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0 pointslesuorac2y ago0 comments

> Twitter could have fired nobody and the advertising revenue would have still declined, those two things were mostly unrelated.

They're not unrelated. Advertisers like to know that their ads work; you need staff to do that.

Look at how much tailored the FaceBook ads were vs Twitter [1]. Advertisers would be sticking with Twitter if they thought the ads were worth it.

> Facebook targeting allows advertisers to drill down, ensuring your ad is targeted at those most interested in your ads’ content.

> The Facebook ad targeting based on interests looked like this:

> Science > Mari Smith > Joel Comm > Social science > HootSuite > Post Planner > Smart Passive Income with Pat Flynn > Kim Garst > Sprout Social > Social Media Examiner > Buffer

> Twitter’s targeting is not quite as refined, but we targeted these keywords:

> instagrammarketing > socialmediamarketing > socialmediaexaminer

[1]: https://www.agorapulse.com/social-media-lab/twitter-ads-cpc-...

0 comments

linuxftw2y ago

Facebook's features really don't have much to do with advertisers leaving due to twitter firing a bunch of employees.

lesuoracOP2y ago

FaceBook's features are just an example of how bad Twitter's targeting is; but also it is a zero-sum market. Nike has an advertising budget; if those dollars go to FaceBook they don't go to Twitter. Having worse engineering than your competition is a real problem.

However, my point is that the top parent's claim of Twitter's problems aren't engineering is wrong. Their targeting is god awful to the point that Advertisers don't want to bother with it anymore. If they had better ad targeting (aka Engineering) then Advertisers would sweep the problems under the rug.

There are also many non-engineering examples of this.

- "If Jeffrey Dahmer ran a 4.3, we'd call it an 'eating disorder.'"

- Russian Oil / Gas is still buyable by western countries.

- Lack of repercussions for Jamal Khasoggi assassination [1]

- Massive amounts of advertising on FaceBook post-Cambridge Analytica

- USA Companies selling your active location (to journalists pretending to be not-journalists).

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Jamal_Khashog...

HDThoreaun2y ago

Twitter targeting has always been ass though. All the employees they had pre elon were unable to improve it over a decade plus.

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