Twitter changes course from all the extras

Future. Twitter is reportedly slowing down its ambitions in every feature, but its OG tweet stuff (and advertising, always advertising). The slowdown is meant to refocus efforts on what the majority of people actually use Twitter for… and may signal that the company wants to clean up the user experience to attract people who have been wary of signing up.

Just the tweets, please
The Verge reports that Twitter is planning on going back to the basics.

• The company is pulling back staff from working on new features such as Spaces, communities, and newsletters.
• Instead, they will prioritize “user growth and personalization” in its core function: posting hot takes… err… sending tweets.
• The one new feature that is still on the table for a future rollout is the controversial edit button.

Rebuilding the nest
A Twitter spokesperson said the changes reflect Twitter’s mission “to better focus on the areas that will have the greatest positive impact to the public conversation.” That could just be cover for the fact that many legacy social platforms tried to expand during the pandemic in the wake of outsized success from platforms like Substack and Clubhouse. Everyone wanted a piece of that action… but the early adopters had already found their home in the new startups.

Of course, all of this could change because Twitter is undergoing a pretty significant transition. CEO Parag Agrawal canned both the consumer products leader and the head of revenue in recent weeks. And, like every other company in Silicon Valley, Twitter is slowing down hiring. Oh, and let’s not forget that the specter of Elon Musk potentially taking over the company still haunts the halls of the HQ.