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Comment by capableweb | Hacker News Reader

If it was only so easy.

If you're running a business, you most likely need to meet people where they are at. Sometimes, your target audience are mostly on Facebook, then you most likely need to be at Facebook in order to reach them. Sometimes they are on Twitter, then you need to be there. Other times, you're doing something completely different, like running a restaurant, then you need to be visible on Google Maps/Tripadvisor, otherwise you'll lose out on ton of business.

It's really hard to just start a business without having any place for finding users for it, and sometimes the best place is Twitter but you're shit out of luck if you get banned...

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> Sometimes they are on Twitter, then you need to be there.

Wow, that's a depressing thought.

I think I'd prefer to find a different line of business, if it were me.

Absolutely, everyone has the freedom to start a business or not. And if you do, you have a choice about how to run it, what channels to use for talking/reaching users/customers. You could just have a phone number and not accept anything else as a support channel. The choice is entirely up to you :)

Most people who run businesses opt for meeting people where they already are though.

> I think I'd prefer to find a different line of business, if it were me.

It's almost every line of business. You probably need a mildly active twitter/facebook/instagram presence if you have a nice nail salon, or toy store. Anything not in a huge popular franchise.

edit: this sentiment puts me in mind of a watch or shoe repair shop guy in the 1960s who refuses to install a telephone because he wouldn't want customers who think that they could just loudly barge into whatever he was doing at will. Telephone culture brings a sense of unearned entitlement that attracts bad people. But you miss out on business worth far more than the irritation without a telephone. Keep the telephone outside the actual shop and hire someone else to answer it. They used to call answering machines "phone butlers."

Twitter is a toxic cesspool of vile people.

I really wouldn't want those people as customers. Really. You get enough toxic customers through organic acquisition.

It's a false choice.

If your customers are somewhere, you could be there too, and that often has the least amount of friction or is the easiest choice, so it's understandable why so many people elect to do it. But another thing you could do is bring them to where you are.

If your business outreach succeeding requires you to first convince people that they should stop using some platform that is important to them, you might as well give up on your original business because you're probably going to spend all your time on that effort.

You misunderstand. I don't want them to stop using Twitter. I want them to stay on there where I can ignore them completely.

What if I told you I own a bookstore?

I'd say you must be a man of principle who enjoys suffering. Getting people off of Twitter and into bookstores is probably not the fight you want to spend your life on, unless you expect some great author to chronicle your adventures.

Not without going to get them, first, which requires you to go to where they are... eg Twitter.

Or, like most businesses, you can use automated tools to post messages on Twitter without having to actually browse it.

What lines of business don’t require customers being able to find you?

I have never in my life interacted with a business on Twitter.

Hint: I am not alone in this.

Bounty hunter; you find them.

government contracting and b2b services

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