Twitter announced last week that it will cut nine percent of its workforce to make up for slowing revenue growth.
The fast-paced timeline and up-to-the-second news availability have pushed the boundaries of the way we receive, report and consume news media. It is, however, not without issues.
Twitter has experienced recent controversies by replacing its timeline’s chronological order with a more algorithmic-based one and how it handles harassment.
Do you think this is the beginning of the end for Twitter as social media platforms before it have experienced? Is this just a slight bump in the road that is normal for any major company? Why?
[tabgroup][tab title=”Caprice Carter”]Senior staff columnist Caprice Carter
I think it’s just the beginning for Twitter. As far as social media goes, Twitter is a leading force despite the controversial changes it is making.
It is only a slight bump in the road as most social media platforms have their time of intense scrutiny. This includes Facebook when it was discovered that they were “stealing” user photos for ads and running secretive social experiments.
However, both Twitter and Facebook host disclaimers on their websites, something that users aren’t obligated to agree to. If someone doesn’t like the changes to Twitter, then simply don’t use it, but I think it’ll be quite a while before the site sees its last tweet.
Who knows how long the Twitter dynasty might last, but we can only hope it goes down with more dignity than Myspace when the time comes.
[/tab][tab title=”Thom Dwyer”]Assistant opinion editor Thom Dwyer
I think that Twitter’s cuts show that the company is determined to remain a top social media contender.
While the company has taken some unprecedented steps to preserve itself, such as axing Vine, Twitter will continue to trudge along. Going farther, if Myspace is still around, Twitter is most certainly not going anywhere.
There will always be some entity out there looking to tap into the social media market and willing to acquire Twitter. Even though Disney pulled out of acquiring Twitter, as time goes on, someone will certainly come along and express interest in it.
[/tab][tab title=”Jorden Smith”]Senior staff columnist Jorden Smith
Though Twitter has been on a downward spiral as of late, there’s really no chance anything is going to happen to its popularity. The reason sites such as Facebook (marginally) and Myspace fell was because there was always another social media platform ready to take its place.
There’s really no new option at the moment to steal Twitter’s users unless they decide to go back to Facebook.
The business cycle is that of rising and falling profits, meaning every company experiences some level sort of deviation by quarter. Twitter has quite a small number of employees, so the nine percent cut does not mean much in the grand scheme of things.
Twitter does need to make a few changes. If it doesn’t, a new and more exciting platform will likely be introduced. Then it will fall.
[/tab][/tabgroup]“Focus Friday” contributors can be reached at [email protected]
