Musk Said In The Acquisition Announcement That Freedom Of Speech Is The Foundation Of Democracy, And Twitter Is A Digital Town Square Where People Discuss Issues Crucial To The Future Of Mankind. Twitter Has Great Potential - I Look Forward To Unlocking It With The Company And User Community.
Despite The Political And Financial Conspiracy Theories, Many Blockchain Practitioners Believe That Musk's Privatization Of Twitter May Become A Change, A Utopian Experiment To Put Things Right And Return To The Correct Development Path Of Decentralization**
Taking This As A Starting Point, A More Liberal And Democratic Web3 Version Of The Online Speech Platform (Protocol)Will Be Established. This Is Exactly What Jack Dorsey, The Former CEO Of Twitter, Has Been Trying To Promote But Failed Repeatedly - He Only Owns More Than 2% And Has No Voting Control.
In This Fairy Tale With Clear Distinction Between Good And Evil, Dorsey Is A Depressed Idealist. Twitter's Board Of Directors Is Undoubtedly The Spokesman Of Wall Street Greedy Capitalists. Musk Is The White Knight Who Saves People From Water And Fire. Even Dorsey Himself Publicly Said That "taking It Back From Wall Street Is The Right First Step." In Another Version Of The Story, An Oligarchic Character Grabs The World's Largest Speech Tool, And The Danger Behind It Is Obvious
Reality Is Far More Complicated Than Story. But Whatever The Narrative, Twitter's Importance To The Next Generation Internet (Web3)Is Self-evident: Not Only Because It Is The Largest And Most Controversial Speech Square, But Also Because Of The Decentralized Gene It Has Maintained Since Its Inception.
01
Rebellious DNA
"Just Created My Twitter." At 11:50 A.m. On March 21, 2006, Dorsey Released The First Official Tweet In Their Overly Concise Office. At This Time, There Are Many Strange Early Employees In The Office: Hackers, Anti-government Activists, RV Tramps
The Main Founders Are Also Full Of Free And Loose Color. Evan Williams Created The New Concept Of Blogger (he Has Contributed To The Popularity Of Blog)And Is Committed To Promoting Computers To Give Anyone The Opportunity To Own Their Own Newspaper; Jack Dorsey Was Wearing A Blue Explosive Head And A Nose Ring. He Had Previously Proved His Ability By Invading A Company's System To Get A Job; Biz Stone Gave Up Millions Of Dollars In Wages And Shares In Google In Exchange For A "freer" Entrepreneurial Life. He Is Also An Extreme Animal Lover. He Once Had The Biggest Fire In His Career To Prevent His Colleagues From Killing Rats.
Dorsey's Early Style. (source: Twitter)
It Can Be Imagined That Twitter's Early Management Was Chaotic And Disorderly In This Atmosphere. For A Period Of Time Since Then, It Did Not Usher In Explosive Growth. Another "new Creature" Facebook Is The Darling Of The Web2 Era:
By January 2006, Less Than Two Years After Its Establishment, Facebook Had More Than 6 Million Users. American Media Giant Viacom Offered $750 Million For Facebook And Yahoo Offered $900 Million.
Twitter Is Trapped By A Seemingly Simple Question: How To Explain Yourself To People.
Everyone Has A Different Answer: "it's A Lack Of Social Networking." "It Replaces Text Messages." "It's A New Email." "It's A Micro Blog." "It Is Used To Update Your Status."
Even If Several Founders Have Not Figured Out How To Answer This Question, Dorsey And Evan Still Disagree. Dorsey Believes That Twitter Is A Place To Tell Others "what I'm Doing", While Evan Believes That The Role Of Twitter Should Be A Way To Share News, Not A Way To Share Status: Twitter Is An Information Transmission Network, Not A Social Network.
Until The Middle Of June 2007, When Twitter Had More Than 1 Million Users And Welcomed Its First Acquisition Intention, The Above Issues Remained Unresolved. Including Investors, News Media Are Trying To Interpret Twitter In Their Eyes, And Even Yahoo, The Acquirer, Is Quite Confused About It. In Brickhouse, Yahoo's Business Incubator, Bradley Horowitz (now Google's Vice President Of Products)Couldn't Help Asking Young Entrepreneurs On The Other Side Of The Desk, "so It's A Social Network?"
This Time, Dorsey Broke His Silence. "I Think Twitter Is A Public Utility," He Said. "An Internet Broadcasting System." Then He Began To Describe His Vision For Twitter And Pointed Out That Its Status Was Equivalent To "electricity".
You Can Imagine Bradley's Puzzled Look When He Heard These Answers, Especially The Idea That "social Media Companies Are A Public Utility". At The End Of The Meeting, Bradley Said Goodbye To The Founders One By One And Told Evan "we'll Contact Again".
March 2008, Twitter Office, 164 San Francisco South Park, California. (taken By Biz)
Yahoo Didn't Pay For The Rhetoric. Soon After, They Said They Were Willing To Pay Twitter $12 Million - Much Lower Than Dorsey And Others Expected - And Told Twitter That Yahoo Could Easily Master The Technology Needed To Build Twitter Because It Was "a Simple Messaging Service" And "can Be Completed By Several Engineers In A Week." If You Don't Sell Twitter, Yahoo Will Plan To Build And Release A Competitive Product.
The Three Founders Of Twitter Undoubtedly Rejected Yahoo's Proposal. In Their View, The Rather Ironic Acquisition Did Not Undermine The Company's Confidence, But Promoted The Team Spirit. At Least At That Moment, There Was A Consistent Answer To "Twitter Is Nothing":
It Is Not A "messaging Service" That Web1 Bosses Can Freely Collect. It Is Also Far From The Classic Case Of "social Network" Facebook In The Web2 Era - For Example, The Tendency Of Decentralization Defines Itself As An Internet Broadcasting System, And Everyone Can Speak; For Example, The Original Intention Of Openness Is To Greatly Open Various API Interfaces, And Developers Can Call The Data On The Platform At Will (Fred Wilson, One Of Twitter Investors, Even Thinks This Is A Problem); Then Compare It With The Background Of Emphasizing Freedom And Publicity
It Can Be Said That The Above Genes Of Twitter Are Almost CompletebeautifulIt Coincides With The Core Requirement Of The Web3 Era - Let Users Have The Right To Control Their Own Data. Unfortunately, The Word Web3 Was Not Proposed By Gavin Wood, The Co-founder Of Ethereum Until 2014.
Next, Stand Alone In The Era. These Genes Will Affect The Development Direction Of Twitter And Make It Pay A Price For Many Years To Come
02
Disparate Codes Of Ethics
Over Time, Twitter Began To Attract Enthusiastic Investors. In Early May 2008, The Company's Valuation Soared To $60 Million, And Then Increased To $70 Million In The Following Days. Finally, When The News Finally Spread, The Company's Value Had Reached 80 Million.
At The Same Time, Chaos Also Spread Within The Company: After Months Of Painful Tugging And Quarreling, Dorsey, Who Has Been CEO Of Twitter For Less Than Seven Months, Was Considered To Have Limited Management Ability And Was Jointly Driven Off The Stage By His Former Friend, Major Shareholder, Co-founder Evan (holding 70% Of The Company)And Investors. Evan Personally Served As CEO. Although Dorsey Did Not Leave The Company, He Became An "invisible Person" Without Real Power In The Board Of Directors And A Mascot Who Cooperated With The Media To Perform The Company's Good Image, Although He Was Not Very Willing To Cooperate With Such A Role.
Frustrated And Angry, Dorsey Almost Jumped To His Arch Rival Facebook, But Then He Finally Found What He Really Wanted: He And His Old Friend Jim McKelvey Co Founded The Payment Tool Squirrel And Later Renamed It Square. At The Same Time, He Also Has A Sideline - Waiting For The Opportunity To Avenge Evan And The Board.
In Early 2009, The Three Founders Of Twitter Were Dorsey, Evan And Biz From Left To Right At An Award Ceremony. At This Time, Dorsey Had Lost His CEO Position. (source: Flickr)
Looking Back To Evan, The New CEO Of Twitter, On February 13, 2009, Evan Completely Took Over Twitter At This Time. Although The Company Still Has Less Than 30 Full-time Employees (some Freelancers), Twitter Is Still Developing Rapidly, More And More Celebrities Join, And The Number Of Users Has Increased By 900% Within A Year. In Addition To The Operational Pressure Brought By A Large Number Of Users, Evan Has To Deal With Rounds Of Takeover Offers.
This Includes Technology Giant GoogleMicrosoft, Famous Artists, Billionaires, Celebrities, And Even Presidential Candidate Al Gore. Of Course, The Most Important Opponent Is Zuckerberg, Who Runs Facebook. In June 2010, Zuckerberg Made An Appointment With Twitter CEO Evan And Others At His Home, And Once Again Put Forward The Acquisition Invitation. Twitter Still Chose To Refuse And Made Clear Their Differences:
"People Log On To Facebook To Browse Other People's Personal Pages, Which Accounts For The Vast Majority Of The Website's Traffic. News Supply And Information Flow Are Only Used As A Springboard To Browse Other People's Personal Pages. Twitter Has The Opposite Experience. Information Flow And News Account For 90% Of The Website's Traffic, While Personal Pages Account For Only 10%**
In Nick Bilton's Book "incubating Twitter: A Wild Journey From Wilderness To IPO", The Difference Between Twitter And Facebook Is Not Only The Difference Between Social Platforms And Information Networks (demonstrating Their Personal Satisfaction Vs. Information Transparency And Freedom), But Also Different Moral Principles:
"When Evan Founded Blogger Ten Years Ago, He Established A Firm Belief In Providing Blogging Services. At That Time, Twitter's Goal Had Been Established: To Provide People With A Microphone To Speak Their Hearts... In The Past, When Government Officials Knocked On Twitter's Door And Asked For User Information For A Variety Of Reasons, The Managers Of Twitter Support Team Would Refuse," Not Without A Search Warrant. " Twitter Has Become Such A Firm Attitude For Many Years. Like DNA, It Makes It A Different Type Of Company In Silicon Valley.
Twitter Eventually Resisted A Court Order To Extract Twitter Released By Protesters In The Occupy Wall Street Movement. Twitter Also Braved The Political Persecution Of WikiLeaks Online Supporters By The Judiciary.
Unlike Facebook, Twitter Ultimately Allows Users To Choose Not To Be Tracked While Using The Service. Facebook Takes A Completely Different Approach To Free Speech And Tracking, Which Usually Infringes People's Privacy. Sometimes They Even Delete Content That Violates Strict Terms Of Service. Twitter Is As Open As A Public Swimming Pool. "
In Contrast To The Rapid Expansion Of Every Aspect Of The Company, The Number Of Employees Is Growing Slowly, And The Business Income Is Still Zero. Although He Tried Some Methods, Such As Reducing Costs And Building Close Relationships With Important Partners, Evan Still Suffered The Same Treatment As Dorsey: The Board Of Directors And Early Investors Began To Question Whether Evan Could Lead Twitter Into A New Stage, And Finally Decided To Drive Him Down From The CEO Position.
Nick Bilton Disclosed In His Book That Dorsey Played An Ignominious Role In This Process. Just As He Thought He Was Stabbed In The Back By His Friends, He Also Betrayed His Friends. It Was He Who Actively Contacted And Lobbied Important Members Of The Board Of Directors, Partnered To Kick Evan Out Of Twitter And Finally Avenged Himself.
However, Dorsey Did Not Immediately Enjoy The Sweetness Of Revenge. It Is Still Five Years Before He Gets His Former CEO Position Again.
03
Lame Walking
Let's Fast Forward To July 2015. When Dorsey Succeeded In Taking Over The Interim CEO From Dick Costolo, Twitter's Share Price Rose, And People Were Looking Forward To Another Jobs Return ToAppleThe Story Of Turning The Tide, But At This Time, The Face Of Twitter Has Changed A Lot From Five Years Ago.
In November 2013, Twitter Was Listed On The New York Stock Exchange And Officially Became A Listed Company. The Management Team's Control Over The Company Was Significantly Weakened, And Shareholders' Requirements For Twitter's Development Speed And Performance Requirements Were More Urgent.
From 2010 To 2015, Despite Stumbling, Twitter Has Changed From Having No Revenue Channel At All To Generating Revenue Through Advertising. To This End, The Company Continued To Tighten Its Previous Open API Policy, Blocked The Third-party Clients UberTwitter And Twidroyd In 2011, Blocked The Development Interface Of User Data For Third-party Application Developers In 2014, And Strictly Restricted The Tokens Used For Login. Dorsey Resented This Incident. At The End Of 2021, He Also Claimed That "this Is The Worst Thing We Have Ever Done", Argued That He "was Not Running The Company At That Time", And Said That "the Company Has Been Trying To Reopen It Completely."
The Above Behaviors Have Seriously Damaged Twitter's Always Open Gene And Public Image. At The Same Time, They Have Also Attracted A Lot Of Criticism, Which Makes Costello Swing And Limp On The Balance Beam Of Not Irritating Users And Selling More Advertisements. Not Only Is The Growth Of Active Users Worrying, But Also The Commercial Income Can Not Meet The Expectations Of Investors.
In Contrast, Facebook Has No Moral Burden In Extracting User Data And Expanding The Scale Of Advertising. In 2015, The Scale Of Advertising Realized Exceeded US $17 Billion. At That Time, A Company Had To Do Mobile Advertising, And Twitter Would Not Be Considered Until Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Instagram And Snapchat.
There Are Two Problems Facing Dorsey. One Is The Decline In Activity Caused By The Deteriorating Community Environment, And The Platform Is Full Of Lies, Violence, Political Manipulation And Zombie Accounts; Second, Give Back To Shareholders' Demand For Making Money And Find A Business Income Model With Stable Growth. "We Have To Restructure This Company Very Hard," He Said
One Of The Key Points Of The Restructuring Is The Healthy Reform Of The Twitter Community And The Rectification Of Extreme Speech And Online Violence. Twitter Cleaned Up 58 Million Accounts In The Last Quarter Of 2017 And Three Months. By 2018, The Number Of Accounts Closed In May And June Alone Exceeded 70 Million. Under Dorsey, Twitter Often Plays A Platform Role In Defending The Bottom Line Of Freedom Of Speech, But It Is Always Thankless On Both Sides: When They Take Positive Action, Users Complain That Twitter Controls Too Much; When He Wants To Let Go, The Government And The Law Have The Responsibility To Require Them To Intervene.
Efforts To Increase Advertising Revenue Are Still Trapped In The Gene Of The Past: Limiting The API To Leave Users And Data In Its Own Hands In Order To Maximize Commercial Benefits, But It Will Also Damage The Reputation Established By Twitter; Adhering To The Original Intention Of Opening Up Makes The Commercialization Process Far Behind The Expectations Of Shareholders. Even Dorsey, Who Entered The Palace For The Second Time, Did Not Find The Key To Solve The Contradiction At That Time
Twitter Is Still Limping. Although Its Advertising Revenue Has Maintained A Synchronous Growth, It Has Been Thrown Out By Facebook And Is Still Facing Competition From Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest And Other Competitors. Dorsey Was Once Again Caught In The Infighting Of Twitter Investors And Almost Revisited The Nightmare Of Being Expelled More Than A Decade Ago.
04
Leaving And Returning
After The Storm, Although Dorsey Was Able To Stay In Office, It Was More Difficult To Fully Control Twitter.
The Famous Article "agreement Rather Than Platform: On The Technical Method To Realize Freedom Of Speech" Published By Mike Masnick On August 21, 2019 Triggered A Great Discussion In The American Scientific And Intellectual Circles. It Seems That Dorsey Also Found A New Idea To Solve The Problem - The Solution Of Web 3 Version, And Returned The Examination Right To The Users. He Not Only Forwarded It For The First Time, But Also Announced A Few Months Later That He Would Fund The Establishment Of A Relevant Independent Team.
Dorsey Also Mentioned In His Tweet That Twitter Was Like A Set Of Protocols In The Early Years, But Later Took Another Road, Gradually Became Centralized And Developed Into A Platform.
Soon After, Dorsey Set Up A Team Called "bluesky" Within Twitter To Study Technical Standards For Social Media Decentralization. Try To Build An Open-source And Decentralized Community Platform, And Gradually Try To Implement Decentralization On A Highly Centralized Community Platform. The Leader Of The Blue Sky Team Is Dorsey's Successor After Leaving Twitter.
But The Business Problem Remains To Be Solved: The Agreement Does Not Make Money. How To Maintain The Company's Revenue? We Don't Know What Dorsey Really Thinks, But In Reality, Cryptocurrency With Decentralized Protocol Has Become A Possible Path** So You Can See That In His Last Few Years As CEO, Dorsey Almost Aggressively Launched A Series Of Measures To Benefit Web3 And Cryptocurrency On Twitter:
He Launched Twitter Space, Allowing A Large Number Of Web3 Practitioners To Communicate Online In This Space; He Is Also The First To Launch NFT Products Released By Internet Giants, So That Twitter User Avatars Can Be Displayed As NFT And Authenticated; It Also Supports That All Encryption Circle People Have A Twitter Account, And Each Encryption Project Will Register An Account On Twitter And Publish Links In It
Dorsey Himself Has Also Become One Of The Most Important Advocates Of Bitcoin. He Has Not Only Praised Bitcoin As The Future Of Cryptocurrency For Many Times In Public, But Also Actively Promoted Lightning Network Integration, Established Bitcoin Defi Developer Platform, Created Bitcoin Cold Wallet And Built French Currency Version Bitcoin Decentralized Exchange, Showing Dorsey's Yearning For A Decentralized World.
Suji Yan, Founder Of Mask Network, Is A Senior Entrepreneur In The Field Of Web3 And Cryptocurrency And One Of The Few Early Members Of Bluesky. According To His Close Observation, Dorsey Was Under Unprecedented Internal Pressure At That Time. He Almost Expected That His Time As CEO Was Running Out, So He Didn't Hesitate To "do Something Big" Before Leaving**
In The Last Period Of Twitter, Dorsey Simply Used Twitter To Do A Series Of Decentralization Experiments. After He Left Twitter Last Year, As The Helmsman Of The American Version Of Alipay "square", He Directly Changed His Name To "block" And Fully Web3. Recently, He Sent Another Article "repenting" That Twitter Violated Its Original Intention And Led To The Centralization Of The Internet. He Felt Guilty. Until Musk Acquired Twitter This Time, Dorsey Was Also One Of The Most Active People For It, And Even Called Him The "only Trust Solution" To Solve The Twitter Problem.
Dorsey Tweeted: Taking Twitter Back From Wall Street Is The Right First Step. (source: Twitter)
Although Musk Hasn't Mentioned How To Transform Twitter, It Can Be Seen From His Previous Remarks That He Is Very Interested In Adding Cryptocurrency Payment On Twitter And Binding Cryptocurrency To Twitter's Advertising Business. Sam Bankman Fried, CEO Of Cryptocurrency Exchange FTX, Provided Musk With Some "web 3 Transformation" Suggestions On Twitter, Including Chain Encryption Of Tweets, Monetization Of Tweets And Charging For Each Tweet, Advertising On The User Interface, Etc. Brian Armstrong, CEO Of Coinbase, Another Exchange, Believes That Twitter Is Expected To Become A Distributed Protocol Over Time - Which Is Consistent With Dorsey's Original Idea Of Twitter. There Are Rumors That Dorsey Will Return.
The Past Of Twitter Decentralization Comes To An End Here, And The Next Road To Web3 Will Be Completed Under Musk's Strong Influence. Whether He Is An Angel Or A Devil, A New Twitter Will Emerge Soon. I Hope It Can Be Like The Logo Interpretation That It Has Been Used Since 2012, Like A Free North American Mountain Blue Robin, Spreading Its Wings And Flying In The Sky, Rather Than Being Kept In An Iron Cage By An Oligarch.