Tweets

You can read Mike's post on Mastodon here:

@mike/109270985467672999" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://robot.rodeo/@mike/109270985467672999

Mastodon has a feature for posts called "Content Warnings."

Mike explains:

"So much of our world is overwhelming, and feed presentation can bombard our nervous systems with triggers. CWs give people time and space to engage with that they have the resources to engage with."

@TimLeland @noahwbragg @JackEllis @dr Yes. I think a one-time payment makes more sense for verification.

"Pay $ X, get verified."

(And, make people pay and get re-verified anytime they change their display name or handle)

@JackEllis @noahwbragg @dr I'm listening now.

Ultimately, our purpose at @TransistorFM is to make people's lives better.

This includes our customers and team (and their families).

But that mission also includes broader society: we want to help make the world a better place.

https://transistor.fm/climate-change/

Write your values out before you make a $ of revenue.

It defines what's important early on and helps you steer the ship in the direction you want.

Here are Transistor's values:
https://github.com/TransistorFM/handbook/blob/master/values.md

Optimize for business opportunities that have good margins with minimal complexity. And choose work that gives you lots of breathing room.

More on that here:
https://justinjackson.ca/margin

My philosophy was heavily influenced by the founders of Great Harvest Bread Co:

"When all your choices are made with freedom and simplicity in mind, then freedom and simplicity are inevitable."

I wrote about Pete and Laura here:
https://justinjackson.ca/the-good-life

Great question on @IndieHackers from @bennyhatch:

"What's your philosophy/strategy for building a purpose-driven business?"

@jamesjgill @DescriptApp @TransistorFM Love the topic/mission of this! Subscribed!

@BretFisher @TransistorFM Most of these networks are not worthwhile (and are just looking for a way to monetize your content)

They likely won’t increase your distribution; it’s a sales play (they’re going to try to get you advertisers)

Those ad deals aren’t great.

@mattwensing Yup!

We’ll also have to see how much advertising $$ they’ve lost.

@mbuckbee 💯 yup, totally

@mattwensing Not sure what you mean.

(Twitter has lots of porn accounts too: https://nypost.com/2022/10/26/porn-crypto-more-popular-on-twitter-as-users-lose-interest-in-fashion-celebrities/)

@mattwensing It's been profitable before: 2017-2018.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/274563/annual-net-income-of-twitter/

Those profits primarily came from cutting costs then too:
https://www.vox.com/2018/2/8/16991140/twitter-profit-q4-2018-earnings-revenue-cuts

Not sure if there's enough margin there to pay for ~$1 billion in annual interest costs though?

@mattwensing "None of these reached the critical mass that Twitter has."

The numbers I'm seeing are different:

Myspace and Facebook both reached 115 million unique visitors at the same time; in April 2008. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myspace)

Tumblr surpassed 472 million registered accounts, July '19

@noahwbragg @MKBHD Totally

@noahwbragg @MKBHD Really cogent thoughts!

He perfectly encapsulates the central challenges for Twitter as a business and creator platform.

RT @mijustin: We need to balance hopefulness and concern.

It’s probably unwise to define ourselves as primarily optimistic or pessimistic.…

As an acquisition, Instagram worked because:

a) it augments FB's primary economic driver (ads) and primary feature (social feed)
b) FB was able to connect IG to their existing FB Ads platform, which was already popular with advertisers
c) It gave advertisers more channels

As an acquisition, YouTube worked because:

a) it augments Google's primary economic driver (ads) and primary feature (search)
b) Google had the money to float YouTube until they could get the monetization engine going
c) Google partnered with creators, shared rev, built tools

@chasewreeves As an acquisition, YouTube worked because:

a) it augments Google's primary economic driver (ads) and primary feature (search)
b) Google had the money to float YouTube until they could get the monetization engine going
c) Google partnered with creators, shared rev, built tools

@rednishat I talk about them later in the thread. https://twitter.com/mijustin/status/1589669274737868800

@misterparker It hasn’t always lost money: they recorded profits in 2017 and 2018.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/274563/annual-net-income-of-twitter/

@Casey_Dwyer Thanks, Casey!

@coding2020 Thanks for the kind words. Glad it was thought-provoking. 👍

@freekmurze Thanks Freek! I appreciate you sharing it. ❤️

@jessethanley @aplusk Got it.

I hope you're not accusing me of tweeting about this stuff to "chase growth" because it most assuredly makes me lose followers. 🤣

I tweet maybe 1-2x /mth about climate change, and it always results in lower engagement than "biz tweets."

I do it because I'm concerned.

@ArqNunoAntunes There's a comic for that! 😉

@jessethanley How do you propose we determine what's "too much" (on either end of the scale)?

What tips someone over the line of being a "constant blabberer?"

Should we keep discussing certain topics, even though some people find it fatiguing?

I wrote more about this here:
https://justinjackson.ca/pessimistic

I received 26 responses to this when I published it on my newsletter.

I'd love to hear your thoughts as well. 👍

We need to balance hopefulness and concern.

It’s probably unwise to define ourselves as primarily optimistic or pessimistic.

Certain situations might call for an optimistic response, while others might require pessimism.

7/

I understand the desire to avoid negative feelings: the inner lives of humans are already fraught; grappling with more can feel overwhelming.

However, it's better to face those feelings. Ignorance may be bliss for a short while, but the repercussions catch up with you.

/6

For me, having concern leads to action. "Yikes, that spot looks like skin cancer; I should call my doctor."

You need to detect the cancer before treatment can begin. And, if you notice a skin spot, you shouldn't pretend it doesn't exist. We need awareness + action.

/5

She highlights how optimism and pessimism have a common goal: "to offer hope as well as consolation; and to try to improve the human condition."

This duality resonates with me: I'm not an unhappy person, but I also don't want to ignore life's uncomfortable realities.

4/

The essay dismisses the idea that "pessimism = negative (bad)" and "optimism = positive (good)"

In the author's view, pessimists aren't "negative, unhappy people."

Pessimism isn't about "expecting the worst" but rather "a refusal to believe that progress is a given."

3/

I found this great article in @philosopher1923, "the UK's is the longest-running public philosophy journal.”

They explore the history behind pessimism and optimism:
https://www.thephilosopher1923.org/post/pessimism

2/

Are you a "glass half-full or half-empty" kind of person?

Culturally, with think:

- Half-full: happy, positive 😃
- Half-empty: negative, miserable 🙁

But after studying the underlying philosophies of optimism & pessimism, I think we've misunderstood what they mean.

1/

@JackEllis I mean Google+ had tons of "users" (every Gmail automatically had a Google+ account), which would have been 2.5 billion at the time.

Over 250 million created a Google+ post.

Pretty big scale! But, at the time, hard to compete with FB.

@CasJam @ianlandsman Yeah. The vibe is a bit different.

It kind of feels like the early days of FidoNet, Usenet, Twitter.

There’s definitely more folks there now! We’ll see if it lasts.

Now that I have the app installed, I’m using it more. 👍

@CasJam @ianlandsman Once you get used to it, it's actually pretty fun.

@JackEllis MySpace reached a pretty massive scale for its time:115 million unique users.

Vine had over 200 million active users. (Pretty close to Twitter now)

@jwbaldwin @JackEllis Folks point to Musk and his previous successes with Tesla, Space X...

But even massively successful companies like Apple (Ping) and Google (Google+ and Buzz) have tried and failed.

FB had a hit with Instagram's acquisition but hasn't been able to make WhatsApp profitable.

@rosiesherry @JackEllis In terms of earning a profit, there are very few: YouTube, Facebook (IG).

Twitch is reported to be close to profitable.

TikTok isn't profitable yet:
https://www.tubefilter.com/2022/10/06/tiktok-parent-company-bytedance-earnings-finances-revenue-losses-spend/#:~:text=Even%20though%20ByteDance%20is%20still,%25%20year%2Dover%2Dyear.

WhatsApp isn't profitable:
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/18/how-whatsapp-grew-from-near-failed-app-to-metas-next-monetization-push.html#:~:text=But%20while%20WhatsApp's%20commitment%20to,from%20ever%20really%20becoming%20profitable.

My point is these businesses are really difficult to run.

Even Apple (Ping) and Google (Google+ and Buzz) failed.

Despite all of their resources, acumen, and success in other categories, they couldn’t pull it off.

https://www.macrumors.com/2020/09/01/itunes-ping-launched-10-years-ago-today/

@JackEllis My point is these businesses are really difficult to run.

Even Apple (Ping) and Google (Google+ and Buzz) failed; despite all of their resources, acumen, and success in other categories.

https://www.macrumors.com/2020/09/01/itunes-ping-launched-10-years-ago-today/

@SeldonCrisisPod @arithisandthat @elonmusk It depends on your audience, but here are a few ideas:

Mastodon: pick your "instance" (the community server you want to join on), and then start sharing.

Discord: join a community related to your topic.

Reddit: some subreddits will have specific days you can promote your pod

@chrispodcasting You're underestimating how big MySpace was. It was MASSIVE and completely ingrained in our culture.

Watch movies made between 2005-2010, and it's likely they'll make a MySpace reference.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myspace

@chrispodcasting MySpace was beloved and incredibly popular, as were Digg and Vine.

Most social media companies that are acquired end up losing money, selling for way less, or are marked down to nothing.

Notable exceptions: YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn.

Overall, "social" seems to be a tough winner-takes-all business. It's completely reliant on advertisers.

Vine: acquired by Twitter for $30 million, later shut down (marked down to $0).

Bebo: acquired by AOL for $850 million, later sold for $1 million.

Path: raised $62.5 million, rejected a $100 million offer. Later, their assets were sold to Kakao and Path was shut down.

GeoCities: acquired by Yahoo for $3.7 billion, later shut down (marked down to $0).

Digg: raised $49 million, was almost acquired by Google for $200 million, later marked down to $16.5 million

Friendster: raised $48.5 million, later marked down to $39 million.

MySpace: acquired by News Corp for $580 million, later sold for $35 million.

Tumblr: acquired by Yahoo for $1.1 billion, later sold for $3 million.

Twitter: acquired by Elon for $44 billion, later sells for…?

@MJB_SF I’m here: @mijustin" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://mastodon.social/@mijustin

A good explanation on how Mastodon servers work here: https://twitter.com/RaveofRavendale/status/1588541661331980289

🐘 I’m on Mastodon here:

@mijustin" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://mastodon.social/@mijustin

Here's something else cool @polarizetech built for the @TransistorFM website: a proper FAQs page!

https://transistor.fm/faqs/

Even cooler, he turned it into a reusable @statamic widget. Now I can easily insert different FAQs on different pages.

https://transistor.fm/pricing/

@valsopi It all depends who you’re polling. 😉

(@robfitz would remind us that people will frequently say they’ll pay for something, but not follow that up with action)

@MattGiovanisci Google + YouTube

@taylorotwell 👀

RT @frontstuff_io: You can "work hard" within business hours.

If your people have to push beyond these to get the job done, maybe you, as…

RT @karaswisher: More from former tweep: They fired EVERYBODY on two of the teams that were working on things they want to launch. https://…

Josh (@polarizetech) really improved the look of this page.

The old version (done by me) is super embarrassing to look at now. 😅🤦‍♂️

I've been working with @polarizetech to improve the marketing site for @TransistorFM.

🤩 Here's our first pass at revamping the Features page.

https://transistor.fm/features/

RT @mijustin: In a world that idolizes billionaires, I'm cheering for indie creators who are building small, profitable, calm companies.

I…

RT @hankgreen: Maybe “the public square” is just kinda hard to monetize.

@stephenrobles @tedhosmann These are great!

Most of my photos were from the past 1-2 years I think.

@MJB_SF Not the real Elon

@tedhosmann Haha. Perfect!

I think this guy drives a Prius.

@hector_podcast I haven't seen a lot of people getting out of the podcast industry.

What are you referring to?

@shaisc Nice! 🎉 Well done. 👍

🎯 https://twitter.com/adamdavidson/status/1588562441184894977

@StarrHorne 🎯 this.

@AlbanBrooke @dannypostmaa Summer, fall, winter, and spring!

[ caption this ]

Purple hair don’t care

@dannypostmaa That was one of my faves. 😜

Tried out @dannypostmaa’s AI profile photo generator.

Pretty fun!

https://profilepicture.ai/?ref=W0TMtiqAvmd4uxEihXWXWWmqDvr2

I think we'll be seeing the fail 🐳 a lot more...

“The source described the proposed cuts as "delusional," adding that when user traffic kicks up, the service can fail "in spectacular ways.”

https://www.reuters.com/technology/musk-orders-twitter-cut-infrastructure-costs-by-1-bln-sources-2022-11-03/

@BryanBarletta Cool venue!

@KateBour @HiddenBrain 🙌

That episode was so good.

(That first 5 minutes, as parent: very relatable! 😅)

@KateBour @HiddenBrain Listening now!

@itsurboyevan Really good analysis Evan!

How do you think a "reimagined feed" would incentivize creator behavior?

What so many of us love here on Twitter is all the value we're capturing (as creators).

It's worth reading the entire post (and seeing what @itsurboyevan suggests at the end to "fix" twitter):

https://every.to/napkin-math/how-elon-wins

"With 250M daily active users and a generous 10% conversion rate, Twitter Blue can be $300M/year. It’s nothing to sneeze at, but it’s far short of what is needed to dramatically alter the future of the business. It will likely sacrifice future user growth in favor of $ today."

"By paywalling all the features that would make the central feed a better experience, Twitter will decrease engagement, even further reduce the efficacy of its ads, and slow down its growth. Not great for a business struggling with ad sales and user growth."

Excellent biz analysis from @ItsUrBoyEvan on @every:

"What's challenging about Twitter’s paradigm is that all of the value happens outside of the website."

Twitter creates a lot of value for people, but most of that value is difficult to capture (from a monetization sense).

For me, it’s the worry/concern that leads to action.

“Yikes, that spot looks like skin cancer, I should call my doctor.”

“Wow. These forest fires are getting more intense, I should reach out to my MP and see what Canada’s response is going to be.”

I love how @every's Lex writing assistant helps me get unstuck when I'm writing.

Often, I just need to find a different way of saying something.

I used to ask these questions in Slack, or in my coworking office.

But now I can just use "Ask Lex." 👍

@shaisc Lots of things worth worrying about.👍

If I find a skin spot that looks like cancer, it's worth worrying about enough that I seek treatment.

If the climate crisis is causing massive fires in my town, it's worth worrying about enough that I act (and galvanize others too as well)

Personally, I want a "level of concern that's commensurate with what’s worth worrying about."

I don't want to ignore the real problems/challenges that exist, but I don't want to stress needlessly either.

@mjwhansen @aarondfrancis @leenyburger Whoa! Nice!!! 🎉

@benjihyam @TransistorFM Nice! 🎉

Thanks for using Transistor. 🥰

@sivers Loving this series! I’ve been sharing it with my kids.

@sol_orwell I know! You have to export it as a web page first. 🤦‍♂️

@jayclouse @HubSpot Congrats! HubSpot is lucky to have you. 🙌

RT @JCardenete: Stripe just set a new bar for “excellent” layoffs:
- Leadership owns fault
- 1:1 w managers
- 14 weeks severance
- https://…

@rbluethl @philosopher1923 Thanks for the kind words. 🥰

Writing a longer piece on this right now.

@levelsio @Shpigford Getting quite a few DMs from folks who don't feel like I'm being overly pessimistic. 🤷‍♂️

I don't want to be that annoying guy in your replies, so I'll bow out.

If you find me "agri", we definitely don't need to interact. 👋