Twitter’s CEO has officially waved the white flag and called for outside help fixing the site’s toxicity. Specifically, he’s asked for help defining a metric of “conversational health” on Twitter. While it’s good to see Twitter attempt to find a system for controlling the behavior of its users, human beings are too complicated to be algorithmically guided into playing nice. It’s no secret that Twitter has, in recent months, been forced to face its epidemic of negativity, from Russian bots to the spread of fake news. Obviously, now’s the time for contrition and public vows to fix its business. CEO Jack Dorsey delivered this week with an unexpected tweetstorm laying out his feelings on the situation and his call to action: Jack acknowledges several complaints about his site and what it’s become in the modern social media economy: We have witnessed abuse, harassment, troll armies, manipulation through bots and human-coordination, … [Read more...] about Jack calls in reinforcements to measure Twitter’s toxicity
The magic behind the EU’s most lit Twitter account
The EU isn’t exactly known for its ability to relate to young people, being the massive and cumbersome governmental institution it is. That’s why I was pleasantly surprised when I came across this tweet the other day: I follow a lot of official EU social media accounts, but I had never seen any of them use pop culture GIFs like EU Trade does — the official Twitter account of the EU Commission’s International Trade Department. I started imagining that somewhere, deep down in the bureaucratic catacombs of the EU, there was a text filled with institution jargon outlining ‘cool’ ways to use Graphic Interchange Formats to reach the continent’s younger demographics. To find out more, I tracked down the person behind the EU Trade’s GIF and emoji usage, Ariel Delvecchio, who is one of the most adamant emoji/GIF evangelists within the EU. “I’ve been systematically promoting the use of emoji and GIFs since 2015 and when I started there … [Read more...] about The magic behind the EU’s most lit Twitter account
Waltonchain rewards employee in user giveaway, outs itself on Twitter
In an embarrassingly botched attempt to play it coy, budding blockchain startup Waltonchain got busted rewarding its own employees with cryptocurrency from a public giveaway that was supposed to go to its users. But here is the cringiest part: the company accidentally outed itself… on Twitter. The China-based blockchain company, which seeks to provide a commercial ecosystem for the Internet of Things (IoT), recently ran a promo campaign for Valentine’s Day, encouraging users to follow its social media channels for a chance to win a small cut from its prize pool of 565 WTC (worth approximately $10,500). “214 qualifying participants will be selected randomly by application to receive 2.14 WTC,” the company wrote in a blog post. “Furthermore, 5 lucky winners will be selected from these 214 winners to receive extra 21.4 WTC.” Yesterday, the company took to Twitter to announce the full list of winners. The awkward part came moments later, when a … [Read more...] about Waltonchain rewards employee in user giveaway, outs itself on Twitter
In Japan, Twitter sees revenue and users surge
(Reuters) — Riding a wave of new users, improved advertising options and an embrace of video content by users and advertisers alike, Twitter Inc’s revenue has leaped in Japan, helping lead the company to its first quarterly profit. Earlier this month Twitter reported that sales in Japan jumped 34 percent in the last three months of 2017, compared with a year earlier, to $106 million. In Japan, Twitter’s success in converting users into revenue — a problem that has vexed the social network since its founding — has raised hopes it might lead to broader growth across the company. Investors and analysts, however, point to Japan-specific factors that may not be replicable elsewhere. The company seems to be innovating at a local level instead of simply localizing U.S. services, as is common at other tech firms, said Ryo Sakai, a senior planner for the interactive media division at Asatsu-DK Inc, Japan’s third-largest advertising agency. “I get the … [Read more...] about In Japan, Twitter sees revenue and users surge
Twitter Abandoned the Only Thing That Could Save It
Yesterday, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey openly acknowledged the obvious truth: Twitter is a pit. We have witnessed abuse, harassment, troll armies, manipulation through bots and human-coordination, misinformation campaigns, and increasingly divisive echo chambers. We aren’t proud of how people have taken advantage of our service, or our inability to address it fast enough.— jack (@jack) March 1, 2018 Advertisement - Continue Reading Below This is good! Identifying and naming your problem is a key step on the path toward solving it. But even as Dorsey outlines the issues without sugarcoating them, he conspicuously ignores the obvious solution: Users have the answer—and they've always had it—but Twitter has long since abandoned the idea of letting them fix anything, including the cesspool problem. Twitter is directly responsible for almost none of the things that have made it great. A funny thing about Twitter is that the company is directly responsible for … [Read more...] about Twitter Abandoned the Only Thing That Could Save It