**In this article the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
The entire article is my “opinion”, you as always are free to one too.
I’ve been getting A LOT of questions about Shitter of late. Many of my friends are even concerned because they live on Shitter, and make many shits per day. My nephew is upset that Shitter may be gone by the time his mom allows him on it.. Obviously I’m changing the name of a well known social media platform for this article, because I’m gonna say some shit. This particular social media platform was recently purchased. A purchase I might add that many of my following even seem concerned will put the SLT soul-tribe and Shitter feed in particular in jeopardy.
No worries. Let me simply explain some basic economics and the why of it all, because there’s a lot of bad press out there about what’s happening, and there’s even celebrities, mostly low or mid-level bull shit ones that nobody’s cared about in years leaving the platform in droves causing trending hashtags to pop-up left and right, which have everyone and their grandmother threating to leave the platform as well.
First off, calm the fuck down people….!! Secondly, SLT will always be fine, if all goes to shit on Shitter we can easily transition to making the SLT Facebook page our primary. Or, in the future if necessary I can always install a social media app right here in this blog. Which I can easily do, but keeping spam out of it will be a bit of a nightmare which is why I chose to just stick with the corporate apps for now. Either way SLT will be fine on the social media front. The only one who’s fucked is my nephew. Yup the Shitter we know today will not be there in 5 years when he’s old enough to go on..
Now having said that and knowing a thing or two about business let me explain what’s “REALLY” happening on Shitter.. We will change the names to rhyming names to protect the innocent and keep search engine onlookers out. But like all businesses it all boils down to economics. As always I’m going to home-spin it for you. So if you didn’t go to the London school of economics don’t panic, you’ll be fine.. It’s all really quite elementary my dear Watsons.
So the story begins with this fella we’ll call Mr. Dusk who one day had a hissy-fit about a social media platform that we’ll call “Shitter”. He wanted more free-speech, and was MAD that it was leaning too far left, and also that his favorite person Ronald Dump was permanently banned. “Remember that phrase by the way, “free-speech”, it’ll be back later.”
So in the middle of this hissy-fit Mr. Dusk announced he is going to buy “Shitter”. The thing is, we don’t always do smart things during a hissy-fit. Too much emotion or too much ego and we go out of balance and because of that, common-sense flies out the window. See my recent article on “Balance” for more about that. So anyway Mr. Dusk made what I and many others can only describe as a dumb-ass attack infused shit deal for the “shitter’ platform. He had to pay a price premium to buy it. That premium over-valued the company by about 18 to 20 Billion dollars. What I mean is, he overpaid by 18 to 20 BILLION dollars. When you factor in the profit and loss, overhead, and debt etc. He pretty-much paid 20 dollars for a Snicker bar. lol
Once the hissy-fit died down and Mr. Dusk came to his senses he did what any now balanced and rational person would do and he tried to back out of the deal. But he failed to be able to do this for countless legal reasons, and also a what seemed like a bit of an ego hit in the press. So he was stuck with the deal, if for no other reason than to save-face.
To make matters worse he took out loans to make the purchase. The interest on those loans for this overpriced “Shitter” platform total about 1 Billion per year. Soooooo… Mr. Dusk, in a panic, is scrambling to pull a profit out of his ass. And of course he will seem calm on the surface, it’s all part of the plan. The Burger King types (King of Wands, ego, pride) usually are this way. It’s the guy who trips on the sidewalk and rather than man-up and admit a mistake, pretends they meant for it to happen. I do applaud Mr. Dusk for rolling with the punches though.
So in this panic to try to recoup billions of lost dollars on this in my opinion horrible deal, he’s of course trying to find any way possible to turn a profit. Laying off employees left and right, revamping the whole platform, and even planning to change it to an all in one app. Forgetting all about the fact that people don’t like change, let alone rapid change, he’s doing himself in my opinion a great deal of damage by working so quickly. But he has to, it’s a shit deal, and it needs to show some profit or he’s fucked..
So he has to turn Shitter into a money machine!! If he doesn’t those loans and their interest will eat him alive no matter how much money he has. And while he’d survive the financial losses, and in fact could write many of them off, he would not survive the blow to his ego. Knowing plenty of people like him, of that I’m pretty certain. But that’s what PR agencies are for. I’m sure he could “spin it” if he had to in order to mitigate the ego damage. After all Burger Kings always shift blame.
But he does have a vision for it all. A vision of Shitter not just being a social app, but an “everything” app. A one-stop shop. Don’t get me started on how expensive paradigm shifts are. Even if he builds this app, it’ll cost a fortune to build and billions more to what marketers call “educate the public”. Basically it’s expensive to educate people about a new thing to not only draw them in, but also get them to change their current purchasing habits. I give it an 8 on the risky scale if I’m honest.
So in an effort to make it all look good, and make him look like the King of Wands who has it all under control he’s revamping, and plans to reverse policies, and even talks a great game about “free-speech”. My goodness does he come across like an angel. I’m always suspicious of that, because angels never come across like angels. But as for monetizing everything he can about Shitter, there’s nothing else he can do. He must turn a profit. I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns into what I call a Nickel and dime app. Meaning you have to pay to see videos or pay to do this or that. By the time you’re done, to do anything on the platform you’ll need to spend spend spend. Sort of like some of the apps we have on our phones. Having said that, I’ll take this opportunity to thank Mr. Dusk for ruining something that was pretty cool as it was. Thank you so much… LOL Angel??? hmmm? I don’t know???… hmmm?
Look… he has no choice but to monetize as much as he can. He has my sympathy anyway. He made a bad deal in my opinion and the opinion of many others. It was an emotional impulse buy that can’t be returned. Those are never good. BUT most of the core changes won’t be the real issue with “shitter” going forward. The real issue will be the side-effect of those core changes and Mr. Dusk’s notion of “free-speech”. Which is why many of the celebs are leaving by the way. They feel Shitter is already starting to become a “bad hateful neighborhood” shall we say…
Free-speech means both sides get to be heard. I can say what I want and you can say what you want. It also affords the luxury of expressing opinions about leadership. What’s actually happening and it already has in the other direction with the previous owners of “shitter” is the “my way or the highway” mentality version of free-speech is setting in. It’s just reversing direction from left to right under the new management. But that’s the version of free-speech that’s prevalent in the societal energies anyway.
The human race is 1000 years from enlightenment on the level necessary for real balance and “true” free-speech. And I’m being generous by saying 1000 years. I personally think we’ll kill ourselves off long long before then being the greedy selfish creatures that we are. But free-speech has been dead for a long time anyway. In fact, sadly most Americans don’t even know that free-speech doesn’t appear in the constitution. It’s the 1st “amendment”. Meaning, WE ADDED IT LATER in an almost “oh shit we forgot something” moment in 1791. And it was added in part because the whole point of starting America and fighting a war against England was to get the fuck away from King George the III,,, who to sum it up for you, was an asshole, who controlled everything, and taxed everything.
The problem is, “true” freedom of speech the way it was intended by the founding fathers is only achieved when each side is respected by the other side. Meaning I think one thing, you listen, you respect my point of view, and then reply with your side, and in-turn I listen, and I respect your point of view. Then we reach through discussion a compromise. And this concept of checks and balances and compromise is the very basis of why our government is set up the way it is. Emphasis on the word “balance”. Which we’ve gone WAAAY out of in our society. I’m joking here but I’m kind of not… I’m almost waiting for the word “compromise” to be removed from US English dictionaries. lol We really are a my way or the highway society. And that’s NOT the spirit of the 1st amendment.
I don’t know about any of you but that paragraph above and its actual description of “true” free-speech doesn’t sound to me at all like the human race we live among right now. And that’s because it’s not!! Our societal environment right now is one of, you can speak freely as long as you agree with me!! And I’m sorry but that’s NOT free-speech!! That’s fascism, and I’ll take a pass on that thank you… The last time we saw that was WWII. And I believe in that war, America fought against it… Now we seem to have half the population FOR IT!! WHAT???
My point is, Mr. Dusk can do anything he fucking wants with whatever his perception of “free-speech” is and allow both sides equal say. Even if Mr. Dusk’s interpretation of free-speech was spot-on with what the founding fathers wanted IT WOULD MAKE NO DIFFERENCE!!
We’d actually in my opinion be better off in the current environment if we had a “shitter” for one side and another “shitter” for the other side. Because and for reasons I’ve already stated, the environment for “true” free-speech to function, i.e. balance and compromise through calm discussions and debates just plain doesn’t exist in our societal energies today. The two sides cannot and will not under this current energy, in this world we live in, ever have any balance or compromise and the calm or at least civil discussions necessary for it. In the current energy differing opinions result in one side slipping into violence, i.e. my way or the highway mentality, rather than a compromise mentality.
So to sum up the “shitter” situation…. Make it real simple so you get it.
“Some fucking rich guy freaked out and made an impulse buy, tried to back out of it when he calmed down because it was a bad deal made in an emotional moment, couldn’t, and now is trying to do anything to mitigate his losses and turn a profit before loans are called in and billions in interest pile up, and worse yet, precious ego is lost.”
So that’s what’s happening and why Shitter is going in the Shitter right now. It’s all another case of a Burger King whose got to have it their way coming in and ruining something that was working just fine without them.
So why did “shitter” sell then? WHY you ask??? Why wouldn’t they? I mean on one hand Dusk bought all of the shares.. But the board still could have said no if his offer was too low. But his offer was ridiculously high…. Here’s an analogy.. Imagine you had a car that was worth $5000 and you loved it, had no interest in selling it. NOPE I’ll never sell you would say every day…. Then one day some fucking moron comes along, knocks at your door and says….. hey love your car, I’ll give you 100 grand for it!! You say, it’s only worth 5 grand.. They say, okay…. I’ll give you 200 grand then… You’d sell it in a heartbeat. Anyone would..!! A fool and his money soon go their separate ways as they say..
Plain and simple and in Sesame Street terms, that’s pretty much what’s going on. So do I care? Nope… Other than the fact I have to listen to my nephew complain about it every day. Am I going to pay for “shitter’ if they start charging. Nope… Not a dime!! If we have to we’ll move the SLT basecamp to the Facebook page. And if Mr. Dusk buys that too and fucks that up, we’ll move the SLT basecamp to a social media app that I install on this very blog server. Done and doner.. Easily fixed…
So we don’t have any worries. The only one with worries is Dusk. You may not see it on his face, but I’m Steve.. I sure as god damn hell can feel it, and it’s all over his micro-expressions. A day or two ago for fun I pulled some cards on his Shitter deal. And I think Justice reversed crossing the King of Wands says it all… It’s a message of hubris built right into the energy. it’s the energy of an ill advised ego-based move.
But I do wish Mr. Dusk luck, because that’s just a kind thing to do….
–Cheers
