Twitter Co-Founder Doesn’t "Give a S**t" About Instagram’s User Numbers
Facebook has over 300 million reasons why it can justify acquiring Instagram, the photo and video sharing app that now has more users than Twitter. That's an impressive feat, but if you're thinking Twitter co-founder Evan Williams is bothered by that fact, think again. Addressing the topic head on, Williams did his best honey badger impression, saying in no uncertain terms that he doesn't care.
Williams voiced his opinion in an interview with Fortune. To Williams, it's not simply a numbers game, which can be deceiving anyway. An example he gives is when a user fires up an app that he logged into using Facebook Connect. That person would qualify as an active Facebook user regardless of whether he ever launched the actual Facebook app or visited the site.
He makes a good point, though none better than the apples to oranges argument.
"If you think about the impact Twitter has on the world versus Instagram, it’s pretty significant. It’s at least apples to oranges," Williams said, before going into honey badger mode. "Twitter is what we wanted it to be. It’s this real-time information network where everything in the world that happens on Twitter—important stuff breaks on Twitter and world leaders have conversations on Twitter. If that’s happening, I frankly don’t give a sh*t if Instagram has more people looking at pretty pictures."
Okay, maybe Williams is bothered by Instagram's user count, or more precisely, the big deal that people are making about it. In following up his above comment, Williams pointed out that "Twitter makes a hell of lot more money money than Instagram, if that's what Wall Street cares about," though he stopped shy of offering up specific figures.
Nevertheless, he makes a good point. Twitter is a multifaceted social network in which users can follow the musings of celebrities, post pics of their lunch, or relay real-time news information in times of natural emergencies. It can also bring about social and political change and bring awareness to issues that in another time period would be swept under the rug. It just can't seem to attract more so-called active users than a popular photo sharing app.
Williams voiced his opinion in an interview with Fortune. To Williams, it's not simply a numbers game, which can be deceiving anyway. An example he gives is when a user fires up an app that he logged into using Facebook Connect. That person would qualify as an active Facebook user regardless of whether he ever launched the actual Facebook app or visited the site.
He makes a good point, though none better than the apples to oranges argument.
"If you think about the impact Twitter has on the world versus Instagram, it’s pretty significant. It’s at least apples to oranges," Williams said, before going into honey badger mode. "Twitter is what we wanted it to be. It’s this real-time information network where everything in the world that happens on Twitter—important stuff breaks on Twitter and world leaders have conversations on Twitter. If that’s happening, I frankly don’t give a sh*t if Instagram has more people looking at pretty pictures."
Okay, maybe Williams is bothered by Instagram's user count, or more precisely, the big deal that people are making about it. In following up his above comment, Williams pointed out that "Twitter makes a hell of lot more money money than Instagram, if that's what Wall Street cares about," though he stopped shy of offering up specific figures.
Nevertheless, he makes a good point. Twitter is a multifaceted social network in which users can follow the musings of celebrities, post pics of their lunch, or relay real-time news information in times of natural emergencies. It can also bring about social and political change and bring awareness to issues that in another time period would be swept under the rug. It just can't seem to attract more so-called active users than a popular photo sharing app.
