I'm with Timothy Lee on Twitter under Musk. Much of the fat in twitter is in the over watchers who have smothered it into unprofitability. Who wants to participate on Twitter where what you write and what you read is stifled? I certainly do not. Like all social media, Tweeting is a self-promoting activity, and I am not interested in promoting a self generated by a control freak hiding in the machinery. And if I choose to promote a false self to draw attention to me, I want to be the creator of that false self.
On the other hand (my HS English teacher would insert, "she had a wart") if I stick with my boring real self I am resigned to being unpopular.
I was talking through this with some of my friends and my conclusion was I think Elon can make Twitter profitable in the short term, BUT I don't think he can keep it relevant in the upcoming decade.
This might be the MySpace moment for Twitter unless he opens up its technological doors somehow (which will impact profitability and shareholders, so it'll be hard to see how that'll help recoup his investment unless he is able to justify it somehow).
Tim, have you ever thought about setting up a Mastodon server (or at least being responsible for one) to use as a starting point for people who find your material interesting?
The origin story of the community, trying to include it in your own "brand monetization", and the technical travails could even become fodder for future articles... I can't think about a better current intersection of technical/humanity/commercialization than this type of thing.
I'm with Timothy Lee on Twitter under Musk. Much of the fat in twitter is in the over watchers who have smothered it into unprofitability. Who wants to participate on Twitter where what you write and what you read is stifled? I certainly do not. Like all social media, Tweeting is a self-promoting activity, and I am not interested in promoting a self generated by a control freak hiding in the machinery. And if I choose to promote a false self to draw attention to me, I want to be the creator of that false self.
On the other hand (my HS English teacher would insert, "she had a wart") if I stick with my boring real self I am resigned to being unpopular.
I was talking through this with some of my friends and my conclusion was I think Elon can make Twitter profitable in the short term, BUT I don't think he can keep it relevant in the upcoming decade.
This might be the MySpace moment for Twitter unless he opens up its technological doors somehow (which will impact profitability and shareholders, so it'll be hard to see how that'll help recoup his investment unless he is able to justify it somehow).
Tim, have you ever thought about setting up a Mastodon server (or at least being responsible for one) to use as a starting point for people who find your material interesting?
The origin story of the community, trying to include it in your own "brand monetization", and the technical travails could even become fodder for future articles... I can't think about a better current intersection of technical/humanity/commercialization than this type of thing.