

Twitter and What Might Have Been - walterbell
http://stratechery.com/2015/twitter-might/

======
mattzito
Guh, I'm so frustrated by seeing this type of comment over and over again:

> Datasift falls squarely in the [business and analytics] bracket, which means
> Twitter’s decision is a complete reversal of their previous stated stance, a
> stance that led to investments worth hundreds of millions of dollars. It’s
> an ugly move.

It's not. Datasift _resold_ Twitter data. They added their own metadata to
Tweets, like sentiment, but they didn't do any direct analytics themselves.

In fact, if Datasift really were in the analytics business, they'd be free to
sit on top of their customers' Twitter streams and provide analytics.

EDIT: full disclosure, I'm the vp of product for a company that does do social
media analytics and measurement, so I've got a particular perspective on this
subject. We get our data from Gnip directly, for what it's worth.

[http://synthesio.com/corporate/en/2015/synthesio-
news/twitte...](http://synthesio.com/corporate/en/2015/synthesio-news/twitter-
data/)

------
signaler
I have decided to make a small list of posts out that talk about Twitter in
recent times. Some are more cogent and authoritative than others.

\- [http://www.mathewingram.com/work/2015/04/30/twitters-
multi-b...](http://www.mathewingram.com/work/2015/04/30/twitters-multi-
billion-dollar-mistake-happened-five-years-ago/)

\- [http://john.do/twitter-quit/](http://john.do/twitter-quit/)

\- [http://techcrunch.com/2015/02/22/twitters-
dilemma](http://techcrunch.com/2015/02/22/twitters-dilemma)

\- [https://alexgaynor.net/2014/oct/30/i-hope-twitter-goes-
away/](https://alexgaynor.net/2014/oct/30/i-hope-twitter-goes-away/)

\- [http://www.novaspivack.com/uncategorized/why-twitters-
engage...](http://www.novaspivack.com/uncategorized/why-twitters-engagement-
has-fallen)

\-
[http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/04/a-eulo...](http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/04/a-eulogy-
for-twitter/361339/)

------
falcolas
I think that Twitter as a highly targeted ad platform would have been a
disaster - if it truly lived up to that potential it would be a creepy place
to visit: where the entire environment is intimately tailored to you in an
effort to sell you something. I prefer it as a communication platform, myself.

How can Twitter make money? Personally, I'd say they should monetize the
"whales" who use it as an advertising platform. Charge the celebrities who use
it to promote films. Charge the corporations who use it to market to their
followers. Charge for commercial use of the API.

I don't know if this is realistic, but it seems better than what is happening
now.

