From the BBC website:
Twitter announced on Thursday that it was cutting 9% of its workforce following slow growth of the social network.
"In the coming months we'll be discontinuing the [Vine] mobile app," the company said in a blog.
When he learned of the change, Rus Yusupov (one of Vine's three co-founders) - tweeted: "Don't sell your company!"
A quick search revealed that it's not just a rumor - it appears to be confirmed
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday October 30 2016, @09:27PM
Twitter was absolutely free of charge for quite a long time, then started charging for such things as having lots of followers.
Much of Google's services are free of charge.
Most of the sites on the web are free of charge. They are supported by advertising, but there are too many free sites and not enough products getting sold to support that advertising.
Back in the day, most software cost money. Yes there was pirating but enough people paid to make for-pay software worthwhile.
We need a different way to support our businesses.
I don't want to pay for my websites because I want to remain anonymous. I don't care who reads what I post, but I don't want advertisers to track my movements.
RMS suggests a software tax.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 30 2016, @09:44PM
I'd like a link to the rms software tax proposal, if you have it. Otherwise I'll come across it at a later time :P
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 31 2016, @01:51AM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman#Copyright_reduction [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by frojack on Sunday October 30 2016, @09:46PM
True, twitter never had much of a business plan.
(I'm astounded to learn somebody actually PAYS to have a twitter account, but if you say so, It must be true).
They've now started selling topical tweets to TV news programs, and news sites on the web.
I don't know a single person who uses twitter AT ALL, yet I see crappy tweets in news stories, baseball games, and local TV news casts.
Twitter has done more damage to modern discourse than any other platform I can recall. The havoc you can wreak by typing 140 characters without resorting to the thought process is astounding.
I doubt there is any funding method twitter could use that would get the users to pay anything approximating a return on infrastructure costs alone, let alone a profit. So they are left with selling the content.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 30 2016, @10:53PM
A new business model for web content is emerging (think: Amazon Prime and Netflix), but you aren't going to like it.
(Score: 2) by Capt. Obvious on Monday October 31 2016, @01:12AM
What, I pay a few bucks and I don't have to look at ads? Perfect.
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Monday October 31 2016, @04:30AM
And pay a few bucks more per month for each separate publisher. If you follow five different shows, each exclusive to a different platform (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, CBS, HBO, etc.), prepare to pay at least as much as you would have to a traditional cable or satellite TV provider.
(Score: 2) by Capt. Obvious on Monday October 31 2016, @05:33PM
Does CBS even charge money for their content?
I'm not too worried - the ever-present threat of piracy should serve to keep prices low. There's also far more content than I ever want to watch, so if I opt into binging from one service one month, and a different one the next, that seems fine. Since I don't care about watching shows at the same time as other people, that works out for me.
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Tuesday November 01 2016, @03:20PM
Does CBS even charge money for their content?
Yes. Source: CBS All Access [cbs.com], listed as $10 per month, or $6 per month with ads.
so if I opt into binging from one service one month, and a different one the next, that seems fine.
Some streaming providers have started to recognize this and lock viewers into multiple-month commitments. Amazon Prime, for instance, is an annual commitment, as are the major professional sport leagues' out-of-market streaming packages.
In addition, a lot of these paywalled sites carry "news", or works with a short shelf life. Say you subscribe to The New York Times one month and The Wall Street Journal the next, and a story here or on the green site [slashdot.org] links to a news article site other than the one you're subscribing to this month. Then by the time your subscription rotation rolls around to that site, the 14-day commenting window on the story will have closed, not to mention the 1-day window to post comments that are actually seen and replied to. If you're sensitive to spoilers around the water cooler at work, especially for so-called "reality" game shows, the video sites are the same way.