It's impossible to predict the future, so bless us all for trying, but let's not resist the abundantly apparent reality: Musk is smashing Twitter like it's an old car and he's a drunk frat boy with a sledgehammer for charity. There will be no advertisers, there will be no revenue, there will be no money to pay salaries, there will be no employees to fix problems, there will be fewer users because TRUST left the building long ago, and when the power users' dopamine hits stop coming in fast and clean as they're used to, they'll decamp for probably TikTok and Musk will be in bankruptcy court with AMPLE evidence of his "extended mental health episode" and a new lease on debt. Or something.
I enjoyed the Twitter space convo on Thursday night, if for no other reason than to actually hear the real voices of the Extremely Online. Whether or not Twitter collapses (I agree that it seems unlikely to happen in quite the way it's been imagined), that retrospective on what the site is, has been, and could be (should it survive) was nice. But the last few days on Twitter have felt more awkward than anything – like that moment when everyone's going to leave the bar, but nobody's sure of the next stop, and secretly everyone's hoping they don't have to just go home.
I think something missing from the What Becomes of Twitter is the conversation around What Becomes Of The Websites That Rely on Twitter for some measure of their survival/success – this one being probably the most notable example. But surely there are others. Whenever the discussion of "leaving Facebook" has arisen, people have been quick to point out how reliant businesses, etc. are on it as a way to reach customers. What are the sites/business for which Twitter is that lifeline – not major advertisers, but... maybe smaller ones? Or is it Instagram, instead, that serves that function?
Unrelated: I think there's room for a 90's Dad Comedy List akin to the Thriller/Suspense one. Top of it would be City Slickers.
It's impossible to predict the future, so bless us all for trying, but let's not resist the abundantly apparent reality: Musk is smashing Twitter like it's an old car and he's a drunk frat boy with a sledgehammer for charity. There will be no advertisers, there will be no revenue, there will be no money to pay salaries, there will be no employees to fix problems, there will be fewer users because TRUST left the building long ago, and when the power users' dopamine hits stop coming in fast and clean as they're used to, they'll decamp for probably TikTok and Musk will be in bankruptcy court with AMPLE evidence of his "extended mental health episode" and a new lease on debt. Or something.
I enjoyed the Twitter space convo on Thursday night, if for no other reason than to actually hear the real voices of the Extremely Online. Whether or not Twitter collapses (I agree that it seems unlikely to happen in quite the way it's been imagined), that retrospective on what the site is, has been, and could be (should it survive) was nice. But the last few days on Twitter have felt more awkward than anything – like that moment when everyone's going to leave the bar, but nobody's sure of the next stop, and secretly everyone's hoping they don't have to just go home.
I think something missing from the What Becomes of Twitter is the conversation around What Becomes Of The Websites That Rely on Twitter for some measure of their survival/success – this one being probably the most notable example. But surely there are others. Whenever the discussion of "leaving Facebook" has arisen, people have been quick to point out how reliant businesses, etc. are on it as a way to reach customers. What are the sites/business for which Twitter is that lifeline – not major advertisers, but... maybe smaller ones? Or is it Instagram, instead, that serves that function?
Unrelated: I think there's room for a 90's Dad Comedy List akin to the Thriller/Suspense one. Top of it would be City Slickers.
Brilliant critique, once again, Max!
100% using this as an opportunity to get some substack subscribers ....