Twitter Is Expected to Field Bids This Week • Hacker News Board

Re: Twitter Is Expected to Field Bids This Week

#241

Post by gjolund » Thu, Oct 06, 2016, 8:59 AM UTC

imagist wrote: post #85

Good on them--it's a wise choice to get out before the bubble pops. I've said before[1] that Twitter is the poster child for the tech bubble and that people's opinion of Twitter is a good litmus test for people's understanding of the industry. It sounds like Twitter's management understands their position and is looking to get out while there are still people who think Twitter has value. [1] https://news.ycombinator.…

I view twitter as a canary in the coal mine also.

It will be interesting to see the consequences of a major drop in twitters valuation.

Re: Twitter Is Expected to Field Bids This Week

#242

Post by crabasa » Thu, Oct 06, 2016, 2:43 PM UTC

oldmanjay wrote: post #234

crabasa wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I won't pretend to know how they should have monetized, that's what @jack is compensated richly to figure out. My point is that the chance to be the messaging backbone of the Internet was more valuable and a better use of Twitter's resources (human and financial capital) than the certainty of being defeated by Facebook.

If it's not your job to figure out the how, why should anyone care about your opinion of the what? Edit: which is my slightly harsh way of saying dreams are easy, but doing is what counts.

Separating the what from the how is the definition of delegation. Happens billions of times every day all over the world, to mostly good effect.

Re: Twitter Is Expected to Field Bids This Week

#243

Post by PretzelFisch » Thu, Oct 06, 2016, 3:56 PM UTC

I still kind of expect Microsoft to by Twitter. Especially after Linkedin. They would get a massive amount of data for analytics.

Re: Twitter Is Expected to Field Bids This Week

#244

Post by criddell » Thu, Oct 06, 2016, 4:48 PM UTC

TeMPOraL wrote: post #237

criddell wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GPS is out there for anybody to use for free. It's incredibly useful and the value to the economy of having that there as a utility anybody can use is huge. Perhaps Twitter as a utility could be just as valuable. Maybe it doesn't need to be monetized.

But GPS is broadcast, and Twitter is ultimately packed-switched. I.e. the "GPS providers" don't have to pay more money just because there are more users - the satellite signals are already in the air, free and open for use by anyone who knows how.

That really doesn't matter. It only makes the per-user cost more difficult to figure out.

FWIW, I believe GPS costs the US on the order of $1 per user per month.

Re: Twitter Is Expected to Field Bids This Week

#245

Post by TeMPOraL » Thu, Oct 06, 2016, 4:51 PM UTC

criddell wrote: post #244

TeMPOraL wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But GPS is broadcast, and Twitter is ultimately packed-switched. I.e. the "GPS providers" don't have to pay more money just because there are more users - the satellite signals are already in the air, free and open for use by anyone who knows how.

That really doesn't matter. It only makes the per-user cost more difficult to figure out. FWIW, I believe GPS costs the US on the order of $1 per user per month.

Let me put it in other words: the marginal cost of a GPS user is exactly $0 to the service provider; it's not the case with Twitter.

Re: Twitter Is Expected to Field Bids This Week

#246

Post by criddell » Thu, Oct 06, 2016, 5:26 PM UTC

TeMPOraL wrote: post #245

criddell wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That really doesn't matter. It only makes the per-user cost more difficult to figure out. FWIW, I believe GPS costs the US on the order of $1 per user per month.

Let me put it in other words: the marginal cost of a GPS user is exactly $0 to the service provider; it's not the case with Twitter.

I understand that.

Re: Twitter Is Expected to Field Bids This Week

#247

Post by rco8786 » Fri, Oct 07, 2016, 2:35 PM UTC

overcast wrote: post #215

rco8786 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but pretty much no way to monetizing them. I don't understand why people keep saying this. Twitter has multiple billions of dollars in revenue from monetizing their users. Profitable? No. They built out a massive organization planning for user growth comparable to how fast Facebook was growing, but user growth stalled. There is a profitable business within Twitter, but someone has to be willing to do the gut job.

Canning a couple thousand employees would free up a couple hundred million I suspect.

Uh, how much do you think Twitter pays their employees?

Re: Twitter Is Expected to Field Bids This Week

#248

Post by true_religion » Sat, Oct 08, 2016, 12:56 AM UTC

iainmerrick wrote: post #156

true_religion wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Charge people who build applications that use it in any significant way beyond sending text messages through the Twitter approved interface.

Would the pricing be per app, or per user? If you charge per user, it's unaffordable for small developers (unless they push the cost on to their users). If you charge per app, you won't make enough money for it to be worthwhile.

I'd charge per user, because as you said... small developers can push the cost onto their users.

Re: Twitter Is Expected to Field Bids This Week

#249

Post by overcast » Tue, Oct 11, 2016, 3:06 PM UTC

rco8786 wrote: post #247

overcast wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Canning a couple thousand employees would free up a couple hundred million I suspect.

Uh, how much do you think Twitter pays their employees?

An employee costs A LOT more than their salary. That's only $100,000 per employee total compensation.