Twitter Soars After Surprise Sales Gain, First Real Profit • Hacker News Board

Re: Twitter Soars After Surprise Sales Gain, First Real Profit

#31

Post by orf » Thu, Feb 08, 2018, 2:47 PM UTC

trs80 wrote: post #26

Steeeve wrote: post #18

Twitter loves Trump. It's not just twitter... the whole profit center around online communities is based on active communities. Most topics are cyclical - once the Superbowl is over, it's hard to keep a football community active. Only so many people are interested in the draft, in coaching changes, etc. But throw in some controversy and all of a sudden everything lights up again. The problem, or _a_ problem, is that…

>Twitter loves Trump. Hidden camera investigations[1] into Twitter employees suggest otherwise. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64gTjdUrDFQ

Seems like a lot of out of context clips to push a narrative, standard project veritas stuff.

Like the clip about banning certain groups of people: the engineer says "it's going to ban a certain way of talking". You might take from this based on the video that he's talking about inadvertently banning right-leaning users. Well, what if he's talking about banning racism or messages that use ((subtle dog-whistles)) instead of overt racism?

Also, not many people like Trump, especially not in left-leaning areas (like where Twitter is based). Are employees not allowed to voice their dislike of a very dislikable man, while drinking at a social event?

Re: Twitter Soars After Surprise Sales Gain, First Real Profit

#32

Post by toomuchtodo » Thu, Feb 08, 2018, 2:47 PM UTC

trs80 wrote: post #26

Steeeve wrote: post #18

Twitter loves Trump. It's not just twitter... the whole profit center around online communities is based on active communities. Most topics are cyclical - once the Superbowl is over, it's hard to keep a football community active. Only so many people are interested in the draft, in coaching changes, etc. But throw in some controversy and all of a sudden everything lights up again. The problem, or _a_ problem, is that…

>Twitter loves Trump. Hidden camera investigations[1] into Twitter employees suggest otherwise. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64gTjdUrDFQ

It would've been more accurate to say, "Twitter accepts Trump as a necessary evil."

Conflict -> emotional human response on social media is good for business.

Re: Twitter Soars After Surprise Sales Gain, First Real Profit

#33

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Feb 08, 2018, 2:48 PM UTC

trs80 wrote: post #26

Steeeve wrote: post #18

Twitter loves Trump. It's not just twitter... the whole profit center around online communities is based on active communities. Most topics are cyclical - once the Superbowl is over, it's hard to keep a football community active. Only so many people are interested in the draft, in coaching changes, etc. But throw in some controversy and all of a sudden everything lights up again. The problem, or _a_ problem, is that…

>Twitter loves Trump. Hidden camera investigations[1] into Twitter employees suggest otherwise. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64gTjdUrDFQ

[deleted]

Re: Twitter Soars After Surprise Sales Gain, First Real Profit

#34

Post by blowski » Thu, Feb 08, 2018, 2:48 PM UTC

trs80 wrote: post #26

Steeeve wrote: post #18

Twitter loves Trump. It's not just twitter... the whole profit center around online communities is based on active communities. Most topics are cyclical - once the Superbowl is over, it's hard to keep a football community active. Only so many people are interested in the draft, in coaching changes, etc. But throw in some controversy and all of a sudden everything lights up again. The problem, or _a_ problem, is that…

>Twitter loves Trump. Hidden camera investigations[1] into Twitter employees suggest otherwise. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64gTjdUrDFQ

Unsurprisingly, Twitter is not a single person with a single opinion that can be reduced to a few words.

Twitter’s shareholders love the fact that Trump uses Twitter in the way that he does. Many users love reading and discussing Trump’s tweets, precisely because they despise him.

Re: Twitter Soars After Surprise Sales Gain, First Real Profit

#35

Post by mseebach » Thu, Feb 08, 2018, 2:48 PM UTC

benaadams wrote: post #11

Twitters advertising flow is messed up Promote Tweet -> Give card details -> Lets see what can do and cost $ Should be Promote Tweet -> Lets see what can do and cost $ -> Give card details

Perhaps it's a way to throttle analysis of their pricing algorithm?

Re: Twitter Soars After Surprise Sales Gain, First Real Profit

#36

Post by fullshark » Thu, Feb 08, 2018, 2:50 PM UTC

indescions_2018 wrote: post #13

Whisper rumor is that $TWTR is shopping itself for an acquisition. With $DIS / FOX likely suitor. $30 stock price would place market cap approx $25B. Twitter Could Easily Be Acquired In 2018 https://seekingalpha.com/article/4135256-twitter-easily-acqu...

They openly shopped themselves two years ago irc.

Re: Twitter Soars After Surprise Sales Gain, First Real Profit

#37

Post by Steeeve » Thu, Feb 08, 2018, 2:52 PM UTC

trs80 wrote: post #26

Steeeve wrote: post #18

Twitter loves Trump. It's not just twitter... the whole profit center around online communities is based on active communities. Most topics are cyclical - once the Superbowl is over, it's hard to keep a football community active. Only so many people are interested in the draft, in coaching changes, etc. But throw in some controversy and all of a sudden everything lights up again. The problem, or _a_ problem, is that…

>Twitter loves Trump. Hidden camera investigations[1] into Twitter employees suggest otherwise. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64gTjdUrDFQ

See... controversy inspires active discussion.

Re: Twitter Soars After Surprise Sales Gain, First Real Profit

#38

Post by bad_user » Thu, Feb 08, 2018, 2:57 PM UTC

benaadams wrote: post #11

Twitters advertising flow is messed up Promote Tweet -> Give card details -> Lets see what can do and cost $ Should be Promote Tweet -> Lets see what can do and cost $ -> Give card details

If you're not willing to give your credit card details, you're probably not willing to pay anyway.

Re: Twitter Soars After Surprise Sales Gain, First Real Profit

#39

Post by cat199 » Thu, Feb 08, 2018, 2:57 PM UTC

Steeeve wrote: post #18

Twitter loves Trump. It's not just twitter... the whole profit center around online communities is based on active communities. Most topics are cyclical - once the Superbowl is over, it's hard to keep a football community active. Only so many people are interested in the draft, in coaching changes, etc. But throw in some controversy and all of a sudden everything lights up again. The problem, or _a_ problem, is that…

> The social health issue is one for all companies that compete in the social media space to figure out.

The social media issue is one for all netizens that develop code and systems to figure out

Re: Twitter Soars After Surprise Sales Gain, First Real Profit

#40

Post by Retric » Thu, Feb 08, 2018, 3:02 PM UTC

Steeeve wrote: post #18

Twitter loves Trump. It's not just twitter... the whole profit center around online communities is based on active communities. Most topics are cyclical - once the Superbowl is over, it's hard to keep a football community active. Only so many people are interested in the draft, in coaching changes, etc. But throw in some controversy and all of a sudden everything lights up again. The problem, or _a_ problem, is that…

That line of thinking strongly reminds me of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE3j_RHkqJc

As a counter point, I think maximizing controversy is a short term optimization that reduces the number of users over time. Most people drop things at one point or another, and people are more reluctant to go back if their memories are stressful instead of fun.