The Battle For The Blue Bird
March 4, 2020 5:25 PM Subscribe
Current Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has routinely come under fire for his management of Twitter. But even given the repeated criticism, Dorsey has never faced an actual challenge to his running of the social media company.
Until now. Republican donor and "activist" investor Paul Singer is, through his investment firm Elliott Management, looking to enter into a hostile takeover of Twitter, with the intent of removing Dorsey as CEO.
The Verge has more details on the takeover, including Singer's history of toppling executives through his "activism" and the weak position Dorsey finds himself in thanks to his hands off management of Twitter.
Until now. Republican donor and "activist" investor Paul Singer is, through his investment firm Elliott Management, looking to enter into a hostile takeover of Twitter, with the intent of removing Dorsey as CEO.
The Verge has more details on the takeover, including Singer's history of toppling executives through his "activism" and the weak position Dorsey finds himself in thanks to his hands off management of Twitter.
it's remarkable to imagine that they think it's a good idea to transition Twitter from "implicitly right-wing-run organization" to "explicitly right-wing-run organization"
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:34 PM on March 4, 2020 [29 favorites]
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:34 PM on March 4, 2020 [29 favorites]
I have some Pillowfort.social invites if anyone wants them.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 5:51 PM on March 4, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 5:51 PM on March 4, 2020 [3 favorites]
The problem here is simple - there's no way you can defend Dorsey as CEO, and everyone knows it. Even if you leave out the white supremacy, it's clear from his killing of Vine that he has no idea how to build Twitter as a product, in part because his real focus is on Square, where his money is.
posted by NoxAeternum at 5:57 PM on March 4, 2020 [22 favorites]
posted by NoxAeternum at 5:57 PM on March 4, 2020 [22 favorites]
Also, can I say that some of the employee tweets under the #WeBackJack hashtag are...creepy? It just feels like they really don't get why Dorsey's been targeted.
posted by NoxAeternum at 6:43 PM on March 4, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by NoxAeternum at 6:43 PM on March 4, 2020 [5 favorites]
Slightly OT, but it’s worth noting:
But even given the repeated criticism, Dorsey has never faced an actual challenge to his running of the social media company.
Dorsey was fired as Twitter CEO in 2008, then returned to the company in 2015 after the struggles of his successor CEOs. The co-founders of Twitter have squabbled a lot, sometimes quite publicly, and Dorsey’s leadership has been questioned and challenged more than once.
Which isn’t to say that this latest attempt by a right-wing activist investor isn’t really concerning! But board-room fights are nothing new at Twitter.
posted by a device for making your enemy change his mind at 6:48 PM on March 4, 2020 [14 favorites]
But even given the repeated criticism, Dorsey has never faced an actual challenge to his running of the social media company.
Dorsey was fired as Twitter CEO in 2008, then returned to the company in 2015 after the struggles of his successor CEOs. The co-founders of Twitter have squabbled a lot, sometimes quite publicly, and Dorsey’s leadership has been questioned and challenged more than once.
Which isn’t to say that this latest attempt by a right-wing activist investor isn’t really concerning! But board-room fights are nothing new at Twitter.
posted by a device for making your enemy change his mind at 6:48 PM on March 4, 2020 [14 favorites]
Paul Singer is ... an interesting character. He's a Republican in the pro-business Koch mold, but also a major donor to pro-marriage equality and LGBT causes, and runs and financially backs at least two PACs (Freedom For All Americans and American Unity) which exist basically to underwrite Republicans who come under fire from the far right for supporting marriage equality or gay rights.
He's also sometimes described as a "Never Trumper" although I don't know if that's quite an accurate characterization (I get the impression he has donated to Trump-related causes since the election when advantageous).
Personally I think I find him preferable to Dorsey, by virtue of at least being more obvious about where he stands. I wouldn't cry any crocodile tears if they both somehow annihilated each other in single economic combat, but Dorsey's West Coast feelgood doubletalk is basically my kryptonite. I'd rather have someone who wears their politics openly, rather than someone who says the right things but acts suspiciously like a closet Nazi.
posted by Kadin2048 at 6:53 PM on March 4, 2020 [9 favorites]
He's also sometimes described as a "Never Trumper" although I don't know if that's quite an accurate characterization (I get the impression he has donated to Trump-related causes since the election when advantageous).
Personally I think I find him preferable to Dorsey, by virtue of at least being more obvious about where he stands. I wouldn't cry any crocodile tears if they both somehow annihilated each other in single economic combat, but Dorsey's West Coast feelgood doubletalk is basically my kryptonite. I'd rather have someone who wears their politics openly, rather than someone who says the right things but acts suspiciously like a closet Nazi.
posted by Kadin2048 at 6:53 PM on March 4, 2020 [9 favorites]
Ugh. Paul Singer is the worst. He's not just a Republican in the Koch mold, he's literally given millions to Koch causes. He's backed GW Bush and Giuliani and Romney and given millions of dollars to ensure a Mitch McConnell run Senate. He made his billions as one of the worst vulture capitalists preying on distressed businesses and third world countries, no matter the human costs.
Maybe he supports LGBT causes because he is gay or some members of his family are gay. I have no idea. But that doesn't excuse the fact that he is one of the worst Republican billionaire shitty human beings.
posted by JackFlash at 7:25 PM on March 4, 2020 [37 favorites]
Maybe he supports LGBT causes because he is gay or some members of his family are gay. I have no idea. But that doesn't excuse the fact that he is one of the worst Republican billionaire shitty human beings.
posted by JackFlash at 7:25 PM on March 4, 2020 [37 favorites]
I wish Bloomberg had bought or wrested control of twitter and just shut it down or at least one or two accounts.
posted by bz at 7:52 PM on March 4, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by bz at 7:52 PM on March 4, 2020 [5 favorites]
So, if the nazi republicans buy twitter, will you guys leave?
posted by valkane at 7:59 PM on March 4, 2020 [20 favorites]
posted by valkane at 7:59 PM on March 4, 2020 [20 favorites]
a nazi republican already owns twitter
posted by poffin boffin at 8:03 PM on March 4, 2020 [39 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 8:03 PM on March 4, 2020 [39 favorites]
I know, but I was being nice.
posted by valkane at 8:04 PM on March 4, 2020 [19 favorites]
posted by valkane at 8:04 PM on March 4, 2020 [19 favorites]
Elliott Management is the best reason for any company to not IPO... interpret that any way you want.
posted by jwest at 8:19 PM on March 4, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by jwest at 8:19 PM on March 4, 2020 [2 favorites]
god if bloomberg bought twitter and banned trump i would. i guess think a nice thought about him? maybe 2? lbr we would all coast on that high for a good long time.
posted by poffin boffin at 8:21 PM on March 4, 2020 [20 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 8:21 PM on March 4, 2020 [20 favorites]
It's a valid question: at what point do folks say no to an obvious nazi propaganda machine? regardless of whether or not it makes it easy to maintain their job/family/friend connections? Think back ten years ago, before twitter and facebook. (or 18, I'm not going to wiki to be right)
At what point do you say, no thank you? At what point do you say no to obvious nazis?
posted by valkane at 8:30 PM on March 4, 2020 [18 favorites]
At what point do you say, no thank you? At what point do you say no to obvious nazis?
posted by valkane at 8:30 PM on March 4, 2020 [18 favorites]
It goes without saying that Singer is an incredible piece of shit (and is personally responsible for a ton of misery in Latin America and Africa through fucking around with sovereign debt), but he would be running Twitter however he could get as much money out of it as possible. Dorsey is running Twitter as a totem of the vital importance of Free Speech, a way for him to feel like a cool visionary, and, as far as I can tell, as an experiment in the limits of the human brain's capacity to comprehend minor, inexplicable UI changes over time. At least being run explicitly to make money would put Twitter more in line with the ways everything else in the 21st century is shitty.
posted by Copronymus at 8:50 PM on March 4, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by Copronymus at 8:50 PM on March 4, 2020 [4 favorites]
Oddly, Billy Durant, founder of General Motors, did a similar tactic to Henry Ford, twice. So to meet Henry's cash on the barrel ...Because Billy's like, 'Ford is in the other room and I can't pony up.'
"I mean cash," Ford answered. "And tell him I'll throw in my lumbago."
🐦🙈🙉🙊
posted by clavdivs at 8:53 PM on March 4, 2020
"I mean cash," Ford answered. "And tell him I'll throw in my lumbago."
🐦🙈🙉🙊
posted by clavdivs at 8:53 PM on March 4, 2020
So, if the nazi republicans buy twitter, will you guys leave?
a nazi republican already owns twitter
I split years ago. You should try it! Your attention span will thank you.
posted by mwhybark at 8:54 PM on March 4, 2020 [8 favorites]
a nazi republican already owns twitter
I split years ago. You should try it! Your attention span will thank you.
posted by mwhybark at 8:54 PM on March 4, 2020 [8 favorites]
Sooner or later, twitter and facebook will become 4chan. And then what will you do?
posted by valkane at 9:11 PM on March 4, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by valkane at 9:11 PM on March 4, 2020 [3 favorites]
As noted above, Dorsey was literally forced out of Twitter for many years and only came back after he was part of a move by investors and board members to replace other management. If you want to know the full details, Nick Bilton's book is the most detailed hhistory I know of. Plenty to argue with in its telling of the story but it's more or less correct.
What's always struck in my craw is that Jack didn't came back. He half came back. He's still also CEO of Square, too. I have my problems with Jack's leadership but by far the weakest thing is that no one can do a job like this effectively half time. (Anyone who says "but Steve Jobs..." gets a thwack with the dummy stick.)
I don't think the Singer bid is going to fix things. But I'd sure like to see Twitter shaken up. Both the social media product and the ad business could be so much more but the company is poorly managed. Their product development in the past couple of years in particular has been a serious morass. I've come around to think Twitter is vital despite all the awfulness, motivated in no small part by trying to make Mastodon or Facebook work for me instead and failing. I wish it were better.
Another way to say all this is that Twitter is very vulnerable to a move like Singer's right now. Which could turn out very badly.
posted by Nelson at 9:13 PM on March 4, 2020 [5 favorites]
What's always struck in my craw is that Jack didn't came back. He half came back. He's still also CEO of Square, too. I have my problems with Jack's leadership but by far the weakest thing is that no one can do a job like this effectively half time. (Anyone who says "but Steve Jobs..." gets a thwack with the dummy stick.)
I don't think the Singer bid is going to fix things. But I'd sure like to see Twitter shaken up. Both the social media product and the ad business could be so much more but the company is poorly managed. Their product development in the past couple of years in particular has been a serious morass. I've come around to think Twitter is vital despite all the awfulness, motivated in no small part by trying to make Mastodon or Facebook work for me instead and failing. I wish it were better.
Another way to say all this is that Twitter is very vulnerable to a move like Singer's right now. Which could turn out very badly.
posted by Nelson at 9:13 PM on March 4, 2020 [5 favorites]
I don't think (the gay stuff aside) that's his politics he's wearing openly, it's his finances. He's for money, and Republican politics is where the big money is -- not to say the Democrats aren't captured by corporate money too -- so he's been buying lucrative acts of state power from Republicans mostly.
The reason I point this out is because it makes him malleable. If Trump consolidates corrupt autocracy, Singer will service corrupt autocracy, because there is the biggest money in servicing a corrupt autocracy as it loots the richest country in the world.
posted by away for regrooving at 10:45 PM on March 4, 2020 [5 favorites]
The reason I point this out is because it makes him malleable. If Trump consolidates corrupt autocracy, Singer will service corrupt autocracy, because there is the biggest money in servicing a corrupt autocracy as it loots the richest country in the world.
posted by away for regrooving at 10:45 PM on March 4, 2020 [5 favorites]
(And there are many ways that a controlling interest in Twitter could service Trump, obviously.)
posted by away for regrooving at 10:46 PM on March 4, 2020
posted by away for regrooving at 10:46 PM on March 4, 2020
Surely there is only one billionaire with the necessary experience of running a social media company? Only one person whose name is synonymous with the kind of empathy and care required to handle the challenges of connecting humanity? Just one person whom we all already trust with our most personal thoughts and dreams?
Mark Zuckerberg.
posted by fallingbadgers at 11:28 PM on March 4, 2020 [2 favorites]
Mark Zuckerberg.
posted by fallingbadgers at 11:28 PM on March 4, 2020 [2 favorites]
It's actually a vital tool for resisting nazis.
I wasn't sure if the comment you're responding to was a real hypothetical about the future of Twitter or a jab at the current state of Twitter? Current Twitter is a propaganda platform for a lot of different people, so yes my answer to Current Twitter is do what you can to make the propaganda platform work for you.
posted by atoxyl at 2:03 AM on March 5, 2020
I wasn't sure if the comment you're responding to was a real hypothetical about the future of Twitter or a jab at the current state of Twitter? Current Twitter is a propaganda platform for a lot of different people, so yes my answer to Current Twitter is do what you can to make the propaganda platform work for you.
posted by atoxyl at 2:03 AM on March 5, 2020
The Nazis didn't make money every time the French Resistance sent a coded message.
posted by Admiral Viceroy at 2:38 AM on March 5, 2020 [31 favorites]
posted by Admiral Viceroy at 2:38 AM on March 5, 2020 [31 favorites]
I ran out of excuses for keeping a twitter account and deleted mine 2+ years ago. Any corporate-owned walled garden is going to be as bad. Please consider joining a mastodon instance or starting your own.
posted by terrapin at 3:42 AM on March 5, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by terrapin at 3:42 AM on March 5, 2020 [4 favorites]
Here's the Join Mastodon link. It's decentralised so you have to pick a server to join but don't sweat it, you can automatically migrate to a different one, keeping your followers, if you change your mind. "We only list servers that are committed to active moderation against racism, sexism and transphobia."
posted by TheophileEscargot at 3:45 AM on March 5, 2020 [9 favorites]
posted by TheophileEscargot at 3:45 AM on March 5, 2020 [9 favorites]
I was very excited about Mastodon, but found it to be absolutely the worst. The instances I was federated with seemed to be Very Online people who were performative about their wokeness and extremely active in ‘cancel culture’. While contemporary Twitter is often shitty, rife with political fractioning arguments, and run by Nazi sympathising capitalist cargo-cult Neoliberalists, it’s not as exhaustingly one-note as Masto seems to be.
posted by The River Ivel at 4:07 AM on March 5, 2020 [8 favorites]
posted by The River Ivel at 4:07 AM on March 5, 2020 [8 favorites]
That Twitter has just launched "Fleets", tweets that vanish after a day like SnapChat or InstaGram stories, seems... fitting.
posted by chavenet at 4:19 AM on March 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by chavenet at 4:19 AM on March 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
It's actually a vital tool for resisting nazis.
Unfortunately, while people of all political stripes can use the platform, moderation falls heavily upon POC and trans people while literal Nazis are allowed to thrive. That's the issue really. It's not like walking the same streets or using the same coded language that Nazis use, unless this included some private entity that regularly impeded those the Nazis target.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 5:10 AM on March 5, 2020 [7 favorites]
Unfortunately, while people of all political stripes can use the platform, moderation falls heavily upon POC and trans people while literal Nazis are allowed to thrive. That's the issue really. It's not like walking the same streets or using the same coded language that Nazis use, unless this included some private entity that regularly impeded those the Nazis target.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 5:10 AM on March 5, 2020 [7 favorites]
That Twitter has just launched "Fleets", tweets that vanish after a day like SnapChat or InstaGram stories, seems... fitting.
What's with the abbreviated name? Call them what they are. Fleeting Usages or "F.U.'s" if they insist on shortening things.
posted by srboisvert at 5:13 AM on March 5, 2020 [8 favorites]
What's with the abbreviated name? Call them what they are. Fleeting Usages or "F.U.'s" if they insist on shortening things.
posted by srboisvert at 5:13 AM on March 5, 2020 [8 favorites]
I split years ago. You should try it! Your attention span will thank you.
With the megathreads gone, Twitter is the only place I can keep abreast of political news without it being curated by corporate media. Although with the way things are going, maybe I should just embrace full-on ignorance of the world around me for the foreseeable future.
posted by Gadarene at 5:14 AM on March 5, 2020 [8 favorites]
With the megathreads gone, Twitter is the only place I can keep abreast of political news without it being curated by corporate media. Although with the way things are going, maybe I should just embrace full-on ignorance of the world around me for the foreseeable future.
posted by Gadarene at 5:14 AM on March 5, 2020 [8 favorites]
Drrawing false equivalences between people who are too ignorant to understand both-sidesism and the people actively trying to exploit both-sidesism to push a racist agenda isn't the same thing as being principled.
posted by pykrete jungle at 5:17 AM on March 5, 2020
posted by pykrete jungle at 5:17 AM on March 5, 2020
I think a better analogy would be the resistance continuing to subscribe to and place classified ads in a newspaper even though it had become a instrument for spreading hate and propaganda. The paper is known to accept money from nefarious actors in exchange for spreading their misinformation while letting those actors collect every bit of personal information from the subscribers. Some of the resistance rationalize their use of the paper that this remains the best way to reach people.
I don't dispute that the last point might be true of the social media companies. But one of the many reasons I deleted my Facebook was that it any criticism I made of it there was heavily muted by it's cryptic timeline algorithm. That's too Orwellian for me. Twitter at least so far doesn't seem do to that, but I wouldn't be surprised if it goes down that road.
posted by exogenous at 5:19 AM on March 5, 2020 [4 favorites]
I don't dispute that the last point might be true of the social media companies. But one of the many reasons I deleted my Facebook was that it any criticism I made of it there was heavily muted by it's cryptic timeline algorithm. That's too Orwellian for me. Twitter at least so far doesn't seem do to that, but I wouldn't be surprised if it goes down that road.
posted by exogenous at 5:19 AM on March 5, 2020 [4 favorites]
I will wait to see how this plays out before quitting Twitter. It’s actually useful as a single-sign-on entity for things I don’t actually care much about. If Singer takes over, then I can bail and hopefully send a Tenno, tiny little message in the process.if not, we’ll, I can wait to quit some other time.
posted by drivingmenuts at 5:40 AM on March 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by drivingmenuts at 5:40 AM on March 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
I deleted my Twitter account about a year ago. It really made me a much happier person. If your company only uses Twitter to communicate with its customers then I'm happy to go elsewhere.
posted by 1adam12 at 5:41 AM on March 5, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by 1adam12 at 5:41 AM on March 5, 2020 [5 favorites]
Seriously for real quit Twitter. Stop making excuses. You can still keep up with news and politics, you can still have friends online. Just, stop it and leave.
Feel free to memail me with suggestions of how to keep up with intelligent and diverse perspectives and dialogues on up-to-date political and legal news elsewhere. I mean that sincerely; I would like to know.
posted by Gadarene at 6:21 AM on March 5, 2020 [20 favorites]
Feel free to memail me with suggestions of how to keep up with intelligent and diverse perspectives and dialogues on up-to-date political and legal news elsewhere. I mean that sincerely; I would like to know.
posted by Gadarene at 6:21 AM on March 5, 2020 [20 favorites]
For you, maybe. Seems like others might be having a different experience.
posted by inire at 6:25 AM on March 5, 2020 [7 favorites]
posted by inire at 6:25 AM on March 5, 2020 [7 favorites]
I read "Hatching Twitter" and I always thought the way Dorsey wormed his way back into the CEO chair after being expelled from it was kind of distasteful, especially after he wasn't exactly a leader in the first place.
But I'm not sure he deserves all the blame for what Twitter has become. The faults seem inherent in the service and the users. I've found it a good solution to just stay away.
I've worked with mainstream media types. They're all obsessed with their Twitter accounts. But I've seen little good that's come from it.
If their work is any indication, Twitter has made them more ignorant of the rest of the world and allowed them to burrow deeper into their echo chambers. They're all just obsessed with trying to sound clever to each other.
posted by Borborygmus at 6:28 AM on March 5, 2020 [3 favorites]
But I'm not sure he deserves all the blame for what Twitter has become. The faults seem inherent in the service and the users. I've found it a good solution to just stay away.
I've worked with mainstream media types. They're all obsessed with their Twitter accounts. But I've seen little good that's come from it.
If their work is any indication, Twitter has made them more ignorant of the rest of the world and allowed them to burrow deeper into their echo chambers. They're all just obsessed with trying to sound clever to each other.
posted by Borborygmus at 6:28 AM on March 5, 2020 [3 favorites]
A Republican is taking over Twitter? Good. Everyone leave then. Burn social media to the ground.
posted by FakeFreyja at 6:31 AM on March 5, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by FakeFreyja at 6:31 AM on March 5, 2020 [4 favorites]
The Washington Post is also vastly harmful in a different way. YMMV.
posted by Gadarene at 6:36 AM on March 5, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Gadarene at 6:36 AM on March 5, 2020 [3 favorites]
Look, Twitter is vastly harmful and "it helps me specifically" is no longer an excuse to keep supporting the company with your attention.
For many, many people, it's also vastly helpful - it allows them to create community, to keep connected to like minded individuals, to live their lives. Asking them to give this up is a massive ask.
posted by NoxAeternum at 6:51 AM on March 5, 2020 [19 favorites]
For many, many people, it's also vastly helpful - it allows them to create community, to keep connected to like minded individuals, to live their lives. Asking them to give this up is a massive ask.
posted by NoxAeternum at 6:51 AM on March 5, 2020 [19 favorites]
I don’t know what people see in Twitter. Every time I look at it it seems stupid and toxic.
posted by spitbull at 6:57 AM on March 5, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by spitbull at 6:57 AM on March 5, 2020 [4 favorites]
it allows them to create community, to keep connected to like minded individuals, to live their lives
All of those things could be done with Keybase, if people were minded to. And Keybase allows you to make a provable connection from a Twitter handle to a Keybase account, even to the extent of addressing people on Keybase via their Twitter handle.
I can see no strong reason why anybody currently involved in a Twitter community couldn't encourage that community to migrate to Keybase one member at time, until that's what most of it was using most of the time.
posted by flabdablet at 7:00 AM on March 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
All of those things could be done with Keybase, if people were minded to. And Keybase allows you to make a provable connection from a Twitter handle to a Keybase account, even to the extent of addressing people on Keybase via their Twitter handle.
I can see no strong reason why anybody currently involved in a Twitter community couldn't encourage that community to migrate to Keybase one member at time, until that's what most of it was using most of the time.
posted by flabdablet at 7:00 AM on March 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
He's also sometimes described as a "Never Trumper" although I don't know if that's quite an accurate characterization (I get the impression he has donated to Trump-related causes since the election when advantageous).
That's the textbook definition of a Never Trumper.
posted by Reyturner at 7:05 AM on March 5, 2020 [11 favorites]
That's the textbook definition of a Never Trumper.
posted by Reyturner at 7:05 AM on March 5, 2020 [11 favorites]
It's actually a vital tool for resisting nazis.
No. No it’s not. It’s a convenient tool. But an awful one. Certainly not in any sense vital.
The proto-fascists and oligarchs are making billions from your “resistance.”
posted by Everyone Expects The Spanish Influenza at 7:06 AM on March 5, 2020 [7 favorites]
No. No it’s not. It’s a convenient tool. But an awful one. Certainly not in any sense vital.
The proto-fascists and oligarchs are making billions from your “resistance.”
posted by Everyone Expects The Spanish Influenza at 7:06 AM on March 5, 2020 [7 favorites]
Asking them to give this up is a massive ask.
There is email. I mean there are alternatives.
Twitter has only existed since 2006! Progressive causes and marginalized communities networked and got informed before Twitter existed.
Activists organized and passed the bulk of progressive legislation and provided the groundwork for social justice long before Twitter.
It’s not an electrical or water utility.
I mean, look what has happened since 2006? Open racists, authoritarians, oligarchs and fascists are more in power and normalized all over the world than ever.
If it worked to oust them then it’s failed spectacularly.
They have weaponized convenience against us.
posted by Everyone Expects The Spanish Influenza at 7:19 AM on March 5, 2020 [15 favorites]
There is email. I mean there are alternatives.
Twitter has only existed since 2006! Progressive causes and marginalized communities networked and got informed before Twitter existed.
Activists organized and passed the bulk of progressive legislation and provided the groundwork for social justice long before Twitter.
It’s not an electrical or water utility.
I mean, look what has happened since 2006? Open racists, authoritarians, oligarchs and fascists are more in power and normalized all over the world than ever.
If it worked to oust them then it’s failed spectacularly.
They have weaponized convenience against us.
posted by Everyone Expects The Spanish Influenza at 7:19 AM on March 5, 2020 [15 favorites]
Look, it's ok to say "Twitter's harm outweighs its good" without saying "Anybody who ever found Twitter useful or good is a damn fool."
I've learned a lot about PoC viewpoints, disabled viewpoints, and others that I would never have learned outside of Twitter. It has functioned as a wonderfully educational conversation/introduction to people I would never hear of in a newsletter, podcast, or blog. It also contains delightful high weirdness, art, and connection with those of like minds.
I can walk away from it if I have to, but if you personally have never understood it, maybe sit down instead of sniping at people who have, ok? It will be a loss to me personally, and to many others who have found good things there.
posted by emjaybee at 7:22 AM on March 5, 2020 [58 favorites]
I've learned a lot about PoC viewpoints, disabled viewpoints, and others that I would never have learned outside of Twitter. It has functioned as a wonderfully educational conversation/introduction to people I would never hear of in a newsletter, podcast, or blog. It also contains delightful high weirdness, art, and connection with those of like minds.
I can walk away from it if I have to, but if you personally have never understood it, maybe sit down instead of sniping at people who have, ok? It will be a loss to me personally, and to many others who have found good things there.
posted by emjaybee at 7:22 AM on March 5, 2020 [58 favorites]
Twitter's profits are more than 1 billion.
posted by tiny frying pan at 7:26 AM on March 5, 2020
posted by tiny frying pan at 7:26 AM on March 5, 2020
All twitter has to do is bring back vine.
posted by GreatValhalla at 7:27 AM on March 5, 2020
posted by GreatValhalla at 7:27 AM on March 5, 2020
I don’t know what people see in Twitter. Every time I look at it it seems stupid and toxic.
I get a huge amount out of it. And I see a lot of arrogant toxicity on this site nowadays.
posted by ambrosen at 7:30 AM on March 5, 2020 [19 favorites]
I get a huge amount out of it. And I see a lot of arrogant toxicity on this site nowadays.
posted by ambrosen at 7:30 AM on March 5, 2020 [19 favorites]
Why would it be smart to use a tool that is "the first thing to be blocked" for resistance then?
posted by some loser at 7:39 AM on March 5, 2020 [9 favorites]
posted by some loser at 7:39 AM on March 5, 2020 [9 favorites]
If Twitter is so good at organizing community, why not use it to organize your community to move over to Mastodon?
posted by selfnoise at 7:40 AM on March 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by selfnoise at 7:40 AM on March 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
Don't tell me what I mean. I meant profit. I read this here: Twitter Earnings
Even as Twitter's overall user base declines, the company is finding ways to make more money out of it. The company made $1.2 billion in profit for the year, its first profitable year since going public in 2013.
posted by tiny frying pan at 7:49 AM on March 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
Even as Twitter's overall user base declines, the company is finding ways to make more money out of it. The company made $1.2 billion in profit for the year, its first profitable year since going public in 2013.
posted by tiny frying pan at 7:49 AM on March 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
I'm not convinced that its value as a tool for organization makes up for its value as a tool for viral misinformation. Twitter disseminates headlines rapidly, but an awful lot of people, including several who are quite dear to me, seem to conflate headlines for news.
posted by aspersioncast at 8:05 AM on March 5, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by aspersioncast at 8:05 AM on March 5, 2020 [4 favorites]
I was on Twitter a lot from 2009 to 2017. (I still have an account but it's mostly dormant). Looking back I think the slot machine analogy has a lot of truth to it.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 8:11 AM on March 5, 2020 [19 favorites]
As the insurgent, nationalist right has demonstrated, from Donald Trump to the Brexit party, trolling works. Forcing negative attention is still forcing attention...Twitter offers the feeling that you're winning.
Why, then, do we tend to fall for it? Particularly when the trolling so obviously and eagerly craves our outraged response? Why do we think we gain from quote-tweeting or replying to politicians and journalists who say things we find hateful? However clever, snarky or “fierce” our replies may be, we all know we’re helping to spread the very messages we want to discredit.
The answer may lie in a version of what Natasha Dow Schull, in her study of machine gambling, calls “losses disguised as wins”. Gamblers, hooked on the machine, are almost certain to lose most of their money, most of the time. Yet the experience is punctuated with regular rewards, apparent wins signalled with flashing lights, noise and the clatter of change falling into the dispenser. Social media, with its notifications of likes and shares, offers similar pseudo-victories in exchange for our engagement.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 8:11 AM on March 5, 2020 [19 favorites]
One of the scariest places I've ever been is the slot machine floor at Crown Casino in Melbourne. Endless rows of blinky flashy chirpy beepy screens, each one with a dead-eyed zombie sitting and staring and feeding it coins, clack clack clack clack clack into the slot. And every now and again a machine would pay out, and this was the scary part for me: the poor addicted bastard whose machine had just paid out would show no facial reaction whatsoever to the rattle of coins into the tray, but just scoop them all up in one well practised motion and start feeding them straight back into the slot again, clack clack clack clack clack.
Intermittent reward is a hell of a drug.
posted by flabdablet at 9:43 AM on March 5, 2020 [10 favorites]
Intermittent reward is a hell of a drug.
posted by flabdablet at 9:43 AM on March 5, 2020 [10 favorites]
I think Jack has been very bad at the job and deserves to be ousted, but I'm also not looking forward to the sort of leadership that's likely to come after him if activist investors are involved. What's good for quarterly profits isn't good for long term community health.
posted by fedward at 9:48 AM on March 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by fedward at 9:48 AM on March 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
if tweeting is slacktivism what does that make scolding people for tweeting
posted by sunset in snow country at 9:56 AM on March 5, 2020 [16 favorites]
posted by sunset in snow country at 9:56 AM on March 5, 2020 [16 favorites]
Oh god, "switch to Mastodon" is going to be the social media version of "you should be running Linux," isn't it? I tried it for a while, had an account, found it to be both technically more frustrating than it needed to be (and I am a savvy user, for the most part) and not really suited for my primary twitter use case, which is related to networking in the publishing industry (primarily the Canadian publishing industry). They aren't moving to Mastodon any more than they're switching to Linux. It's not going to happen. And, frankly, I owe my career as a critic and editor to networking done primarily on Twitter.
That being said, I'd be happy to see Jack ousted and some real, necessary change happen. But Paul Singer is not the guy to make that happen, and I don't trust him to make better choices any more than Dick Costolo did when he was at the helm, especially because I think his bad choices would be explicitly political instead of the standard political-by-accident choices that a generic business jag like Costolo would make.
posted by Fish Sauce at 10:11 AM on March 5, 2020 [22 favorites]
That being said, I'd be happy to see Jack ousted and some real, necessary change happen. But Paul Singer is not the guy to make that happen, and I don't trust him to make better choices any more than Dick Costolo did when he was at the helm, especially because I think his bad choices would be explicitly political instead of the standard political-by-accident choices that a generic business jag like Costolo would make.
posted by Fish Sauce at 10:11 AM on March 5, 2020 [22 favorites]
Oh god, "switch to Mastodon" is going to be the social media version of "you should be running Linux," isn't it?
Yes, because it comes back to the classic mistake of trying to engineer one's way out of a social problem, which in turn leads to surprise when all the social probblems come along, just in new and fun vversions because of how Mastodon works.
posted by NoxAeternum at 10:28 AM on March 5, 2020 [17 favorites]
Yes, because it comes back to the classic mistake of trying to engineer one's way out of a social problem, which in turn leads to surprise when all the social probblems come along, just in new and fun vversions because of how Mastodon works.
posted by NoxAeternum at 10:28 AM on March 5, 2020 [17 favorites]
Your Twitter "community" is fake.
Well yours was. Sorry it worked out that way for you, hope you found somewhere better for you.
posted by Nelson at 10:37 AM on March 5, 2020 [11 favorites]
Well yours was. Sorry it worked out that way for you, hope you found somewhere better for you.
posted by Nelson at 10:37 AM on March 5, 2020 [11 favorites]
I find Twitter actually easier than facebook for blocking out the random nonsense. Twitter doesn't push everything my crazy relatives look at onto my space.
Sure you see the occasional dumb responses to good posts, but I don't see much nazi/trollish stuff unless I go looking for it.
I don't do memes or follow celebrities either, so it could be more prominent there.
posted by The_Vegetables at 11:08 AM on March 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
Sure you see the occasional dumb responses to good posts, but I don't see much nazi/trollish stuff unless I go looking for it.
I don't do memes or follow celebrities either, so it could be more prominent there.
posted by The_Vegetables at 11:08 AM on March 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
I think the uproar about Twitter is interesting, as a hands off user of it. I don’t see any Nazis on there, but my timeline is fairly niche and small. I have seen lots of stupid comments, but then I tell myself not to engage, because it is pointless.
It’s funny seeing people on here say things like “go use Mastodon” or “go use Telegram”. My understanding of those, from an entirely different, entirely niche community, has been that those places are filled with jihadists posting decapitation videos and organizing. So if you think Twitter is evil bc of Nazis, I guarantee you the Nazis are already wherever you want people to go.
posted by gucci mane at 11:10 AM on March 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
It’s funny seeing people on here say things like “go use Mastodon” or “go use Telegram”. My understanding of those, from an entirely different, entirely niche community, has been that those places are filled with jihadists posting decapitation videos and organizing. So if you think Twitter is evil bc of Nazis, I guarantee you the Nazis are already wherever you want people to go.
posted by gucci mane at 11:10 AM on March 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
Mastodon has a system design that in theory keeps the Nazis out, or rather segregated in their own little hate federation. It hasn't been seriously tested yet so it's hard to tell if it will really work. (There was a sort of firedrill around Gab which went OK). And Mastodon is definitely in that happy place of not being very popular so not having major problems. But the federation stuff on Masto is genuinely different from anything Twitter or Facebook has and offers some interesting community moderation options. It also has downsides; see for example.
posted by Nelson at 11:15 AM on March 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Nelson at 11:15 AM on March 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
I'm very pro Twitter and its been extremely important to me professionally. Otoh, thanks to Trump's twitter and his election win, I've been gearing up the crash of social media under the weight of 2020 for a couple of years now. This regime change would just hasten the demise.
posted by Mrs Potato at 11:19 AM on March 5, 2020
posted by Mrs Potato at 11:19 AM on March 5, 2020
Twitter has: the fastest response time on local news, progressive pols and analysts, my favorite election security researchers, and a ton of LGBTQ and PoC people and women in tech sharing their experiences and views, I get a lot from all of this.
Also, there's a lot of hot garbage. Racist garbage, sexist garbage, xenophobic and trans-phobic garbage, misogynistic garbage, and so so so many bots and trolls.
But saying "you should all switch to X" assumes that X has the good things that are already on Twitter. X however probably does not have the good things to the extent that Twitter does. But if you believe X is great, I would love an alternative that had such a range of good and positive and usefully critical voices.
posted by zippy at 11:29 AM on March 5, 2020 [5 favorites]
Also, there's a lot of hot garbage. Racist garbage, sexist garbage, xenophobic and trans-phobic garbage, misogynistic garbage, and so so so many bots and trolls.
But saying "you should all switch to X" assumes that X has the good things that are already on Twitter. X however probably does not have the good things to the extent that Twitter does. But if you believe X is great, I would love an alternative that had such a range of good and positive and usefully critical voices.
posted by zippy at 11:29 AM on March 5, 2020 [5 favorites]
Given how much Divabat & others have reported issues with harassment with Mastodon (much of it specifically tied to its federation model), I'm not sure "This place is better just because it hasn't made it big enough for its flaws to be as horrifically exploited" is all that compelling.
posted by CrystalDave at 11:40 AM on March 5, 2020 [10 favorites]
posted by CrystalDave at 11:40 AM on March 5, 2020 [10 favorites]
I dropped Twitter for Mastodon (mastodon.technology mostly) and while I miss the local news people, it has been a remarkably Nazi-free experience. Plenty of jerks, of course, but that's probably inescapable anywhere online.
posted by tommasz at 12:14 PM on March 5, 2020
posted by tommasz at 12:14 PM on March 5, 2020
Twitter is far from perfect - I think the topic of its poor moderation tools, ability to spread viral misinformation, and harmful communities has been well-trod.
After all, Twitter is a low-friction opportunity for people who otherwise would not have access to a large audience to spread their message. (Tumblr has a similar issue.)
But this very ability is also what made it a useful place for many people to talk about their experiences who may not have had an opportunity to do so otherwise.
Example: despite the fact that disability advocacy has existed for decades, my first exposure to it was through the blogosphere and later through Twitter and Tumblr. Native American activism isn't new either, but the vast majority of news I get on this front comes from Twitter and Tumblr. And perhaps more important than news, which is usually sourced from a news website, I get an exposure to the lives of people I may not have had otherwise. It has been invaluable and shaped how I approach many conversations.
The thing that attracts people to Twitter - the potential of a large audience with ease of entry - is what prevents migration to Mastodon. I've been using Mastodon for several months now and I'm still confused about how to do certain things like follow other instances. Mastodon's audience is smaller (which is part of the charm for some people). And while instances have far more robust moderation tools than Twitter, there are still issues with racism and even nazism.
While I have distanced myself from most social media for many reasons, I still have friends who use them frequently. My (young) friends who most use Facebook, for example, are disproportionately working class or LGBTQ. I've asked them why they keep using it - they're not unaware of Facebook crit or the harm that Facebook does. But they find Facebook to be a powerful tool for communication and organization. If they stopped using Facebook and moved to something like email or discord, they would lose the ability to reach the people who read but don't necessarily comment, and they would only speak among themselves. This could be unnecessarily limiting if they're asking for something like a place to stay - they may lose the eyeballs of a friend who would have been willing to help but wasn't on another network.
I don't think my friends are to blame for Facebook/Twitter's behavior, or for the nefarious behavior of other groups using Facebook/Twitter. Twitter users are simultaneously blamed for Twitter's problems by the company for not reporting enough, and by people not on Twitter/ex-Twitter users for continuing to use the platform at all.
Experiences with social media are extremely variable, and it absolutely is a lifeline for many people, regardless of whether it existed before 2006 or not. Many of these issues predate social media, at a smaller scale.
Personally, I think a migration to Mastodon and other fediverse stuff would be great - more capacity for democratically run instances, no mega-company controlling the platform, and more ability to prevent bad actors from bad-acting. But it would not solve the problems of misinformation, virality, the appearance of instances hosting harmful content, or general culture problems. I can't blame people of varying technological fluencies for not separating themselves from their social networks to use something that isn't very intuitive. And while they do increase Twitter's audience (and in a sense its power), they are not the problem.
posted by phonemefox at 12:15 PM on March 5, 2020 [13 favorites]
After all, Twitter is a low-friction opportunity for people who otherwise would not have access to a large audience to spread their message. (Tumblr has a similar issue.)
But this very ability is also what made it a useful place for many people to talk about their experiences who may not have had an opportunity to do so otherwise.
Example: despite the fact that disability advocacy has existed for decades, my first exposure to it was through the blogosphere and later through Twitter and Tumblr. Native American activism isn't new either, but the vast majority of news I get on this front comes from Twitter and Tumblr. And perhaps more important than news, which is usually sourced from a news website, I get an exposure to the lives of people I may not have had otherwise. It has been invaluable and shaped how I approach many conversations.
The thing that attracts people to Twitter - the potential of a large audience with ease of entry - is what prevents migration to Mastodon. I've been using Mastodon for several months now and I'm still confused about how to do certain things like follow other instances. Mastodon's audience is smaller (which is part of the charm for some people). And while instances have far more robust moderation tools than Twitter, there are still issues with racism and even nazism.
While I have distanced myself from most social media for many reasons, I still have friends who use them frequently. My (young) friends who most use Facebook, for example, are disproportionately working class or LGBTQ. I've asked them why they keep using it - they're not unaware of Facebook crit or the harm that Facebook does. But they find Facebook to be a powerful tool for communication and organization. If they stopped using Facebook and moved to something like email or discord, they would lose the ability to reach the people who read but don't necessarily comment, and they would only speak among themselves. This could be unnecessarily limiting if they're asking for something like a place to stay - they may lose the eyeballs of a friend who would have been willing to help but wasn't on another network.
I don't think my friends are to blame for Facebook/Twitter's behavior, or for the nefarious behavior of other groups using Facebook/Twitter. Twitter users are simultaneously blamed for Twitter's problems by the company for not reporting enough, and by people not on Twitter/ex-Twitter users for continuing to use the platform at all.
Experiences with social media are extremely variable, and it absolutely is a lifeline for many people, regardless of whether it existed before 2006 or not. Many of these issues predate social media, at a smaller scale.
Personally, I think a migration to Mastodon and other fediverse stuff would be great - more capacity for democratically run instances, no mega-company controlling the platform, and more ability to prevent bad actors from bad-acting. But it would not solve the problems of misinformation, virality, the appearance of instances hosting harmful content, or general culture problems. I can't blame people of varying technological fluencies for not separating themselves from their social networks to use something that isn't very intuitive. And while they do increase Twitter's audience (and in a sense its power), they are not the problem.
posted by phonemefox at 12:15 PM on March 5, 2020 [13 favorites]
phonemefox: You make a lot of good points. I, too, have discovered whole worlds I didn't know existed because of Twitter.
posted by Fish Sauce at 12:37 PM on March 5, 2020 [3 favorites]
I've been using Mastodon for several months now and I'm still confused about how to do certain things like follow other instances.Right? I was inspired by this discussion to log back in, and after ten minutes I still couldn't figure out how to find people I already know without going to their other social media and finding a link to their Mastodon accounts. I couldn't even figure out how to *search* for particular people who I know have accounts.
I don't think my friends are to blame for Facebook/Twitter's behavior, or for the nefarious behavior of other groups using Facebook/Twitter. Twitter users are simultaneously blamed for Twitter's problems by the company for not reporting enough, and by people not on Twitter/ex-Twitter users for continuing to use the platform at all.Yeah. I mean, there are definitely toxic folks there, but the owner of the platform has the responsibility to both build it in a way that discourages that behaviour and then back it up with both policy and actual enforcement. It's complex, but I'm less inclined to blame the individual user than I am the company that makes its bones on their backs. An apt metaphor for social media, at least in terms of how I engage with it, is the automobile. Right now I live in a place with decent, if not amazing, public transit, so I don't need a car. But if I still lived in my hometown, I'd very desperately need a car. From a career perspective, right now I'm in a place where I need a car, and Twitter is the best one one for my circumstances. I don't like having a car, necessarily, and would prefer to live in a place with good public transit, but I don't. (I feel like I tortured that metaphor a bit, sorry.)
posted by Fish Sauce at 12:37 PM on March 5, 2020 [3 favorites]
I think the tricky thing with Twitter is that the things people list as positives (that jackpot feeling of having a tweet go viral, the possibility that "anybody"s voice might be amplified) and the things they list as negatives (the propagation of conspiracy theories and misinformation, mass harassment) are often consequences of the same structural choices.
A version of Twitter that actively promoted social justice would have to be different both in the particulars of who is at the top, and also structurally, and the uncomfortable feeling I have is that if people were shown that version of Twitter, they wouldn't actually want it. (And to be clear I don't think Mastodon is it, although I suspect any justice-oriented Twitter would share an attribute in common with Mastodon: a much flatter distribution of follower counts)
posted by Pyry at 1:07 PM on March 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
A version of Twitter that actively promoted social justice would have to be different both in the particulars of who is at the top, and also structurally, and the uncomfortable feeling I have is that if people were shown that version of Twitter, they wouldn't actually want it. (And to be clear I don't think Mastodon is it, although I suspect any justice-oriented Twitter would share an attribute in common with Mastodon: a much flatter distribution of follower counts)
posted by Pyry at 1:07 PM on March 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
An apt metaphor for social media, at least in terms of how I engage with it, is the automobile. Right now I live in a place with decent, if not amazing, public transit, so I don't need a car. But if I still lived in my hometown, I'd very desperately need a car. From a career perspective, right now I'm in a place where I need a car, and Twitter is the best one one for my circumstances. I don't like having a car, necessarily, and would prefer to live in a place with good public transit, but I don't. (I feel like I tortured that metaphor a bit, sorry.)Not all that tortured - I was originally going to compare participation in Twitter with participation in fast fashion in that it's another modern phenomenon with deleterious social effects (sustainability, worker's rights), and whose partakers often receive a disproportionate amount of blame despite having relatively little power to change the company. Especially since this criticism falls on working class people who may not be able to afford anything that is actually ethically made (while at the same time, suffering real social consequences if they fail to meet standards of dress).
I also wanted to point out that Twitter, since at least 2010, has had a noticeably large proportion of African-American users (consistently at least a quarter of "African Americans who use the internet", compared to twenty percent of white Americans). Black Twitter is not just a place for everyone else to find new AAVE phrases to turn into slang, but also a site of activism and community discussion.
Meanwhile, even the most progressive and left-leaning Mastodon instances are overwhelmingly white. There has been an increase in the number of conversations regarding this and how to rectify failures in creating welcoming spaces. But I understand that it isn't easy to leave a place where you've cultivated a community of people who share that background with you and go somewhere where you end up being tasked with the responsibility of educating white users on these things (such as why having someone who is friends with a prominent owner of a far-right instance on your supposedly inclusive instance may, you know, make PoC users feel unsafe).
"Stop using Twitter" may be a solution for some things, but it is not the solution, because the problems are not all platform specific. To extend on my own tortured fast fashion metaphor, fast fashion has its own problems, but it did not invent the issue of overworking/underpaying textile workers and environmentally harmful production. "Stop buying fast fashion" may be a viable action for people who can afford to do so, but even the more expensive companies claiming to be ethical can have the same issues (ahem, Everlane). The problems and solutions are complex. A boycott can be a tool in our arsenal, but it can't be the only one.
posted by phonemefox at 1:11 PM on March 5, 2020 [9 favorites]
In unsurprising news, Dorsey is reconsidering his Africa sojourn in light of the threat to his position.
posted by NoxAeternum at 1:54 PM on March 5, 2020
posted by NoxAeternum at 1:54 PM on March 5, 2020
My totally uninformed take is that Twitter is still one of the only major social media platforms where you can get a chronological feed that consists only of posts from the people you follow (although they have been working on gradually eroding this). I assume this is part of the reason their profits have lagged behind other platforms like Facebook, because they can't gratuitously promote paid content in the same way.
It's also one of the primary reasons that Twitter is still a tolerable platform, in my opinion. The switch to a non-chronological feed is always accompanied by rhetoric about the platform algorithmically choosing the "best" or most "interesting" content, but in my experience with Facebook and Instagram, their estimations of what I find good or interesting are so shamelessly, outrageously wrong that the feeds become unusable. That change was 90% of my decision for leaving Facebook.
It wouldn't surprise me if a takeover of Twitter would mean the end of the chronological feed, and alongside it would be an increase in Twitter's ability to force paid content into my and everyone's face. Twitter is already a platform for targeted propaganda, but, with the use of an adblocker, it's still possible to filter out a lot of the toxic junk thanks to the chronological feed.
posted by Dr. Send at 2:17 PM on March 5, 2020 [3 favorites]
It's also one of the primary reasons that Twitter is still a tolerable platform, in my opinion. The switch to a non-chronological feed is always accompanied by rhetoric about the platform algorithmically choosing the "best" or most "interesting" content, but in my experience with Facebook and Instagram, their estimations of what I find good or interesting are so shamelessly, outrageously wrong that the feeds become unusable. That change was 90% of my decision for leaving Facebook.
It wouldn't surprise me if a takeover of Twitter would mean the end of the chronological feed, and alongside it would be an increase in Twitter's ability to force paid content into my and everyone's face. Twitter is already a platform for targeted propaganda, but, with the use of an adblocker, it's still possible to filter out a lot of the toxic junk thanks to the chronological feed.
posted by Dr. Send at 2:17 PM on March 5, 2020 [3 favorites]
On African twitter, the possibility of this attack as being racially motivated has been mooted. Would Jack's presence in a bubbling tech hotspot (the Yaba valley of Lagos, Nigeria) unleash the last mile jump acceleration to go global?
posted by Mrs Potato at 3:21 AM on March 6, 2020
posted by Mrs Potato at 3:21 AM on March 6, 2020
The opposition to Dorsey as Twitter CEO spending six months in Africa's tech sector isn't expressly racially motivated, but more tied to the fact that he's a part-time CEO for whom Twitter takes a backseat to Square, where his money actually is. As the Square CEO, the trip absolutely makes sense, with everything going on in Africa's fintech sector - but as Twitter CEO, where the big concerns are more focused on managing the threats to the social media platform in the runup to the election, the trip would have him away from the locus of decision making at a time where attention is needed. Again, this comes back to why his second term as CEO has been so bad - it's clear that Square is his priority, and Twitter suffers for it.
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:11 AM on March 6, 2020
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:11 AM on March 6, 2020
FWIW, rumor has it that Square suffers for it too. But Square has a better second line of management who are getting shit done than at Twitter.
posted by Nelson at 9:19 AM on March 6, 2020
posted by Nelson at 9:19 AM on March 6, 2020
That Twitter has just launched "Fleets", tweets that vanish after a day like SnapChat or InstaGram stories, seems... fitting.
"Thistown platform needs an enema"
posted by snuffleupagus at 12:26 PM on March 6, 2020
"This
posted by snuffleupagus at 12:26 PM on March 6, 2020
A friend of mine jokingly described twitter like this:
"Twitter is great for saying 'Fuck you, Hitler!'... As long as you don't mind sending Hitler a dollar every time you say 'Fuck you, Hitler!'"
posted by Everyone Expects The Spanish Influenza at 1:51 PM on March 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
"Twitter is great for saying 'Fuck you, Hitler!'... As long as you don't mind sending Hitler a dollar every time you say 'Fuck you, Hitler!'"
posted by Everyone Expects The Spanish Influenza at 1:51 PM on March 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
Can you explain that joke? Who is the metaphorical Hitler?
posted by Nelson at 2:13 PM on March 6, 2020
posted by Nelson at 2:13 PM on March 6, 2020
Twitter isn't important because you can read current events and political news. Twitter is important because you can get involved.
I don't use twitter to find out what my representatives are up to. I use it to campaign toward them, and to influence the press cycle.
This is why we have so much amazing discourse going on among diverse niche populations: they're there and can build networks with each other. This is the "I can never leave this hellsite" problem. I used to be a real identi.ca fan, but someone rightly characterised it as "A bunch of white programmers talking about playing their ogg vorbis files on their Debian desktops."
On Twitter I can quietly or even accidentally follow Black Twitter and Trans Twitter without needing to be a part of either group, and try to learn what they're saying that I've not been hearing all this time. I can put pressure on local councillors and MPs, and I can get to know journalists better to figure out if they'd be the right fit for a story I want to give them.
Do we deserve better? Hell yes. Do we have anything better? Really we don't.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 11:15 PM on March 6, 2020 [3 favorites]
I don't use twitter to find out what my representatives are up to. I use it to campaign toward them, and to influence the press cycle.
This is why we have so much amazing discourse going on among diverse niche populations: they're there and can build networks with each other. This is the "I can never leave this hellsite" problem. I used to be a real identi.ca fan, but someone rightly characterised it as "A bunch of white programmers talking about playing their ogg vorbis files on their Debian desktops."
On Twitter I can quietly or even accidentally follow Black Twitter and Trans Twitter without needing to be a part of either group, and try to learn what they're saying that I've not been hearing all this time. I can put pressure on local councillors and MPs, and I can get to know journalists better to figure out if they'd be the right fit for a story I want to give them.
Do we deserve better? Hell yes. Do we have anything better? Really we don't.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 11:15 PM on March 6, 2020 [3 favorites]
I hate Twitter. I'm not on Twitter. I've seen friends more or less destroyed by other friends, via Twitter. I'm with odinsdream above:
Our societal reliance on Twitter must be destroyed.
posted by odinsdream at 5:49 PM on March 4 [58 favorites −]
But all this Nazi stuff is embarrassing, not to mention boring, and ineffectual. If you want to eradicate a disease, you don't start by misnaming it, then hyperbolizing like a fifteen year old who just learned a few new words.
posted by philip-random at 8:45 AM on March 7, 2020 [2 favorites]
Our societal reliance on Twitter must be destroyed.
posted by odinsdream at 5:49 PM on March 4 [58 favorites −]
But all this Nazi stuff is embarrassing, not to mention boring, and ineffectual. If you want to eradicate a disease, you don't start by misnaming it, then hyperbolizing like a fifteen year old who just learned a few new words.
posted by philip-random at 8:45 AM on March 7, 2020 [2 favorites]
Let's try it like this:
"Twitter is great for saying 'Fuck you!' to the corrupt and the evil... As long as you don't mind sending a bunch of corrupt and evil interests a dollar each time."
posted by snuffleupagus at 2:54 PM on March 7, 2020
"Twitter is great for saying 'Fuck you!' to the corrupt and the evil... As long as you don't mind sending a bunch of corrupt and evil interests a dollar each time."
posted by snuffleupagus at 2:54 PM on March 7, 2020
Not as catchy and doesn't give the joke teller that same sense of smug superiority.
posted by Nelson at 3:31 PM on March 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Nelson at 3:31 PM on March 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
Fun fact:
Satire often utilizes exaggeration and hyperbole!
posted by Everyone Expects The Spanish Influenza at 5:18 PM on March 7, 2020
Satire often utilizes exaggeration and hyperbole!
posted by Everyone Expects The Spanish Influenza at 5:18 PM on March 7, 2020
If you think you deleted your Facebook account, make sure you double check that it's really gone. I tried to leave and I thought my account was completely gone, but one day almost a year later I followed a link that happened to go to Facebook, and it logged me in automatically. Once they have you they don't like to let you go.
posted by ambulocetus at 11:49 AM on March 8, 2020
posted by ambulocetus at 11:49 AM on March 8, 2020
CNBC reports that a deal has been struck with Twitter and Elliott that will retain Dorsey as CEO.
posted by NoxAeternum at 6:32 AM on March 9, 2020
posted by NoxAeternum at 6:32 AM on March 9, 2020
Twitter has 100 million users. Anyone who has glanced at a few hundred tweets and decided they know what Twitter is all about and "what people mostly use it for" and whether it's all worthwhile or not is speaking hilariously, ridiculously beyond their experience.
You ate at a Chinese food restaurant in Indiana one time and expect us to take seriously your hot take on the value of Chinese history and culture. You read 20 books and are ready to evaluate the value of the library. You've had a YouTube account for a several years and think you know what most YouTube videos are about.
posted by straight at 4:56 PM on March 9, 2020 [2 favorites]
You ate at a Chinese food restaurant in Indiana one time and expect us to take seriously your hot take on the value of Chinese history and culture. You read 20 books and are ready to evaluate the value of the library. You've had a YouTube account for a several years and think you know what most YouTube videos are about.
posted by straight at 4:56 PM on March 9, 2020 [2 favorites]
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This timeline: "Hold my beer."
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 5:30 PM on March 4, 2020 [121 favorites]