Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Says Follower Count is Meaningless 58
In a fireside chat in New Delhi, India, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said Monday the "follower count" metric on the social platform is meaningless. Talking in front of a live audience, the Twitter co-founder said it was probably unwise to include and emphasize on the follower count on his social network, a move he said the company did not realize while implementing it back in the day. "Back then, we were not really thinking about all the dynamics that could ensue afterwards," he said.
"One of the things we did was we had people follow each other -- so you can be a follower of someone," Dorsey said, explaining the thinking that went into carving some of the core features of Twitter. The company listed the number of people you had, and "made the font size a little bit bigger than everything else on the page. We did not really think much about it and moved on to the next problem to solve. What that has done is we put all the emphasis, not intending to, on that number of how many people follow me. So if that number is big and bold, what do people want to do with it? They want to make it go up."
"So when you open Twitter and you see that number is five. It is actually incentivizing you to increase that number. That may have been right 12 years ago, but I don't think it is right today. I don't think that's the number you should be focused on. I think what is more important is the number of meaningful conversations you're having on the platform. How many times do you receive a reply?"
Dorsey's remarks comes as he has publicly acknowledged that the company is rethinking about some of the core features of Twitter. late last month, a report claimed that Twitter was also thinking about discontinuing the "likes" feature -- Twitter neither confirmed nor denied it. On Monday, Dorsey reaffirmed that focusing on number of likes and retweets is not healthy.
Dorsey is not the only Twitter co-founder who has, of late, shown disdain for the follower count. Last week, Ev Williams expressed a similar sentiment. "I think showing follower counts was probably ultimately detrimental. It really put in your face that the game was popularity," he said at a conference.
"One of the things we did was we had people follow each other -- so you can be a follower of someone," Dorsey said, explaining the thinking that went into carving some of the core features of Twitter. The company listed the number of people you had, and "made the font size a little bit bigger than everything else on the page. We did not really think much about it and moved on to the next problem to solve. What that has done is we put all the emphasis, not intending to, on that number of how many people follow me. So if that number is big and bold, what do people want to do with it? They want to make it go up."
"So when you open Twitter and you see that number is five. It is actually incentivizing you to increase that number. That may have been right 12 years ago, but I don't think it is right today. I don't think that's the number you should be focused on. I think what is more important is the number of meaningful conversations you're having on the platform. How many times do you receive a reply?"
Dorsey's remarks comes as he has publicly acknowledged that the company is rethinking about some of the core features of Twitter. late last month, a report claimed that Twitter was also thinking about discontinuing the "likes" feature -- Twitter neither confirmed nor denied it. On Monday, Dorsey reaffirmed that focusing on number of likes and retweets is not healthy.
Dorsey is not the only Twitter co-founder who has, of late, shown disdain for the follower count. Last week, Ev Williams expressed a similar sentiment. "I think showing follower counts was probably ultimately detrimental. It really put in your face that the game was popularity," he said at a conference.
Wait... what?! (Score:4, Funny)
So what the hell have I been paying the click-farms for?!
Re: (Score:1)
When President Trump has 55.6M followers and Hillary Clinton has 23.6M followers, then followers don't matter.
If the numbers were reversed, they would matter.
Clear?
Re: (Score:1)
Barack Obama has 103M followers, so apparently size does matter. Size of the number of twitter followers, I mean.
Re: (Score:2)
Do you have some link for this that isn't infowars?
According to twitteraudit.com, the percentage of real followers to fake followers for the two men is within a few points of each other..
Everyone knows (Score:3, Insightful)
Winning opinion wars is all social media is about nowadays, and having a higher number of echoing shitheads is what makes you win.
Really? (Score:2)
It really put in your face that the game was popularity,
Oh, really?
Re: (Score:3)
And this is why I avoid all that shit (Score:1)
That arrogant way they talk about their sheeple. Quite disgusting. I don't want to be treated that way.
Of course it doesn't matter (Score:4, Insightful)
You need more numbers to indicate:
Bot Followers
Paid Followers
Creepy stalkers
Re: (Score:1)
Dorsey is just telegraphing he wants more control (Score:3)
He obviously doesn't like the idea of users taking their numbers to advertisers and cutting a deal directly with them, instead of twitter grabbing every red cent that comes out of the platform. He also probably doesn't like the idea of having the fact he suspends the accounts of people with millions of followers continuously thrown in his face.
Expect this to be eliminated or subtly fudged, maybe a new number like "Validated Followers", something mostly useless for people to negotiate with.
That's It in a Nutshell (Score:2)
More generally, I can see why Jack, who's made so many partisan and unpopular moves (and no doubt has plans to make plenty more), would downplay the idea of popularity in this way.
Reputation Society (Score:5, Interesting)
A similar example would be the "snapstreaks [snapstreaks.com]" on Snapchat. This is basically quantifying how good friendships are, and it's causing a lot of stress in teenagers.
Digital technology allows social pressure to be designed on a hitherto unknown scale. The Stasi was a beta-test. China embraces this with its social credit system. We should not let our culture slide in the same direction.
Re: (Score:3)
China is doing this with a clear intent to track its citizens and to silence any possible dissent. In the west the trends are molded by large corporations that are doing this for profit. The more addictive and socially pressuring you make the platforms, the more time on site user spend whi
Remove it then (Score:4, Interesting)
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said Monday the "follower count" metric on the social platform is meaningless.
Well, he if anybody should be able to have it removed then.
Then we will see if it really is meaningless to others than himself.
Jack Dorsey: Clickbait and Trolling is the Future (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Frightening. Jack just equated "meaningful conversation" with "what statements provoke the most responses". Welcome to the future of Twiiter, where clickbait and trolling is considered "meaningful" simply because they provoke the most responses.
I believe that has been Twitter's modus since day one. Having meaningful conversation within Twitter's system simply doesn't happen.
Although it is a great place to commit career suicide.
Re: (Score:2)
As much as Dorsey may talk about how what matters are the meaningful conversations, the reality is that it's always been a narcissistic point scoring game where what really matters is your popularity, whi
Lol (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
What the heck is Twitter for?
I have never been able to work that out.
doesn't matter (Score:2)
whatever figure you use to indicate something, will be played and abused.
What again is the purpose of twitter? (Score:1)
Never understood why people so frantically use twitter. I can understand why companies are on it, as companies will be anywhere they see potential buyers or can efficiently communicate with customers. But why in the world would anybody be on it as a private citizen?
Re: (Score:2)
Why stop there (Score:4, Informative)
Seems there are those who noticed.. (Score:2)
massive drops in their followers. Elon Musk is one. So what to expect of Twitters response. Its a feature not a problem!.
Huh? (Score:2)
How will I measure my self-worth now?
Twitter - Propaganda Outlet for Trump (Score:2)
When a company's most visible user is allowed a platform to launch hate attacks against both groups of people an individuals, there is indeed a problem.
Are their people doing meaningful things with Twitter, that far outweigh the damage done by the twitter president using twitter as his main propaganda outlet?
What would Trump do, if twitter either banded him, or if twitter had to close their doors, because half of all subscribers, unsubscribed, just like I did?
Advertisers want engagement (Score:2)
However... (Score:1)
he'll get back to us on banning the neo-Nazis. I mean, one thing at a time, seriously, you guys.
The best thing that could happen (Score:2)