Twitter now requires an account to view tweets • Hacker News Board

Re: Twitter now requires an account to view tweets

#531

Post by Solvency » Sat, Jul 01, 2023, 2:44 AM UTC

scarface_74 wrote: post #528

sneak wrote: post #500

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Public institutions now often require agreeing to the Google Account ToS to get public schooling. IMO this should be illegal.

Every public school and government institution for at least the last two decades has depended on private SaaS companies for everything from recording grades, to managing school lunches, payroll, attendance and almost every other facet of education

It does beg the question why the public sector doesn't aim to create a public source software division for all of these administrative needs. Jobs program and all that.

Re: Twitter now requires an account to view tweets

#532

Post by nomilk » Sat, Jul 01, 2023, 2:47 AM UTC

agnosticmantis wrote: post #484

robot_no_421 wrote: post #395

Anybody feel like this is ironically going to accelerate the decline of twitter? I'm never, EVER making a twitter account. However publishers still communicate with me via tweets I could see. Now that I need an account to view tweets, publishers just have a smaller audience. I'll just see the screenshots on reddit anyway :)

He needs revenue right now, and the other monetization efforts haven't panned out (blue checks, advertising, etc.). So he's trying to make a quick buck from user-generated data now that the LLM rush is at an all time high. For that he needs to limit access to the data in the first place, otherwise nobody would be paying for publicly available data.

> (twitter) needs revenue right now, and the other monetization efforts haven't panned out

Twitter monetizes via 1. advertising, 2. subscriptions, 3. API sales, admittedly I have no idea of the actual numbers.

The first claim (that Twitter needs revenue urgently) seems false since the owner has deep pockets.

Re: Twitter now requires an account to view tweets

#533

Post by btw0 » Sat, Jul 01, 2023, 2:47 AM UTC

zmmmmm wrote: post #337

It always irked me that public institutions embraced Twitter as a primary means of communication in many cases. It never seemed right that a private company was being put in between public functions and the the public which depends on them. Not to mention, since I live outside the US, a private company in another country. I even wrote complaints to one local public body to ask them to set up a communication channel t…

People are moving. https://redditmigration.com

Re: Twitter now requires an account to view tweets

#534

Post by refurb » Sat, Jul 01, 2023, 2:47 AM UTC

zmmmmm wrote: post #337

It always irked me that public institutions embraced Twitter as a primary means of communication in many cases. It never seemed right that a private company was being put in between public functions and the the public which depends on them. Not to mention, since I live outside the US, a private company in another country. I even wrote complaints to one local public body to ask them to set up a communication channel t…

It never seemed right that a private company was being put in between public functions and the the public which depends on them.

But why? It’s always been that way. Before Twitter, it was private radio stations, private TV stations or private newspapers.

Re: Twitter now requires an account to view tweets

#535

Post by johndhi » Sat, Jul 01, 2023, 2:48 AM UTC

dghlsakjg wrote: post #524

wahnfrieden wrote: post #477

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook news is shutting off in Canada where there are currently wildfires. I'm leaving no comment on why.

No comment on why? It is very clear that it is due to them not wanting to comply with bill C-18. Reported on by every major news outlet that I’ve seen

Wow that's a pretty interesting story. Intrigued to see how it goes. As a lawyer for a tech co I've always wanted to entertain a situation like this (small market is behaving so absurdly you simply leave it) but it's pretty rare. Good test case.

Re: Twitter now requires an account to view tweets

#536

Post by keyle » Sat, Jul 01, 2023, 2:48 AM UTC

Remember Musk bought it because the world needed an unbiased platform, freedom of speech, blah blah etc.

Now I'm pretty sure your reach is severely limited if you don't pay; and now tweets are blocked behind a login.

How's it going, really?

Re: Twitter now requires an account to view tweets

#537

Post by onlyrealcuzzo » Sat, Jul 01, 2023, 2:48 AM UTC

ddingus wrote: post #479

thomasahle wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the main reason I don't use quora and pinterest. But I guess they are still around.

Yes they are, and both are a lot more crappy than they were before.

At least Pinterest is making money, and as a company, that's the only thing it cares about.

They aren't trying to delight you, or make the best product for you.

They're trying to suck as much money out of you as possible. If that means making a worse product, you're gonna get a worse product.

Until this gets beat into the average person's head, we'll keep falling for companies that we think will be different.

Re: Twitter now requires an account to view tweets

#538

Post by johndhi » Sat, Jul 01, 2023, 2:49 AM UTC

Solvency wrote: post #531

scarface_74 wrote: post #528

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every public school and government institution for at least the last two decades has depended on private SaaS companies for everything from recording grades, to managing school lunches, payroll, attendance and almost every other facet of education

It does beg the question why the public sector doesn't aim to create a public source software division for all of these administrative needs. Jobs program and all that.

That seems silly to me. Private solutions are almost always going to be better, more secure, cheaper.

Re: Twitter now requires an account to view tweets

#539

Post by bregma » Sat, Jul 01, 2023, 2:51 AM UTC

cscurmudgeon wrote: post #491

wahnfrieden wrote: post #477

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook news is shutting off in Canada where there are currently wildfires. I'm leaving no comment on why.

Only the Canadian govt. is to blame for this.

The government of Canada is of the people, by the people, for the people of Canada. You're saying it's the people of Canada who are responsible for a business interest refusing to extract their wealth if it can not be done for free, and you're entirely correct.

Goodbye Meta and Google and other greedy foreign exploiters and don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Re: Twitter now requires an account to view tweets

#540

Post by renewedrebecca » Sat, Jul 01, 2023, 2:51 AM UTC

refurb wrote: post #534

zmmmmm wrote: post #337

It always irked me that public institutions embraced Twitter as a primary means of communication in many cases. It never seemed right that a private company was being put in between public functions and the the public which depends on them. Not to mention, since I live outside the US, a private company in another country. I even wrote complaints to one local public body to ask them to set up a communication channel t…

It never seemed right that a private company was being put in between public functions and the the public which depends on them. But why? It’s always been that way. Before Twitter, it was private radio stations, private TV stations or private newspapers.

Radio stations & TV stations use public airwaves and actually (used to, not sure now) had to prove they were acting in the public interest to keep their licenses. Doing public announcements were one way they handled that function.