A hot tech company, Salesforce,* just decided not to bid for Twitter. . . perhaps because of cyberbullying. According to yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, Twitter Inc. was left at the altar on Friday after Salesforce.com Inc. walked away from pursuing a marriage. This all but extinguishes hopes for a near-term sale of Twitter as it struggles to accelerate revenue growth.
A reversal by Salesforce Chief Executive Marc Benioff, who previously had signaled interest in a merger, calling Twitter an “unpolished jewel,” follows the departure of other prospective suitors, including Walt Disney Co. and Google parent Alphabet Inc.
Cyberbullying an ongoing problem.
All this is important because there’s been speculation that Twitter needs revenue (a better income stream) to deal with a variety of problems. One problem involves accusations that it doesn’t do enough to prevent cyberbullying.
Cyberbullying involves involves the use of electronic media for intentional, recurrent, and aggressive harassment of a person or group.
This info is from a respected media commentator, Matt Kapko, back on Aug 12, 2016:
Cyberbulling rampant on Twitter?
“The cyberbullying problem at Twitter is so bad that critics are starting to suggest it could bring the company down.
On Thursday, a rumor about a Twitter shutdown in early 2017 spread faster than wildfire in Southern California. Users chimed in en masse, making #SaveTwitter a trending hashtag that spawned memes, jokes and ridicule. By midday, Twitter had to awkwardly deny reports of its death.
Twitter needs to stop cyberbullying.
The company faces many challenges, including sagging user growth and continued financial loss. However, the hate speech, bullying and mob mentality that run rampant on the platform are problems Twitter has battled for roughly a decade. “We suck at dealing with abuse and trolls on the platform and we’ve sucked at it for years,” wrote former CEO Dick Costolo in an internal memo obtained by TheVerge.com 18 months ago. “It’s no secret and the rest of the world talks about it every day. We lose core user after core user by not addressing simple trolling issues that they face every day.”
Abuse a core feature on Twitter?
As the #SaveTwitter drama unfolded, BuzzFeed.com published a scathing report detailing Twitter’s 10-year failure to address harassment on the site. The report, which is based on interviews with high-level former employees, reads: “The social network’s long history with abuse has been fraught with inaction and organizational disarray. Fenced in by an abiding commitment to free speech above all else and a unique product that makes moderation difficult and trolling almost effortless, Twitter has, over a chaotic first decade marked by shifting business priorities and institutional confusion, allowed abuse and harassment to continue to grow as a chronic problem and perpetual secondary internal priority.”
Abuse isn’t just a “bug” in Twitter’s service, according to the report, it’s a fundamental feature.
Twitter denied the former employees’ allegations but declined to address specifics or share plans to combat the abuse. “We feel there are inaccuracies in the details and unfair portrayals but rather than go back and forth with BuzzFeed, we are going to continue our work on making Twitter a safer place,” the company said in a statement. “There is a lot of work to do but please know we are committed, focused, and will have updates to share soon.”
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Those “updates” can’t come soon enough for Twitter and its 313 million monthly active users, who are increasingly frustrated by the company’s excuses and inaction. The latest reports of Twitter’s death may be greatly exaggerated, but the recent rumor is rooted in an undeniable truth: cyberbullying and abuse on Twitter is getting worse, and it could eventually kill the company.
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Twitter could quickly limit the bullying with new filters and required user-identity verification, but such measures would cut into the company’s already abysmal bottom line. By failing to act, however, Twitter makes a conscious decision to allow harassment on its network. Even if systemic bullying doesn’t bring the company all the way down, it will certainly drag Twitter further into the gutter.”
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*If you can believe the Salesforce website touting its customer relationship management (CRM) software, nobody can help you connect with customers like Salesforce. On average, companies using Salesforce see:
- +27% increase in sales revenues
- +32% increase in lead conversion
- +34% increase in customer satisfaction
- +56% faster deployment
CRM lets you store and manage prospect and customer information, like contact info, accounts, leads, and sales opportunities, in one central location. You’ll discover that it’s not just a fancy contact list. Ultimately, a CRM solution is a game-changing piece of technology for every industry under the sun — from retail and manufacturing, to real estate, construction, and many more
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