If there were an open and free way to read news on the web that was so good, so fast, so in tune with the way news flows, that would break the paywalls, because all the pubs would want to be part of it. #
Zeynep Tufecki is getting deserved acclaim as a smart on-the-money analyzer of Trump chaos and Covid chaos. She also deserves kudos for being an insightful media analyst, observing in an Atlantic piece: "Punditry can tend to focus too much on decorum and terminology, like the overachieving students so many of us once were." That explains concisely what is wrong with the way our pundits analyze cataclysm. The world is burning and they're debating whether it's the fire or the lack of oxygen that's destroying civilization. They're not getting to the central problem, which is this -- the crazies have figured out how to dominate online media and thus they swamp old school media by forcing them to cover the crazy stuff they carry. No matter where you turn, it's mostly this garbage. Conclusion: we need to reinvent media, soon, or we're going down the toilet. #Journalism should use some of their space to debate how they should conduct journalism going forward, the discussion not overseen by journalists, btw. Assuming Trump doesn't manage to overturn the election before January 20, the first chance they're going to get to change things radically over in journalism-land is if Trump has a rally to counter-program the inauguration, in what will probably unprecedented moment of misery for the country re Covid. Journalism no longer has to cover Trump because he's no longer POTUS. They could choose to focus totally on the inauguration and the virus. It's so perverse now that they could go the other way, they could have Chris Cilizza and Gloria Borger discuss whether infecting millions of people and destroying the health care system was a brilliant political move, horse-race-wise, for Trump to set up on his way out, moderated by Wolf Blitzer (who btw, sometimes seems to think he's Speaker of the House).#
Until very recently my Twitter feed didn't have ads. They really suck. It’s all stupid tabloid celebrity paparazzi bullshit. Mostly people I’ve never heard of, so I don’t care if they got fat or are too skinny. Apparently they don’t "offer the micro targeting that sometimes brings interesting niche ads to Facebook." (Most of the ads on FB interest me, because they're watching me look at products on Amazon and elsewhere.)#
- Today Om Malik posted a piece outlining the future of Twitter as very different from where Twitter is today. As I read it I thought, yes that is the future, and about a dozen other things. We should do them all. #
- Note I said we, not they.#
- Here's my plan for Twitter. Become an investment banker and distributor. It's the same advice I have for every tech company that achieves the size and seniority that Twitter has achieved. #
- Their strength is operating servers and raising money. They have access to an infinite supply of both. They also have a unique platform, with virtually universal adoption. Their service is so many places, that's where the distribution comes into it.#
- Commit to the API as a developer ecosystem, and invest in developers with promising apps. Buy them when that would be in the interest of both. That's how you grow from where Twitter was. #
- Also for crying out loud, broaden the pipe to allow text objects greater than 280 chars. Please.#
- It was the advice I came up with for Microsoft when we were studying them in the 90s and they were helbent on taking over the nascent web. With hindsight it was good advice. #
- It was also my advice for pre-1997 Apple. I even wrote a piece where I dreamed I was CEO of Apple, and outlined how I would reorganize Apple's relationship with devs. That plan would be perfect for Twitter in 2021. Imagine Jack Dorsey as CEO of a new Twitter that does deals with devs. #
- Twitter is too big a boat to turn. But it can be a safe harbor for thousands of startups with ideas for what to do with the basic ingredients of Twitter. #