On the evening of Tuesday, Feb. 12, Recode editor-at-large Kara Swisher began a long conversation with Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey on his own platform. Swisher, the self-described "grumpy lady of tech," set a precedent early on that she wouldn't go easy on Dorsey, and she stayed true to her word.
The conversation that followed was not just full of news around where Twitter sees its priorities in 2019, but included several best practices for communicators about everything from automation to media relations and beyond. Here are some of our key learnings.
Twitter conversations are still hard to follow after the fact
Swisher made no bones about referencing how clunky Twitter's interface is when it comes to organizing a long conversation. Though the platform prioritized its ability to thread conversations by replying as recently as last year, this long conversation shows there's still much work to be done.
Ok. Definitely not easy to follow the conversation. Exactly why we are doing this. Fixing stuff like this will help I believe. #Karajack
— jack (@jack) February 12, 2019
To his credit, Jack acknowledged the platform's limitations, and implied that his team was looking for feedback around the conversation as an opportunity to collect data on how conversation threading on the platform can improve.
This thread was hard. But we got to learn a ton to fix it. Need to make this feel a lot more cohesive and easier to follow. Was extremely challenging. Thank you for trying it with me. Know it wasn’t easy. Will consider different formats! #Karajack
— jack (@jack) February 12, 2019
Show, don't tell
Writing programs across the land evangelize this phrase, which stresses using images and scene to tell your story instead of just talking about things in expository or theoretical ways.
This phrase should also be top of mind when being interviewed and asked hard questions, as it serves to remind communicators that having concrete examples around the points you are trying to make will always resonate with more authenticity than vague explanations or general statements of intent.
Swisher reminded Jack of his own reputation for responding with vagaries early on:
As @ashleyfeinberg wrote: “press him for a clear, unambiguous example of nearly anything, and Dorsey shuts down.” That is not unfair characterization IMHO. Third, I will thread in questions from audience, but to keep this non chaotic, let’s stay in one reply thread. #KaraJack
— Kara Swisher (@karaswisher) February 12, 2019
She then reminded him of his tendency to give surface responses every time she wasn't satisfied with an answer:
please be specific. I see a lot of beard-stroking on this (no insult to your Lincoln jam, but it works). WHAT are you changing? SPECIFICALLY. #KaraJack
— Kara Swisher (@karaswisher) February 12, 2019
1. WHICH?
2. HOW?
3. OK, MUTE BUT THAT WAS A WHILE AGO
4. WHAT MORE?
I think people are dying for specifics. #karajack— Kara Swisher (@karaswisher) February 12, 2019
Twitter knows where its biggest communication pain points are—do they echo your own?
Whatever your organization's biggest issues with Twitter as a communication platform are, rest assured, the C-suite knows about them, too.
I also don’t feel good about how Twitter tends to incentivize outrage, fast takes, short term thinking, echo chambers, and fragmented conversation and consideration. Are they fixable? I believe we can do a lot to address. And likely have to change more fundamentals to do so.
— jack (@jack) February 12, 2019
Again, while specific details about what fundamentals could change these issues would inspire more confidence, Dorsey's above comment showed that he is certainly listening. It's also a reminder that while the platform is great for quick, sharable and topical bursts, its focus on short-form blasts impedes more nuanced, non-binary viewpoints.
To that last point, Swisher pushed Dorsey to acknowledge that, beyond changing the interface itself, the makeup of who is actually building out Twitter's innovations might be part of the problem.
I think it’s fair and real. No question. Our org has to be reflective of the people we’re trying to serve. One of the reason we established the Trust and Safety council years ago, to get feedback and check ourselves. #Karajack
— jack (@jack) February 12, 2019
Likely a reason. I’m certain lack of diversity didn’t help with empathy of what people experience on Twitter every day, especially women. #Karajack
— jack (@jack) February 12, 2019
Trying to solve all your business pain points at once is counterproductive—prioritize them
Swisher's question about representation at Twitter HQ followed a dialogue with Dorsey around Twitter's main focus—protecting the safety and welfare of its users when problematic content translates to real-world conflict. To that end, said Dorsey, moving fast to try and solve all of its problems at once was not an effective crisis mitigation strategy.
It’s the reality. We tried to do too much at once and were not focused on what matters most. That contributes to slowness. As does our technology stack and how quickly we can ship things. That’s improved a lot recently #karajack
— jack (@jack) February 12, 2019
Transparency between platforms and government is nothing for PR Pros to fear
Dorsey seemed to have the most concrete examples of progress around the role that social platforms play in larger international crises. Pressed by Swisher to call out its biggest win, Dorsey celebrated Twitter's role in combating bad actors whose coordinated efforts on the platform can influence elections, encourage genocides, or enable other disastrous, real-world tragedies.
Our work against automations and coordinated campaigns. Partnering with government agencies to improve communication around threats #karajack
— jack (@jack) February 12, 2019
We shared a retro on 2018 within this country, and tested a lot with the Mexican elections too. Indian elections coming up. In mid-terms we were able to monitor efforts to disrupt both online and offline and able to stop those actions on Twitter. #Karajack
— jack (@jack) February 12, 2019
We should expect a lot more coordination between governments and platforms to address. That would give me confidence. And have some skepticism too. That’s healthy. The more we can do this work in public and share what we find, the better #karajack
— jack (@jack) February 12, 2019
Dorsey's words on these issues will no doubt be re-shared to uphold Twitter's role in contributing to social media regulation. Communicators should also be reminded that any coordination between these platforms and lawmakers (like Senator Mark Warner) around regulation will only improve the user experience, and trust, in the platforms that hold themselves accountable. In the long view, perhaps those are the places where your ad dollars are best spent.
Follow Justin: @Joffaloff