Find a catastrophic article on the future of Twitter is a simple task on Monday, day of the tenth anniversary of the social network. After all, and in an industry where results and billionaires deals are announced every month, a company that in less than two years loses half its value on the stock exchange and attending an exodus of senior executives is a strange story. Worse yet, Twitter is the only relevant social network that currently can not gain new users – from mid 2015 which ran aground on 320 million active users, surpassed now by Instagram (over 400 million) and already far from colossal Facebook (above billion).
But it’s not hard to find loa to this minimalist social network, which seems so strange, little friend in the eyes of the ordinary user of Facebook. Unlike Mark Zuckerberg network, Twitter is the true minute-by-minute on the planet. This is where information circulates in real time and a still relatively free way of algorithms that try to tell us what we should see. It was on Twitter that we were able to follow live the promise and the disillusionment of the Arab Spring. It was there that we learned firsthand the operation against Osama Bin Laden or a plane crash on the Hudson River in New York, and we realized the tragic dimension of the massacre in Paris long before televisions agree. It is there that speaks Edward Snowden, from its hiding place Muscovite, and many journalists break state locks. And it is there that is worth following an election night, a ceremony Oscar or a football game. – Not on Facebook, Instagram or infant Snapchat
The atmosphere is that of a full coffee friends and acquaintances, between anonymous and public figures, even though we do not know really many of them. This coffee is a valuable database and a list of contacts inaccessible otherwise. And give yourself room for serendipity, the happy meeting and furtuito of people united by an interest, although apart by geography or conflicting loyalties (that enrich the debate). And that, again, does not happen as easily in another closed network on our family and business contacts.
There is a dark side, of course. An almost complete absence of moderation of content allowed Twitter became a given time in an area of propaganda and recruitment for extremists of all persuasions, and a victim of harassment or defamation continues to have few tools to defend themselves – here, the problem is not very different from what is happening in other networks. There is also a futile hand, therefore, but this is part of life
Basically, Twitter live the same dilemma of many media companies:. Providing a valuable service by very seductive to be ridiculed , but this is not enough to pay the bills, let alone distribute dividends. The entry on the stock exchange in 2013, however, committed the company to search for recipes, and this has led to experiences that for many users come to question the essence of the platform. For example, the replacement (optional) feed chronological messages by another in which some messages appear ordered by an obscure criterion of relevance. Or suggested – and later denied – expansion character limit per message from the current 140 to a hypothetical 10,000
What is tested is an approximation of Twitter to its competitors, which offer a better platform for. dissemination of advertising content. But on the day that Twitter has become on Facebook, that argument can dissuade its users to migrate to the rival network?
There is another hypothesis. Moderation of expectations. Acceptance of the fact that Twitter will never generate multimillionaires scale of the founders and investors of Facebook or Google. The preservation of a social network that has proven several times over the past decade, more than a profitable business, is a public utility service global impact. To this end, Twitter will have to pay more attention to its users and less analysts markets.
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