A look at Twitter's culture before Elon Musk's takeover, when employees focused on improving the health of online conversations rather than growth at all costs
This is an excellent collection of articles about the death of Twitter. Well worth a read - especially Sarah Jeong on harassment and @reckless1280 on how journalists' addiction to Twitter was terrible for everyone: https://www.theverge.com/...
THE YEAR TWITTER DIED might be our most chaotic, ambitious package ever: - @reporterzoe on the Twitter work culture that Elon destroyed - @aliteralpsyduck on Twitter as a vector for harassment - me with @ezraklein @semaforben @lpolgreen @choiresicha on Twitter's broken relationsh…
This special @verge series contains some of the best writing on late-stage Twitter, especially @reckless1280 on the platform's relationship with the news. https://www.theverge.com/...
The work I did and the people I worked with made me feel so proud of working at Twitter. Funny story post-musk: Even EM's security was annoyed with his staying late. Once he walked out of the conference room on the 10th floor, which now served as his office, while staring at hi…
Much of this rings true to as to why I joined (pre Elon). It's a sad reminder to me of how things could have been, but it's also been wonderful to see great tweeps thrive in new endeavors.
All true, and it was the best job I ever had. Important to note that we also worked very hard to build a sustainable business, one that big brand advertisers could be proud to support. It wasn't all fun and games, it was also a lot of hard work.... Staywoke
It's sad what happened to Twitter, not just to users but to the people who worked there, it did seem to be a good place. Will be reading this peice for a better understanding, Ty. Sadly there will be no redemption arc for Twitter. It's dead, Jim.
When my wife was hit with a severe post-viral syndrome and I was struggling to balance work/childcare, my team was there for me. They gave me the space I needed to focus on my family and not worry about work. It meant the world to me.
Twitter was the hardest job I ever had. I don't think I slept well for 3 years. We cared so much about what we were building and we knew every decision we made lived in a gray area that would be publicly scrutinized from every angle. …
Another element of the culture was the feeling of being the underdog against much larger rivals. Twitter was a comparatively small company vs the mindshare the service had in the world
We could never really compete with Meta or Google or others for pay or other things, as you mentioned. But we routinely told idealistic candidates that they'd have an outsized impact on the global conversation, and I think that was mostly true
I wrote about Twitter's culture pre Elon Musk when the company cared about the free speech of employees and embraced work life balance: https://www.theverge.com/...
It takes a real business genius to overpay for a company, mismanage it until the revenue drops to half of what it was then yell at the remaining advertisers on the site who are asking you to stop being antisemitic. All of this ignores the fact that the math for Twitter being acq…
Among the big tech blogs, The Verge is one of the strongholds that, when you get featured, still brings heaps of traffic and then they also still do wild custom articles like: https://www.theverge.com/...
Based upon my feed this AM, the death of Twitter as a platform for news & analysis continues to be greatly exaggerated. Its influence on news media, however, is not, as @reckless recounts: https://www.theverge.com/... Media companies not building social networks for distribution,…
“Threads is to Twitter as methadone is to heroin,” says Klein. “You don't use it for the same purpose. It's a pale echo to my understanding of what the original thing is.” https://www.theverge.com/...
the @verge feature on the death of twitter is a very touching eulogy. twitter was many things, but I am continuously surprised with how important the connections I made on here have been in my life and there were some really good jokes https://www.theverge.com/...
A long and dark and indispensable piece on the power and disaster of Twitter in all its context-collapsing glory/hellishness from @sarahjeong, who lived it more than any of us https://www.theverge.com/...
A personal thought to add to this excellent @reckless story. Nilay didn't talk to me, but I truly believe my beat as a tech reporter wouldn't have been possible these last almost 11 years without Twitter. My career arc shaped in part due to Twitter. https://www.theverge.com/...
“But while Twitter was always an incredible place to talk about stories and ideas, it was never a particularly good place for reporters to find and refine new ideas themselves. ” https://www.theverge.com/... This whole package is so well done 👏 @verge
What a brief, bleak and accurate way to sum up the shift that ended up collapsing the entire digital media boom of the 2010s. https://www.theverge.com/... [image]
But after Elon Musk's acquisition, we watched this platform degrade — both as a usable social network and as a major influence on politics, entertainment, and business. (Also, all the funny people left) [image]
This big, beautiful beast chronicling the end of Twitter and archiving some of what it did best is up today @verge. Come for the graveyard, stay of the deranged animations: https://www.theverge.com/...
To reflect on what this website once was, The Verge presents a special series, The Year Twitter Died, a look back on the highs and lows of the platform. Twitter was always “the hellsite,” but it also represented a moment we may never have again https://www.theverge.com/...
This @verge series on The Year Twitter Died is very good at examining just how toxic, angry and festering X, formerly Twitter, has become. It has become a haven for everyone who has lost touch with reality, and there's no coming back from that. https://www.theverge.com/...
This website used to be Twitter. It was never the biggest social network, but for over a decade, it was easily the fastest, most influential, and funniest platform https://www.theverge.com/... [image]
Jack Dorsey loathed Twitter's advertiser-based business model. And associated moderation. Fails to give coveted SV tech valuations multiples. He wanted EM to buy Twitter. To break it. Just regrets EM so clumsy.