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by angus-prune 1222 days ago
15 years ago it wasn't clear whether Facebook or Twitter was going to be the winner (or if they'd both just be another MySpace).

Jack is responsible for Twitter losing.

It always felt like Twitter co didn't actually understand what Twitter was and almost all of the product innovation came from the community rather than twitter itself.

2 comments

Twitter's only failure is that it never returned a profit. When you look at the social landscape, it's hard to argue anyone has succeeded other than Facebook.

Twitter's product is great and it didn't need to be as large as Facebook. It shouldn't need to twist itself for the greatest common denominator users who required immediate gratification via algorithmic feeds and short memes.

> When you look at the social landscape, it's hard to argue anyone has succeeded other than Facebook.

YouTube and TikTok seem to be doing alright.

Twitch and Snap too.
TikTok is private, but is said to be losing money. Snap is in the same boat as Twitter as being largely unprofitable. It is unclear if Twitch is profitable either.
Twitter definitely punched above its weight as the go-to forum for companies, politicians, celebrities, media, etc.
Or conversely, as the go-to forum for companies, politicians, etc., Twitter punched well below its weight for generating revenue.