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How Twitter Made the Tech World's Most Unlikely Comeback (buzzfeed.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from BuzzFeed: Two years ago, people were writing eulogies for Twitter. Rudderless and without product direction, the company was losing users and advertisers, and seemed unable to contain a metastasizing trolling crisis that was destroying its credibility. Employees left by the dozens and then got laid off by the hundreds. It tried to sell, and failed at that too. The press, Wall Street, and the public were merciless. The New Yorker declared it "The End of Twitter." Analyst Michael Nathanson said that at $14 per share there was "no compelling reason to own the stock," and his counterparts applied "sell" ratings in bunches. Over a single weekend in February 2016, more than one million people tweeted "#RIPTwitter."
But then, even as those eulogies were being published, things started changing. Twitter began beating earnings expectations. Star ex-employees trickled back in, finding a new, more positive internal culture than the toxic one they'd left. Advertisers came back too, as did users. The company finally began addressing its trolling problem. And its stock, once unappealing to analysts like Nathanson at $14, is now trading above $46. It's still somewhat taboo to say it, but it's no longer possible to deny it: Twitter is making an unexpected, somewhat miraculous comeback. It is the first major consumer social company to lose users and start growing again in a meaningful way. The report mentions four major factors that led to Twitter's resurgence: "Its acceptance it would never be Facebook, leading to a decision to focus on news as Facebook pulled back. Its move to aggressively add premium live video to its service. Its CEO Jack Dorsey's directive to its product team to rethink everything. And a key component of many great comebacks: luck."
But then, even as those eulogies were being published, things started changing. Twitter began beating earnings expectations. Star ex-employees trickled back in, finding a new, more positive internal culture than the toxic one they'd left. Advertisers came back too, as did users. The company finally began addressing its trolling problem. And its stock, once unappealing to analysts like Nathanson at $14, is now trading above $46. It's still somewhat taboo to say it, but it's no longer possible to deny it: Twitter is making an unexpected, somewhat miraculous comeback. It is the first major consumer social company to lose users and start growing again in a meaningful way. The report mentions four major factors that led to Twitter's resurgence: "Its acceptance it would never be Facebook, leading to a decision to focus on news as Facebook pulled back. Its move to aggressively add premium live video to its service. Its CEO Jack Dorsey's directive to its product team to rethink everything. And a key component of many great comebacks: luck."
leading to a decision to focus on news as Facebook pulled back
I really don't use Twitter much, but where is the news on Twitter? Do I actively need to subscribe to news vendors?
All I ever see are posts by random tech-personalities telling me what kind of coffee they like and how their projects are travelling. Is that the 'news' they're referring to?
Twitter has been rudderless since day one. Monetization was never a viable play. They just depended on the early trendiness of social media to make their mark. Then, âwâ(TM), âoâ(TM) and trump come along, dragging massive polarization with them and suddenly twitter âseemsâ(TM) relevant.
Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of congress. But then I repeat myself. -- Mark Twain
Twitter is making over $2billion in revenue a year, which raises the question, how are they able to spend most of it running their little website.
In any case, I was going to blame Trump for this growth, but it seems that's not the case. Revenue has been mostly flat since 2015.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Twitter didn't get better. Facebook got worse. This is what really happened. With the privacy controversy surrounding Facebook, and no other real social media contender at a similar scale, investors switched their portfolios from Facebook to Twitter by default.
Twitter has changed our democracy. It used to be that you only got a couple of opinions from the people that the TV or newspapers decided to interview, and that was usually a soundbite at most. Now you can not only see what every politician is saying, but you can interact with them and even shape their opinions.
Thanks to Twitter I have far more influence over politics than I ever have had before.
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SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC