I think posts like this illustrate why MBAs retain their power over organisations, despite the constant complaints about them by engineers. There couldn't be a greater perspective gap.
The "how" is the absolute last question, the "what" is the first.
Can you imagine the following conversation:
"Hey you should sign up to Facebook!"
"Oh, why?"
"It's got a great tech stack!".
Me nether.
To design an alternative Twitter you must first understand what made Twitter popular in the first place. And then at some point, in the far distant future, let the name of a tech into your head, or a line of code onto your screen.
Said in good faith. I know so many engineers who wasted so much time because they couldn't understand that outside of the constraints of a job their skills had no monetary value by default.
Well actually, an alternative Twitter is still missing the point. Twitter *is* microblogging.
The real question Elon should have asked is what's beyond Twitter, i.e. what should he have built instead of trying to pivot Twitter towards, with all its baggage?
Twitter was microblogging. Its massive growth in the early years was based around being able to turn SMS into a broadcast medium. From there it became a kind of worldwide water cooler. It was fun because it wasn't all that serious.
Twitter is Serious Internet Business now. Which is why most of the noise comes from a very few individuals and it is riddled with bots. The value of your opinion is based entirely on your number of followers.
Building an alternative is difficult. Google has tried and failed, multiple times. I think Elon would prefer for it to return to the water cooler days.
The "how" is the absolute last question, the "what" is the first.
Can you imagine the following conversation:
"Hey you should sign up to Facebook!"
"Oh, why?"
"It's got a great tech stack!".
Me nether.
To design an alternative Twitter you must first understand what made Twitter popular in the first place. And then at some point, in the far distant future, let the name of a tech into your head, or a line of code onto your screen.
Said in good faith. I know so many engineers who wasted so much time because they couldn't understand that outside of the constraints of a job their skills had no monetary value by default.