Twitter should consider changing its business model as its ad revenue remains weak, despite its locked-in userbase, indispensability, and impenetrable moat
“What is radical is enabling anyone to be a publisher; controlling what they can or cannot publish via the [news] media is reactionary. That's not a moral judgment, just a statement of fact.” A great line from @benthompson regarding Twitter's policies and old media gatekeepers.
The thing about having your own newsletter with no editor is you can write 2,500 very smart words about your ingenious idea for Twitter to try subscriptions but not have anyone to tell you “uhh... we should probably mention Twitter Blue, right?” before you hit publish https://twi…
“the fact that Twitter is the nexus of online information flow reflects the reality of information on the Internet: massively impactful and economically worthless.” @benthompson https://stratechery.com/...
“What makes Twitter such a baffling company is that its cultural impact so outweighs its financial results; last Q, Twitter's $1.3b in revenue = 4.4% of Facebook's $29b, and yet you can make the case that Twitter's overall impact on the world is larger.” https://stratechery.com/.…
The idea that Twitter could switch to being a paid model and keep 66% of its users is a pipe dream. Consumers don't pay for online services at that rate. Most freemium apps get single digit percent of users to convert with Spotify at 27% the best I've seen https://twitter.com/...
Some moats benefit a business which is a more more valuable generator of free cash flow than other moats. The relative strength of a moat is a different question than what is inside the barrier. Weaker moats protecting more value can be better. It depends. https://stratechery.com…
Twitter's value comes from content and if it went paid it would lose a lot of that content. People would just recreate those habits elsewhere (see Clubhouse style rooms on Twitter Spaces). The chance that it's retain users if it became a paid app is 0%. https://stratechery.com/..…
“Twitter has one of the most powerful moats on the Internet. Sure, Facebook has ubiquity, Instagram has influencers, and TikTok has homegrown stars, but I find it easier to imagine any of those fading before Twitter's grip on information flow disappears.” https://stratechery.com/…
This would be quite a sharp column if not for the fact that its author seems to be completely unaware that the radical idea he is so cleverly and persuasively arguing for already exists and has for months https://stratechery.com/...
the API and data access should have always been @Twitter's business model, and it's not too late to go back and do it right https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...