this! it's a radically different website, and has been through some really intense changes over the years, from the people, the methods of influencing the platform, and the platform's own position on the content and it's moderation.
Yes you are right. It is brought up a lot. But the crazy thing is that despite it coming up in every other thread, I have yet to see a solid explanation. Some theories (it looks good for VCs!!!!!), some half-assed justification (akshually, running web apps does need thousands of engineers), and a lot of people agreeing that it's crazy.
I think it's probably true that most companies are overstaffed. He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named managed to cut headcount 80% at a fairly prominent tech employer and drama aside, the business has not severely suffered. Could Ford Motor Company or US steel or Delta Airlines lay off 80% of their workforce and manage to maintain and grow operations as well as the bird app has managed to? I doubt it.
> He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named managed to cut headcount 80% at a fairly prominent tech employer and drama aside, the business has not severely suffered
We need to stop repeating this lie.
They have reduced site reliability to reddit levels, had multiple breaches (probably far more than the ones we know about) and managed to get in trouble in multiple countries.
And yes, they were overstaffed like any other company hiring during the pandemic but not by 80%.
I mean... according to him, that company's business HAS suffered. Granted, he blames it on a conspiracy out to "cancel" him with advertisers rather than technical problems, but still.
The advertiser exodus has been caused by Elon's contentious personality and his strategic decisions on how to structure Twitter as an experience, with regard to re-platforming controversial users, broadening the definition of acceptable content, and so on and so forth.
It has not been caused by laying off 6,000 project managers and react developers, and will not be fixed by bringing back on 6,000 people at six figure salaries.
The app itself is functioning well even as the number of users has increased and number of staff decreased, and not only is it being maintained, but they seem to be regularly releasing new features without protracted delays or major technical bungles.
Many advertisers have backed off because laying off a lot of people has led to a worse product.
Many more advertisers who might have otherwise been persuaded to stay by sales reps they had contact with have backed off because those sales reps themselves were let go.
One could genuinely make an argument that most SV tech companies have way more employees than they need. And one could almost trivially prove that to be true (many Tech companies were hiring developers not because they needed them, but to keep them out of the hands of competitors). That does not make Elon’s slash and burn destruction of Twitter sensible by any measure.
Meta is also offloading vast number of employees and it’s managing to do it without making it sound like their company is a dumpster fire.
Elon’s approach to Twitter is highly reminiscent of the Stephen Elop burning platform memo to Nokia, but orders of magnitudes worse.
Astonishing really considering Reddit hasn't changed that much since back when they had like 100 employees.