
What Is Trump Worth to Twitter? One Analyst Estimates $2B - imartin2k
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-17/what-is-trump-worth-to-twitter-one-analyst-estimates-2-billion
======
mc32
The thing that bothers me about twitter is the approval seeking aspect of it.

In amateur photography there is bokeh to kick around, in Twitter it's throwing
anything and everything to either get a rise out of people or to get approving
nods.

It's been reduced to a popularity contest and the jocks and their fans only
want their voices and no one else's.

Even simply informational stuff is presented as some big expose and we should
be aghast at the realization. It's hard to keep on digesting this kind of
communication. Nevermind actual politics which degenerates almost
exponentially fast.

OMG, they've been putting wax on old apples to make them look appealing on
market shelves!

This graduating class is having one if the most challenging times getting
offers and it's because [reason].

~~~
TACIXAT
Twitter really feels like a broadcast / subscribe network to me. Unless you're
a celebrity, you aren't getting significant interaction on there, and
interaction is what I use social networks for. Whenever I log in there it is
just a news feed of who made the most noise today. I can leave a witty comment
and some people might see it, maybe a few more would argue against it if it's
incendiary, but at the end of the day it's mostly just consuming. It leaves me
wanting something more and because of that I almost never use my Twitter
account.

~~~
gozur88
The amazing thing about Twitter is even though it really is publish/subscribe
for celebrities, many people following celebrity feeds feel like it's two-way
communication.

Which is crazy.

------
grabcocque
It does rather cement in people's mind the association that Twitter is now
mostly a haven for bullying, trolling and harassment. Something POTUS uses
twitter for regularly.

Twitter had been trying to shake off the negative image it had acquired, but
Trump's unchecked behaviour is rather putting paid to those hopes.

Question is if there's sustainable business in being the largest interpersonal
abuse platform on the net.

~~~
nailer
Has Trump ever doxxed anyone? Encouraged others to dox or harass? I hate him
but AFAICT most of his Tweets are simply disliking public figures, which isn't
generally considered harassment.

~~~
lightbyte
This is false, Donald has harrassed an 18 year old girl on twitter for asking
him a question in the primary:

[https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/65389793993336422...](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/653897939933364224)
[https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/65396140136346828...](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/653961401363468288)

Which led to her getting harassed by his followers:
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/this-is-what-
happens...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/this-is-what-happens-when-
donald-trump-attacks-a-private-citizen-on-twitter/2016/12/08/a1380ece-
bd62-11e6-91ee-1adddfe36cbe_story.html)

~~~
nailer
It can't be false: it's a question, not an assertion.

In the tweets you linked to, he mentioned someone who asked him a question had
worked for his opponent.

How is that harassment?

Where does he incite others to harass?

------
JumpCrisscross
I'm coming to the conclusion that we can have rapid, thoughtless discourse _à
la_ Twitter or painfully slow communal deliberation of views and opinions
drawn from a common, if gate-kept, set of facts; the kind of deliberation that
underpins democracy.

I don't say this flippantly. I just don't think the difference in virality
between outrage, which requires no substantiation to provoke, and argument
fares well with scaling.

~~~
mc32
You make a good point. Part of the problem with Twitter when it comes to
discussion is that it does not lend itself to drawn out lengthy presentations,
but the opposite. And in addition, it allows you to throw mud,
unsubstantiated, as truth.

It's like "yo momma" jokes. Whoever is quick to wit with sharp tongue wins,
and merit is disproportionally disregarded.

~~~
Jedd
Almost every medium lets you throw mud, sans substantiation, to great effect.

Limiting mud-throwing to 140 characters isn't effective anymore than allowing
more than 140 characters of mud conveyance.

The problem _may_ be that people need to be convinced (one way or the other)
now in less than 140 characters, in which case we're all doomed, as very few
stories worth telling can be told in <140 characters.

Drawn out - or reasoned, moderate, thoughtful, civil, researched exchanges -
are almost a thing of the past. No one has time for that kind of luxury
anymore.

------
kennysmoothx
Twitter has changed a lot, particularly throughout this past election cycle.

Once twitter made the change to showcase News in the "Moments" section of
their platform a few years ago, Twitter content started getting very
politicized and more news-centric.

I really like twitter, and ultimately what you see on your TL is directly
who/what you follow, however Twitter's change to try to be a "live news
conversation" has really changed the feeling of Twitter and politics are
really dominating most of the conversations on Twitter at this moment.

~~~
mschuster91
> and politics are really dominating most of the conversations on Twitter at
> this moment.

I believe this to be societal. Many people simply want to get likes & RTs -
which are easy grabs if you post e.g. a photo of Trump blindly looking into
the sun, or whatever. People like to hate Trump, people like to laugh, so
naturally they will post stuff that makes people laugh about Trump, therefore
they all get likes & RTs, while your feed remains a firehose of "dump Trump"
and memes.

~~~
dasil003
It's really the perfection of the Skinner box, where you carry this device
around in your pocket, and you can get instant dopamine hits, and it even
feels justified on some level because politics is truly important. But
ultimately it is a waste of time because it adds nothing to the political
dialogue except increasing polarization.

------
r0fl
The only reason I still have Twitter is to see what crazy thing trump will say
next! I've been saying for a while that if trump were to stop tweeting the
usage would plummet

~~~
ThomPete
I don't actually think thats true. Most people aren't on Twitter. The media is
and they report in their own channels. Twitters problems or success has
nothing to do with Trump what so ever.

------
mannigfaltig
Maybe that is also the reason why Trump's account was not banned for violating
the terms of service yet?

[https://twitter.com/kalpenn/status/896013769410740224?ref_sr...](https://twitter.com/kalpenn/status/896013769410740224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

~~~
013a
Or maybe its just because he is the President of the United States. I find it
incredible that some people feel so strongly that these rules and terms have
to apply perfectly equally to everyone. That's not reality.

If Twitter existed in 1939, would Kal Penn be mad at Roosevelt for threatening
Hitler with an invasion if he didn't stop his shit? Sounds weird, but all
externalities considered I doubt it.

Also weird that Kal didn't speak out when a state senator called for Trump's
assassination on Facebook [1]. Sure is against Facebook's ToS.

Point being: Kal, and the general anti-Trump population, doesn't actually care
about breaking Twitter's ToS. They don't care about any individual action he
takes. They _use_ those actions to reinforce this immutable evil picture of
Trump in their head, and then look for any excuse to get that _zinger_ in on
him because it will play well with the liberal bubble they live in.

[1]
[https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017...](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/08/18/maria-
chappelle-nadal-eric-greitens-call-resignation-after-trump-assassination-
comment/582468001/)

~~~
maxerickson
Are you singling out someone prominent for criticism about how they singled
out someone prominent in an ironic way or was it by accident?

~~~
013a
Is Kal Pen famous or something? I just copied the name from the Twitter
profile.

~~~
maxerickson
He's at least a B list celebrity, "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle".

~~~
lightbyte
He was also a member of the Obama administration.

------
hathym
If I was Trump, I would short twitter stock and delete my account.

~~~
sumedh
Access to his millions of followers is worth more than the money he will make
following your strategy.

~~~
hathym
The next day, I would buy twitter stocks and create another account :)

~~~
ghostbrainalpha
I love it. Leaves him venerable to the FCC though.

However he could invest heavily into a startup competitor. Something like
Bright Bart + Twitter, then delete his account and move his Tweets onto a
platform his base would support and that he owns a significant percentage of.

They could either continue to develop this Alt-Right Twitter, or sell quickly
back to Twitter, and no FCC regulations would have been violated.

------
petraeus
Twitter is needed precisely because there is nothing like twitter.

Where else can you have completely clueless unfactual stream of consciousness
garbage being sprouted 24/7?

As a libertarian I think this garbage is as much a requirement for a free and
stable society as alt-right, neo-left and msm outlets. It provides views and
opinions that you don't want to hear but that you probably should know about.

------
eddiecalzone
Twitter is the White House press secretary. At least the deleted tweets are
being preserved (according to the WH anyway).
[https://www.theverge.com/2017/4/3/15168956/donald-trump-
twit...](https://www.theverge.com/2017/4/3/15168956/donald-trump-twitter-
white-house-archives-tweets)

~~~
wutwutwutwut
There is no correlation between WH claims and facts.

------
tedmiston
How long until he starts running sponsored posts?

~~~
jacquesm
We're way past that point.

[http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-
tech/new...](http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-
tech/news/donald-trump-twitter-ivanka-nordstrom-potus-tweets-account-retweet-
rt-a7570101.html)

------
chris_wot
Ultimately, Trump is what will kill Twitter. All the awful, dreadful, inane
and stupid things, all coalesced into the most powerful twitter abuser of them
all. Thanks Twitter!

~~~
samdoidge
He brings a lot of attention, Trump switching to another platform would be a
real blow for Twitter. If it is to a platform more friendly to free speech, it
could be real competition for Twitter.

~~~
jmkni
I'm surprised somebody like Steve Bannon hasn't tried to launch an alternative
and move Trump to it.

~~~
docdeek
Trump moving to Gab would be interesting both for the effect it would have on
Twitter’s valuation and on the media profile of Gab as a Twitter-like service.
Trump would have the ‘pull’ to draw attention to Gab and the media would feel
themselves compelled to cover it.

~~~
PeachPlum
Gab was booted off the Google Play store already

[https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/17/alt-social-network-gab-
boo...](https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/17/alt-social-network-gab-booted-from-
google-play-store-for-hate-speech/)

Google made this statement :

> In order to be on the Play Store, social networking apps need to demonstrate
> a sufficient level of moderation, including for content that encourages
> violence and advocates hate against groups of people. This is a long-
> standing rule and clearly stated in our developer policies. Developers
> always have the opportunity to appeal a suspension and may have their apps
> reinstated if they’ve addressed the policy violations and are compliant with
> our Developer Program Policies.

Somehow though, Twitter remains so we can enjoy the friendly discourse on the
hashtag #KillWhites

[https://twitter.com/search?q=%23KillWhites&src=typd](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23KillWhites&src=typd)

You don't even need to type it, enter #KillAll into the search box and enjoy
the auto suggestion

Rules for thee, not for me.

~~~
hellbanner
Interesting, because Googles "AI" deleted war crime evidence from Youtube
recently out of "good intentions".

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14998429](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14998429)

This isn't AI, it's just a stupid search engine.

~~~
hellbanner
Update: Youtube "AI" censoring US Army destroying Nuremburg swatzika:
[https://boingboing.net/2017/08/14/film-of-u-s-army-
destroyin...](https://boingboing.net/2017/08/14/film-of-u-s-army-
destroying-n.html)

