Social Media Discussion

[Smoove_B]

They have been but they just don't exist - nothing is quite the same as Twitter (was). It's taken a decade+ to build that kind of emergency communication network and that he could come along and just piss it away is really something.

[Rumpy]

I get that people hate Elon and the death of Twitter will be fun to watch, but I really need to reiterate that for so many legitimate accounts, nothing is quite the same as Twitter - emergency management in particular. Yes there are other services, but overwhelmingly Twitter has been highly, highly valuable in emergency situations. I don't mean for it to sound so dramatic, but when Twitter finally implodes, there will definitely be loss.

It really is quite unfortunate. And it really does show why strong leadership is important in a big company. It seems every decision he makes makes it more difficult to rely on.

[LawBeefaroni]

Apparently they had a contact with Google Cloud that expired June 30 and they're scrambling to move respurces because they don't want to/can't pay Google to renew. Limiting access certainly sounds like a way to limit the damage.


https://theconversation.com/twitter-is- ... ers-207718

[GreenGoo]

Is “verified” the Blue Check of Idiocy? Or just that you set up an account?

Yes, "verified" means you paid $11. Not that you're actually legitimate in any way.

He has to be trying to kill the platform because I refuse to believe he actually thinks this is a big-brain move.

New CEO.

Possibly hired to take the fall and be the public face of twitter failing.

[GreenGoo]

They have been but they just don't exist - nothing is quite the same as Twitter (was). It's taken a decade+ to build that kind of emergency communication network and that he could come along and just piss it away is really something.

When twitter dies, something will spring up. It might take some time for the plinko balls to decide who gets all the users, but it'll happen.

Then we can bitch about whatever replaces it. In the meantime, I'm willing to be in more danger if it means killing all those influencer accounts.

[GreenGoo]

It really is quite unfortunate. And it really does show why strong leadership is important in a big company. It seems every decision he makes makes it more difficult to rely on.

I despise him but he's not a complete idiot. He's intentionally tanking it. I have no idea why. I don't play 4 dimensional chess like the big boys.

[Rumpy]

It really is quite unfortunate. And it really does show why strong leadership is important in a big company. It seems every decision he makes makes it more difficult to rely on.

I despise him but he's not a complete idiot. He's intentionally tanking it. I have no idea why. I don't play 4 dimensional chess like the big boys.

He's just really been clumsy about it, and making everyone suffer for it.

[Freyland]

Going back to some of those systems in Twitter that are important and hard to replace, perhaps he is trying to get the government to buy it out of his hands.

[Zaxxon]

https://twitter.com/HardDriveMag/status ... uacqg&s=19

[Skinypupy]

I don’t know that he’s intentionally trying to kill it.

I think his terminally online brain has a vision of Twitter being a conservative-dominated safe space, like a more populated and socially accepted version of Gab. He thinks people are willing to fork over good money to have that experience. Except they aren’t.

And now all the advertisers are running for the exits because they don’t want their ads showing up next to HitlerLover420’s racist screed that gets promoted to the top of everyone’s feed because he paid $8.

[Kraken]

I don't use Twitter or know much about its technology but that doesn't stop me from having an opinion, because 'murica.

I wonder if Twitter is being slammed by large language model training. If I were developing an AI, as it seems like everybody is doing now, Twitter would constitute an enormous dataset of conversational language for it to explore. Might this just be a clumsy attempt to limit Twitter to hoomuns?

[Max Peck]

I don't use Twitter or know much about its technology but that doesn't stop me from having an opinion, because 'murica.

I wonder if Twitter is being slammed by large language model training. If I were developing an AI, as it seems like everybody is doing now, Twitter would constitute an enormous dataset of conversational language for it to explore. Might this just be a clumsy attempt to limit Twitter to hoomuns?

It's possible that is what Musk means by "extreme levels of data scraping" but I'd guess that covers any use by anyone of Twitter data, such as apps that allow people to use anything other than the official Twitter app to view tweets. Still, it feels like an excuse rather than a reason. The most plausible reason that has been touted seems to be that Twitter's contract with Google's cloud services platform expired on June 30, and they are desperately scrambling to limit usage while they figure out how and where to migrate the internal services that have been running on Google's platform before everything just collapses as things go dark on them.

[malchior]

It took a little under a year but he has pretty much driven it towards its demise. That's bad for a lot of reasons that Smoove_B mentioned. I'm not super psyched about that but at least Musk might get a comeuppance for once.

Still we'll have to see if these restrictions stand but the sites business model is attention and advertising. And he's limiting access which strangles both. That could lead to a death spiral -- if it already in the midst of one -- as revenue falls even further and causes more crises. At least we'll probably prove out to the credulous doubters that Musk isn't some infallible wunderkind. He's so far spent $44B to out himself as a POS, a sometimes idiot, and a chump who overpaid massively for a toy to almost immediately break it like a child.

[Max Peck]

[Max Peck]

I don't use Twitter or know much about its technology but that doesn't stop me from having an opinion, because 'murica.

I wonder if Twitter is being slammed by large language model training. If I were developing an AI, as it seems like everybody is doing now, Twitter would constitute an enormous dataset of conversational language for it to explore. Might this just be a clumsy attempt to limit Twitter to hoomuns?

It's possible that is what Musk means by "extreme levels of data scraping" but I'd guess that covers any use by anyone of Twitter data, such as apps that allow people to use anything other than the official Twitter app to view tweets. Still, it feels like an excuse rather than a reason. The most plausible reason that has been touted seems to be that Twitter's contract with Google's cloud services platform expired on June 30, and they are desperately scrambling to limit usage while they figure out how and where to migrate the internal services that have been running on Google's platform before everything just collapses as things go dark on them.

Alternate theory: They didn't pay the AWS bill.



<insert meme="¿Por qué no los dos?">

[LawBeefaroni]

I don't use Twitter or know much about its technology but that doesn't stop me from having an opinion, because 'murica.

I wonder if Twitter is being slammed by large language model training. If I were developing an AI, as it seems like everybody is doing now, Twitter would constitute an enormous dataset of conversational language for it to explore. Might this just be a clumsy attempt to limit Twitter to hoomuns?

It's possible that is what Musk means by "extreme levels of data scraping" but I'd guess that covers any use by anyone of Twitter data, such as apps that allow people to use anything other than the official Twitter app to view tweets. Still, it feels like an excuse rather than a reason. The most plausible reason that has been touted seems to be that Twitter's contract with Google's cloud services platform expired on June 30, and they are desperately scrambling to limit usage while they figure out how and where to migrate the internal services that have been running on Google's platform before everything just collapses as things go dark on them.

Alternate theory: They didn't pay the AWS bill.



<insert meme="¿Por qué no los dos?">

Apparently they had a contact with Google Cloud that expired June 30 and they're scrambling to move respurces because they don't want to/can't pay Google to renew. Limiting access certainly sounds like a way to limit the damage.


https://theconversation.com/twitter-is- ... ers-207718

https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/n ... ip-report/

Twitter’s new chief executive officer, Linda Yaccarino, is credited with getting the relationship back on track, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Yaccarino has spoken directly to Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian, and the two companies are now exploring a 'broader partnership' that could include advertising and Google’s use of Twitter’s API.

...


Twitter signed a contract with Google in 2018 and expanded its GCP footprint in 2021. Twitter was reportedly due to pay Google some $300 million in 2023, as part of a multi-year deal worth around $1 billion, that was up for renewal at the end of June.

Reports said Google could not get through to Musk to discuss the unpaid bills, and went as far as attempting to reach him through his other firm, SpaceX, also a GCP customer.

Twitter has reportedly been ‘scrambling’ to cut costs by moving services off Google Cloud before the contract ends on June 30, but this process was taking longer than expected. Systems under threat of being cut off included those dedicated to fighting spam and removing content featuring child sexual abuse, extremism, and gore.
....

The company has closed one of its three US data centers and reportedly exited another – with Musk’s other company Tesla taking vacated space in at least one of the sites. It has also cut back on server capacity, and fired IT and software workers that kept the service online.

That API partnership part is interesting. Twitter may be throttling evened else to make commercial use of the API more valuable.

[malchior]

That API partnership part is interesting. Twitter may be throttling evened else to make commercial use of the API more valuable.

I don't see how. Google would want *more* engagement and *more* user traffic to mine - not the opposite. Honestly I am half-waiting to hear it was just Musk trying to cover up another in a series of system outages caused by the way he broke the staffing model. It felt like the rate limit error was something from the backend accidentally making it to users and he spun a potentially bullshit story about API manipulation.

[LordMortis]

If he's not the CEO why is he communicating to the public and decision making and presumably doing the decision making for operations? Makes Yaccarino look life a figure head, whether she is or not. Did she make the decision to make the change or did he? Was this her understanding or his? Wasn't the hiring explicitly so he could focus on Tesla and SpaceX and SolarCity and charging stations and Lithium sourcing to make investors happy? Maybe those toys still don't keep people focusing on him?

[Max Peck]

That API partnership part is interesting. Twitter may be throttling evened else to make commercial use of the API more valuable.

I don't see how. Google would want *more* engagement and *more* user traffic to mine - not the opposite. Honestly I am half-waiting to hear it was just Musk trying to cover up another in a series of system outages caused by the way he broke the staffing model. It felt like the rate limit error was something from the backend accidentally making it to users and he spun a potentially bullshit story about API manipulation.

The theories about needing to limit usage while they scrambled to figure out how to deal with the fallout from not paying their cloud providers' bills seems the most plausible for now. Not paying bills is one of Musk's signature big-brain business genius moves. I agree that his claims about data scraping being the root cause are probably false. He'd be fine with data scraping as long as someone was paying him for the data.

[LordMortis]

That API partnership part is interesting. Twitter may be throttling evened else to make commercial use of the API more valuable.

I don't see how. Google would want *more* engagement and *more* user traffic to mine - not the opposite. Honestly I am half-waiting to hear it was just Musk trying to cover up another in a series of system outages caused by the way he broke the staffing model. It felt like the rate limit error was something from the backend accidentally making it to users and he spun a potentially bullshit story about API manipulation.

The theories about needing to limit usage while they scrambled to figure out how to deal with the fallout from not paying their cloud providers' bills seems the most plausible for now. Not paying bills is one of Musk's signature big-brain business genius moves. I agree that his claims about data scraping being the root cause are probably false. He'd be fine with data scraping as long as someone was paying him for the data.

How very Donald Trump of him...

https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/is ... sk/540340/

[coopasonic]

If he's not the CEO why is he communicating to the public and decision making and presumably doing the decision making for operations?

He's an attention whore seeker. It doesn't matter if he is making the calls, he needs people to see him that way.

[Rumpy]

If he's not the CEO why is he communicating to the public and decision making and presumably doing the decision making for operations? Makes Yaccarino look life a figure head, whether she is or not. Did she make the decision to make the change or did he? Was this her understanding or his? Wasn't the hiring explicitly so he could focus on Tesla and SpaceX and SolarCity and charging stations and Lithium sourcing to make investors happy? Maybe those toys still don't keep people focusing on him?

Yeah, I agree. It's very confusing. Regardless, it sounds very much like his making.

[Blackhawk]

I get that people hate Elon and the death of Twitter will be fun to watch, but I really need to reiterate that for so many legitimate accounts, nothing is quite the same as Twitter - emergency management in particular. Yes there are other services, but overwhelmingly Twitter has been highly, highly valuable in emergency situations. I don't mean for it to sound so dramatic, but when Twitter finally implodes, there will definitely be loss.

If this isn't already making them scramble for an alternative, something is broken.

https://twitter.com/BenjaminGoggin/stat ... 2558371843

Emergency services accounts are not exempted by the current twitter rate limit restrictions

(Plus images of the National Huricane Center, Amber Alert, CDC, and Florida Emergency Management feeds, all blocked.

[Blackhawk]

And, timely enough, Facebook owner Meta set to launch Twitter rival on Thursday

Yay. More Facebook in our lives.

[Pyperkub]

I don't use Twitter or know much about its technology but that doesn't stop me from having an opinion, because 'murica.

I wonder if Twitter is being slammed by large language model training. If I were developing an AI, as it seems like everybody is doing now, Twitter would constitute an enormous dataset of conversational language for it to explore. Might this just be a clumsy attempt to limit Twitter to hoomuns?

It's possible that is what Musk means by "extreme levels of data scraping" but I'd guess that covers any use by anyone of Twitter data, such as apps that allow people to use anything other than the official Twitter app to view tweets. Still, it feels like an excuse rather than a reason. The most plausible reason that has been touted seems to be that Twitter's contract with Google's cloud services platform expired on June 30, and they are desperately scrambling to limit usage while they figure out how and where to migrate the internal services that have been running on Google's platform before everything just collapses as things go dark on them.

It's the stored value in what he bought... for AI training. He still has to figure out how to sell it for that tho.

Sent from my SM-S908U1 using Tapatalk

[Smoove_B]

If this isn't already making them scramble for an alternative, something is broken.

There's been some movement towards Blue Sky, but it's just not possible to recreate 17+ years of networks quickly. And even if they could, Blue Sky isn't up and running fully - I've been waiting for an invite for months. So yeah, as we head deeper into hurricane season, we're about to see what happens when a cornerstone element of emergency response has a table leg kicked out.

[Blackhawk]

Maybe the US government should buy it from Musk and turn it into a public communication service.

I don't particularly like the idea of the government being the moderators or holding the keys to the data, but it would be better than Musk.

[Isgrimnur]

Remember, the last administration set up Wireless Emergency Alerts.

[Freyland]

Maybe the US government should buy it from Musk and turn it into a public communication service.

I don't particularly like the idea of the government being the moderators or holding the keys to the data, but it would be better than Musk.

I even mentioned this earlier as a possible intended plan. (By Musk)

[malchior]

The rate limiting was very much planned and needed to be done out of the blue to defeat the ... enemy or something. But it's totally *not hurting ad revenue* maybe because there isn't any at all. At this point I'd gauge Musk/Twitter's credibility level around that of a Russian politician right now.

Twitter has been even more of a mess than usual over the last few days, in part because it limited the number of tweets users could read each day. The decision came as a surprise to many, but the company said it was unable to give folks a heads up.

"We temporarily limited usage so we could detect and eliminate bots and other bad actors that are harming the platform," a Twitter Business blog post reads. "Any advance notice on these actions would have allowed bad actors to alter their behavior to evade detection."

While some have been skeptical of Twitter's reasoning for the move, the company says it limited the rate limit to stop bad actors from scraping public data to feed into artificial intelligence models and to prevent them from "manipulating people and conversation on the platform in various ways." It says that the rate limits currently impact a small percentage of users and it will provide an update when these efforts are complete.

It seemed strange that Twitter posted this update on its business blog until the company mentioned that rate limiting has had a "minimal" effect on advertising. Many pointed out that limiting the number of tweets users could read per day would make it harder for advertisers to reach users and for Twitter to make money.

[Max Peck]

Twitter is either backing off on blocking anonymous viewing or they broke something that was intended to prevent it, but at the moment it is possible to click through an embedded tweet or directly load a specific tweet if you have the URL. If I try to load a particular Twitter account's feed, it shows me their profile but won't load any tweets, so they haven't completely reversed course on anonymous viewing just yet, if that is their plan.

[Jaymann]

I don't need to directly view anything on Twitter. In the rare cases where something important is tweeted, I rely on my OO brethren to post it in the relevant thread.

[Rumpy]

Breaking something seems par for the course.

[Victoria Raverna]

I get that people hate Elon and the death of Twitter will be fun to watch, but I really need to reiterate that for so many legitimate accounts, nothing is quite the same as Twitter - emergency management in particular. Yes there are other services, but overwhelmingly Twitter has been highly, highly valuable in emergency situations. I don't mean for it to sound so dramatic, but when Twitter finally implodes, there will definitely be loss.

I think Musk will find way to make you pay for the emergency management services.

[Alefroth]

So has anyone tried Threads?

[Zaxxon]

So has anyone tried Threads?

I signed up, begrudgingly, but haven't figured out how to mass import follows.

[malchior]

I looked at it. It's a text-based Instagram right now. We'll see I guess if that works for folks. The difficulty for Threads is everyone hates Musk but they also hate Zuckerberg. It's a tough sell.

In any case, the Internet in 2023 is super great. I mean the promise of the Internet is definitely being fulfilled when the public square on it is being brought to us by the worst of the billionaires.

[malchior]

In other desperate for revenue news, Twitter relaunches TwwetDeck and notifies that the built-in tool will in 30 days be only available to blue checks. Oh also several folks have said the revamp is terrible. I watched someone walk through it and it's...an ugly baby at best.

TweetDeck users upset over the app's recent glitches may be happy to learn that it's been relaunched. But they might not be so happy to learn that they'll have to pay to use it. A Monday tweet from Twitter Support revealed that the company has just launched a "new, improved" version of TweetDeck.

https://twitter.com/JuddLegum/status/16 ... 9323055105

[LordMortis]

I get that people hate Elon and the death of Twitter will be fun to watch, but I really need to reiterate that for so many legitimate accounts, nothing is quite the same as Twitter - emergency management in particular. Yes there are other services, but overwhelmingly Twitter has been highly, highly valuable in emergency situations. I don't mean for it to sound so dramatic, but when Twitter finally implodes, there will definitely be loss.

I think Musk will find way to make you pay for the emergency management services.

That is what he does, or tries to do. For being a Libertarian, he seems to bake all of his bread off government subsidy in every enterprise he brands with his name.

Also, since when do you need to pay a private citizen to get full participation in a public square?

[Exodor]

I looked at it. It's a text-based Instagram right now. We'll see I guess if that works for folks. The difficulty for Threads is everyone hates Musk but they also hate Zuckerberg. It's a tough sell.

Yep. Would love a Twitter alternative but anything owned by Meta is a no-go for me.

I read a post from the CEO of Mastodon that seemed to indicate that eventually, when Threads is federated, the content will be reachable from Mastodon. That might be a solution for me, allowing me to get to the content on Threads that I want while avoiding all the Meta monetization and data collection.