The almighty dollar, we must worship it and be controlled by it.
2 Likes
Iād be the last to uphold the worldās finance weasels as arbiters of value; but when you kick out an IPO thatās pretty much what you bring on yourself. And, by 2013, itās unlikely that there were many in tech startups who didnāt know that.
This is obviously unfortunate for a fair number of people who had no say in the decision(both users and low-end-of-the-totem-pole shareholders); but going public is as close as it gets to voluntary assent to being measured purely by your market value.
5 Likes
Iāve been trying to use Twitter because I have never āgottenā it but it seems like a place one can promote a business.
As best I can tell, no one really visits it, itās just a bunch of bots that different businesses pay to post on there hoping to get eyeballs on their articles or ads.
I donāt know - I keep hoping someone can explain it to me in a way I understand.
2 Likes
Look up āPump and dumpā. Thatās pretty much the model of a lot of āsocial mediaā IPOs.
After being told repeatedly by various friends how much fun Twitter is I made it a 2016 resolution to sign up. And when I tried to create an account I couldnāt get past āPlease enter a valid phone numberā.
I can think of a dozen reasons not to put my phone number on a social networking site without even stopping to take a breath. Their insistence on a smartphone numberāaccording to the screen I would get a text with a link to activate my accountāto prove I was a āreal personā made me decide that if there was anything on Twitter I needed to see I could count on my friends to forward it to me.
This is apparently a new policy and Iām sure Iām not the only new user itās kept from signing up.
1 Like
what happens if you give a mythical phone number?
on various sites my age ranges between 105 (they even asked me if I am sure I am that old) and 20, depending on how I feel on the day. Being inconsistent is the best way to mess with systems set on monetising your personal information, so I figure.
2 Likes
I really hope Twitter doesnāt die, or get changed out of recognition.
For me, itās an excellent way to pick up news, find interesting new links, and itās the ideal companion for live events. It just takes a while when you get started to curate a list of people who tweet what interests you.
I donāt know why I write tweets, though. Almost all my followers appear to be promotional accounts. But I donāt really care who about using twitter to say things, itās about listening to people (and having the occasional short conversation with people Iād never be able to talk to in real life.
Itās a hundred million times more active and interesting than Facebook and its baby and wedding photos. I guess perhaps I could have made Facebook more interesting by liking and following more public accounts, but I had no desire to let FB build up a model of me.
My Twitter account is pseudonymous, I donāt much care what they do with the social graph of that.
6 Likes
Fad service.
If you give a mythical phone number youāre still blocked. The instructions say theyāll text a link to the number and that link will be used to activate your account.
Granted I did find a way around it. I emailed support and got a BS reply about there being a āproblemā with my (non-existent) account and they emailed me a link. So I was finally able to sign up without giving out my phone number, but people who are less persistent are just going to walk away.
And, yeah, I guess it is a lot of celebrity ego-stroking, but Eddie Izzard shares some nice pictures of places heās visiting and if I feel the need for a laugh I can look up what Bill Murrayās said lately.
2 Likes
I would include whoever at Twitter HQ made that call in my indictment, for sure.
No, that canāt be right. Iām pretty sure thatās not what itās forā¦
So many people say this, but for me it just isnāt.
The problem with Twitter is its just a constant fire-hose of nonsense. Inevitably the one ore two tweets Iām interested in get buried in garbage.
And journalists and news outlets are the worst of the worst. They all tweet SO, SO MUCH. I only follow one journalist, not because I think heās the best or whatever, but because once start following multiple reporters/news outlets your feed is thoroughly hijacked.
I donāt think I follow any major news outlets. Iām thinking more of specific journalists and social commentators, and it changes as events happen - the Magic Recs system is pretty good once youāve set up a few people to follow.
I stay away from most of the joke/novelty accounts, they get old quick.
Christ knows how Twitter is meant to make any money, mind.
3 Likes
I have a PAYG SIM precisely for this job that cost me Ā£5. It lives in an old Palm Pre 2 with the battery out, and when I need to sign up for something that needs a phone number, in goes the battery and off we go. I use this burner phone to send the odd text and check for messages once in a while so the account stays activated.
The actual accounts run on a tablet so there is no way the overlords can discover that the phone number is not the one on my phone.
(The only reason I have Twitter is because a charity I do some work for decided they wanted a Twitter account and I ended up setting it up for them. Posts to date zero, which kind of makes the point; some organisations seem to think they should use it but when it comes to it, canāt think what to do with it. This is like another charity I do some work for which got excited because they had 70 likes on Facebook. They were not pleased when I said I might take it seriously if more than just clicking on a button was involved).
3 Likes
Well, I just joined (is that what you say) Twitter last week, so everything should be fine now.
3 Likes
Or the Fates have just been waiting for you to join, and now you have the plug will be pulled completely.
3 Likes
I agree, the corollary to it being concise is that itās overwhelmingly vapid. Twitter is essentially the āhaiku formā of internet communicationā¦ 17 syllables and youāre done, and many will praise it as art when all it did was serve as a format-based pretext not to reveal more.
Also: Snapchat! Whatās up with that?!?!?
2 Likes
4 Likes
Twitter is brilliant for breaking news. I have a list of just news accounts, and right now Iām following live tweets reporting on negotiators trying to talk David Fry into surrendering to the FBI at the Malheur wildlife refuge. There isnāt another platform that does this.
I donāt understand people who say that theyāve tried Twitter and itās just full of junk. If your feed is full of junk, you have chosen to follow accounts that tweet junk. Everything you see is chosen by you. ETA: Okay, except for the sponsored tweets. Those are annoying, but there arenāt too many of them . . . yet.
9 Likes
