nameisu wrote: post #13
madengr wrote: post #10

You'd think they would have figured out targeted ads by now. If I follow people who post about RF/Microwave, antennas, SDR, and ham radio, one would think I'd see ads from Keysight and Tektronix, but no, it's garbage like football and pop music. FAIL! I also don't like that I don't see all the tweets from a person. They are pruning the timeline. Good riddance to twitter.

Is there a third party app which would not show promoted tweets? they are so annoying and un related

IIRC, that'd get the apps API access cut off.

But if you want to have fun, keep blocking promoted tweets. After a month or two, things get... "interesting" in terms of what you see. Well, at least entertaining.

Re: Twitter Plans Hundreds More Job Cuts as Soon as This Week

#22

Post by jamesroseman »

artursapek wrote: post #6

I've always sort of had this question that continues to feel naive - but I'm not sure I know the answer: why do so many companies feel like they have to grow perpetually? Why can't Twitter just be happy being Twitter, knowing its limits and making a stable profit? Instead it's more users, more VC money, more staff... constantly burning as quickly as possible. There's a ceiling on every business; it's all bound to com…

I think the answer is that when Twitter IPO'd there were very clear expectations for the company to perform similar to its perceived contemporaries: Facebook and Google. If you look at the perpetually meteoric rise of GOOGL or FB, it's understandable why shareholders are disappointed -- Twitter burns a lot of capital.

So, if its growth has petered out and this is as much money as it can produce, it's understandable to me the line of thinking would then be to cut costs as much as possible so the profit margin can grow. 4k people makes sense when your company is adding value every day, but to these shareholders those aren't translating into results.

My $0.02 -- thoughts?

> Personally I dream of making a living establishing a patio11-type software business. Something where I can do a high quality job and own all of the decision-making.

I have that dream too, but when I have it I always wonder if given that situation I'd be able to stop myself from wanting my baby to keep growing, even if it meant giving up those decision-making abilities and taking on investors.

Re: Twitter Plans Hundreds More Job Cuts as Soon as This Week

#23

Post by planteen »

Naritai wrote: post #16
artursapek wrote: post #6

I've always sort of had this question that continues to feel naive - but I'm not sure I know the answer: why do so many companies feel like they have to grow perpetually? Why can't Twitter just be happy being Twitter, knowing its limits and making a stable profit? Instead it's more users, more VC money, more staff... constantly burning as quickly as possible. There's a ceiling on every business; it's all bound to com…

Would you buy a stock that is guaranteed to stay flat for the discernible future? No? Then you have your answer. (let's not forget that, thanks to inflation, 'flat' is actually losing money over time.)

If a that stock over time covers inflation and pays a dividend, absolutely.

Re: Twitter Plans Hundreds More Job Cuts as Soon as This Week

#24

Post by riteshkpr »

artursapek wrote: post #6

I've always sort of had this question that continues to feel naive - but I'm not sure I know the answer: why do so many companies feel like they have to grow perpetually? Why can't Twitter just be happy being Twitter, knowing its limits and making a stable profit? Instead it's more users, more VC money, more staff... constantly burning as quickly as possible. There's a ceiling on every business; it's all bound to com…

"why do so many companies feel like they have to grow perpetually?" -> Capitalism - growth, year over year, leads to higher stock price (market valuation) which in turn justifies higher payouts to ceo's, bonuses to employees... as growth == innovation

If you din't keep growing and managed to keep the business profitable (hit the ceiling), then you weren't 'innovating' and should be replaced ...

... that's the mindset. I don't agree with it.

Re: Twitter Plans Hundreds More Job Cuts as Soon as This Week

#25

Post by pmiller2 »

mmanfrin wrote: post #17
pmiller2 wrote: post #9

I know this is premature, but I can't help but wonder what the effect of Twitter going under would have on the Bay Area tech scene.

Twitter employs around 3900 people total, 2300 in San Francisco (numbers are from some random google sources, so may be off by a bit/time). In the first quarter, Yahoo laid off 3,135 people in the Bay Area. Twitter going under would be newsworthy, but I don't think make too much of a splash in the job market -- at least not any more than the normal tides.

Maybe the loss of Twitter as a platform for social media self-promotion would be more significant than the direct effects of 2300 people suddenly on the job market?

Re: Twitter Plans Hundreds More Job Cuts as Soon as This Week

#26

Post by kbuchanan »

artursapek wrote: post #6

I've always sort of had this question that continues to feel naive - but I'm not sure I know the answer: why do so many companies feel like they have to grow perpetually? Why can't Twitter just be happy being Twitter, knowing its limits and making a stable profit? Instead it's more users, more VC money, more staff... constantly burning as quickly as possible. There's a ceiling on every business; it's all bound to com…

One simple answer to your question - speaking generally, as I know nothing about Twitter, specifically - is Twitter has yet to realize the expectations the _existing_ investors placed on it.

Real money was spent on real dreams, and the dreams failed to materialize. To give up on the BIG is to accept that their returns will fall sadly short.

Re: Twitter Plans Hundreds More Job Cuts as Soon as This Week

#27

Post by Overtonwindow »

nameisu wrote: post #13
madengr wrote: post #10

You'd think they would have figured out targeted ads by now. If I follow people who post about RF/Microwave, antennas, SDR, and ham radio, one would think I'd see ads from Keysight and Tektronix, but no, it's garbage like football and pop music. FAIL! I also don't like that I don't see all the tweets from a person. They are pruning the timeline. Good riddance to twitter.

Is there a third party app which would not show promoted tweets? they are so annoying and un related

What about repetitive tweets? I stopped following so many publications because they would post an article link, then repeatedly change the title or the catch and post the same link. Very frustrating.

Re: Twitter Plans Hundreds More Job Cuts as Soon as This Week

#28

Post by throw2016 »

There is value in twitter. Even the people who joke about twitter probably realise there is value in it.

There is still nothing that enables one to broadcast information and enable real time conversations better than twitter for companies, governments orgs or celebrities.

That twitter cannot extract value from these cash rich and price insensitive entities is a gigantic mystery.

Re: Twitter Plans Hundreds More Job Cuts as Soon as This Week

#29

Post by laluser »

Analemma_ wrote: post #20
artursapek wrote: post #6

I've always sort of had this question that continues to feel naive - but I'm not sure I know the answer: why do so many companies feel like they have to grow perpetually? Why can't Twitter just be happy being Twitter, knowing its limits and making a stable profit? Instead it's more users, more VC money, more staff... constantly burning as quickly as possible. There's a ceiling on every business; it's all bound to com…

People have answered this before, and what it boils down to is: because they took VC money, and then went public. If you bootstrap a business from nothing and grow it on its own, then sustainable growth and stable profit is fine. But Twitter got VC and IPO money with a promise that it would have Facebook-like growth in return. I think the analogy I saw used was that they promised investors a Porsche and instead deliv…

Are they liable for those promises though? I am legitimately curious to know if they are contractually obligated to grow at a certain rate or be at certain valuation at this point in time.
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