This was a good piece. Thank you for posting it. Having been in tech working for a company that dealt with the app stores he mentions, I disagree that the stores are being managed by manual checks. I suspect that he is referring to examples that were presented to show Twitter where their app was breaking the rules. Apple at least will absolutely pull apps or not post updates when apps fail to meet standards. It will be interesting to see if they do so in this case.
Work 80+ hours a week under heavy pressure from an idiosyncratic and unpredictable boss and miss time with friends and family to be in on the inception of a new and exciting technology? Possibly.
Make the same sacrifices to continue working at Twitter? You’ve got to be kidding.
To understand monsters, you have to inhabit their headspace. It’s time for you to back away from the computer and go stare at nature.
Yes, by offering stock options in a private company. Genius!
Money quote:
And thanks for the excellent analysis of Dilbert, Adams, and their application to Twitter.
Not disagreeing with you exactly, but maybe quibbling / seeking clarification …
Sure the various apps are run through automated testing regimes as to app’s function, compatibility with the phone OS, UI standards, accessibility standards, power consumption standards, crash resistance, etc. That’s certainly true. It’s also IMO largely irrelevant to the issue at hand.
In Twitter’s case, the IOS or Android app is really just a very simple browser for the raw content coming from Twitter’s other posters as organized and (semi-) filtered by Twitter’s servers & moderation people.
IMO that aspect of compliance is real hard to test for in an automated fashion. Heck, if they insisted apps can’t deliver anything but G-rated content, I wonder how they can have any actual web browser in their app store, since every one of them can and will deliver non G-rated content as soon as the user enters the appropriate URL.
If I’m confused or misunderstood you please enlighten me.
Related to the above, but different: …
I too enjoyed Roth’s article & found it thought-provoking without being deliberately provocative or smelling of score-settling. Thanks to @romansperson for sharing it.
Since Twitter does have a web site, heck, 99% is just a website, I really wonder how much harm e.g. Google pulling the Twitter app would really cause Twitter. Heck, I much prefer to access most commercial sites by browser than by dedicated app. I’m likely a minority in that, but I’m also far from alone in that.
I don’t use Twitter specifically, but I do use some other app-based front ends to other websites, such as my bank’s. If one of those apps went away it’d be the work of seconds to add an appropriate favorite to my browser and keep going, Google’s disapproval notwithstanding.
Bottom line: How much harm really could Apple and/or Google cause Twitter by killing their app? My bet is not much. Thoughts anyone?
I find this odd, as I don’t see any downside for them to continue tweeting:
They probably are a bit worried about being retweeted by white supremacists or something.
Media companies abandoning the platform is just more nails in the coffin. I assume that once ESPN finds itself a new home, it will be time to start shoveling the dirt into the grave.
If they announce that they won’t be posting on Twitter, it hopefully de-fangs any fake accounts imitating their name (like CBSNewz) to post fake news.
I agree it’s odd. I would like media to stay on Twitter. It needs legitimate accounts and media accountability.
It (Twitter) needs those things to survive.
Perhaps mainstream news has realized the death of Twitter (or at least Musk-controlled Twitter v2.0) is in their interest. They may not strangle it actively, but there’s no reason they can’t kick a little dirt on it.
Media gains a lot by being on Twitter. A lot of connection to users, like me, who don’t watch the news on TV. A lot of access to potential sources. A wide distribution network. Connection with peers. Some of this can be picked up in other ways, or will be eventually. I’m trying to say that it’s not a one way street. We, the users, gain a lot by their presence, but they gain a lot as well.
I’m torn overall by the Twitter situation. Musk is a nitwit, and the schadenfreude is sweet. Twitter the community is a hard loss, and thousands of lives are being upended by Musk’s careless arrogance.
Side note: I saw your response above about app store approvals. I will try to get back to it in a bit. I do have more to add. 
Sorry, I know it’s late but I just have to say this is the best pic I’ve ever seen for the smallest violin line. I’m going to steal it so I can use it elsewhere.
It’s adorable.
Speaking as someone who was a journalist for 25 or so years, this is an extremely uninformed thing to say. Twitter and tools like it have revolutionized journalism and access to sources. Because of tools like this, it is possible for inexperienced journalists or journalists researching a story in which they have no prior experience.
It’s not only good for journalists, it’s also good for sources and especially good for readers.
I mean, how do you imagine that journalists research stories and find sources? Anything that facilitates that is good for journalism and good for readers.
It’s especially useful in avoiding the “usual suspects” problem.
Trump is back on Twitter.
At least, his account is unblocked.
So which losing platform does Trump go with? Wait and see is good enough for me.
I was thinking I’d screenshoot my code, and then add comments via photoshop to the code to explain what I personally had changed. We encourage pairing at my company which makes the “who did what” question even harder.
My team owns the code. I, personally, might have written some of it, but my team wrote all of it.
It is a total failure on Mr. Musk’s part in understanding how software is developed in this century.
I think the answer to that may lie in that 80% of Twitter traffic that isn’t coming from the US. For lots of less prosperous (but populous) places, cell phones are the primary way many people access the internet. I don’t know what the age demographics are on Twitter, but younger people tend to use phones as their primary as well.
Nate Silver tweeted the other day that Twitter is the number one way he connects with sources for articles and research.
Did it get mentioned Musk is letting Trump back on Twitter?
I suspect it’s no coincidence that Peter Thiel and Elon Musk have common origins in Aparteid South Africa. They are anti-democracy and comfortable with tolerating fascist and authoritarian politicians and autocratic rule.