We are live with our CEO @jack from the @MorganStanley Tech, Media and Telecom Conference 2020.
Our forward-looking Tweets, like those about future events and performance, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially. For details about risks that may impact our business, please see our last Form 10-K and our other SEC filings.
And now, a few words from @jack speaking at the @MorganStanley Tech, Media and Telecom Conference 2020
Health has been a priority for us for a few years now and the #1 initiative is the integrity of the conversation around the elections, not just in the US but around the world. We’ve learned a lot from elections around the world and that will inform our approach going forward.
We are using machine learning to help identify misleading information… pairing tech with human insight and creativity to make sure we get to better answers.
On revenue product, we are rebuilding our core ad server. We’ve made a ton of progress and that should be complete in the first half of this year.
Direct response for us starts with MAP. We see a lot of developers that want to promote apps and we are focusing energy on making that a great experience. It’s the start of a strategy to get more performance based ad dollars.
5 years ago we had to do a really hard reset and that takes time to build from… we had been a company that was trying to do too many things...
...Focusing on one job and increasing accountability has made a huge difference for us. One of our core jobs is to keep people informed. We want to be a service that people turn to... to see what’s happening, to be a credible source that people learn from.
Some people talk about the slow pace of development at Twitter. The expectation is to see surface level changes, but the most impactful changes are happening below the surface. I’m talking about increased relevance.
We were not applying machine learning in the core product 5 years ago. We were not looking critically at the timeline and how to save people time to get to something meaningful. Improved relevance in the timeline has had a meaningful impact.
Notifications is another area that benefited from increased relevance. They're much more informative + useful now. Doubling character count is another example of change that enabled more nuanced conversations... these things that look small can compound over time + be impactful.
For ad business, as we get more signal around people’s interests + ppl converse more, we have a much larger canvas against which to match advertisers. Twitter is the best place to launch something new + connect w/ what’s happening - that message resonates deeply w/ advertisers.
Over the past few years we have done such an amazing job hiring... getting great people, phenomenal engineering talent, that maybe we couldn’t get 3 years ago. We are attracting people who want to be at a company that has an impact on the world and follows words with actions.
Engineering is my main focus. Everything else follows from that.
When I tweeted about my intention to spend a few months in Africa this year, I made a mistake and should have provided more context about why.
Africa will be one of the most populated continents in the next 20-30 yrs, the tech innovation is incredible w/ a large portion of the population still coming onto the internet. Huge opportunity especially for young people to join Twitter + for us to learn to best serve them.
I had been working on my plans where I’d work decentralized, as my team and I do when we travel, but in light of COVID-19 and everything else going on I need to reevaluate. Either way we’ll continue to pursue opportunities in Africa.
