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Comment by thih9 | Hacker News Reader

Is the constant stream of flamebait (this action and other recent changes) helpful for twitter, or part of some larger strategy?

To me the service seems increasingly unreliable and unprofessional. Then again, I no longer feel like I'm the target audience. The numbers seem bad too; revenue was 22% down in 2023[1]. Also, "global active daily users of X via mobile apps had steadily declined during the year after Musk acquired the company, down 16% by September 2023"[2].

I'm puzzled.

[1]: https://www.businessofapps.com/data/twitter-statistics/

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter_under_Elon_Musk#Statis...

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> Is the constant stream of flamebait helpful for twitter, or part of some larger strategy?

I don't think much thought was put into it, but I do think there will be a gradual numbing effect among the comments as people get bored of the criticism. Maybe very gradual though.

Edit: It just occurred to me that you might be referring to user posts on the platform being flamebait; my answer assumed that the action (moving the HQ) was perhaps flamebait, along with other recent changes.

To clarify, yes, by flamebait I meant the latter (this action and other recent changes). Added that to the original comment now.

Are these numbers that important when you're privately owned and slashing costs? I guess the motivators are different to a VC backed or publicly traded company.

To me it's still useful but I exclusively read it through lists. That way it's always chronological and only consists of tweets from selected accounts and retweets from other (usually interesting) people.

Musk’s tweets and the unimpeded use of the platform for misinformation and coordinated violence give me the impression that he cares less about turning it into a profitable enterprise and more about its use as a tool to push his agenda and affect the cultural and political changes he desires.

I find it surprising that this is a viable option.

I guess it always has been and it affects any media platform. Then again it’s easier to switch to a different radio station, or buy a different newspaper. In the context of a social media platform you are leaving your network.

There is plenty of evidence for this. E.g. banning the word "cis" as hate speech

No! It’s just bad management. There is not some secret 4D chess to discover here. A paranoid billionaire with a ketamine problem is running Twitter into the ground. I think Howard Hughes is becoming a more and more accurate model with time.

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