Twitter removed the first bundle of bots recently and it’s share price DROPPED by 20%.
It still has the same number of (real) people, just now they have less spam and fake news to contend with.
But investors don’t care. All they see is the number of active Twitter users is down. This does make sense. It’s the same number Twitter has aggressively pushed to justify its value.
Now Twitter is discovering it’s very hard to switch to driving outcomes that matter because investors are used to measuring Twitter by simpler engagement metrics.
This is a classic engagement trap. If you’re measured by engagement metrics, it’s almost impossible to build a community that matters.
You’re probably caught in the engagement trap too. It looks like this:
This is why you should never report engagement metrics to your boss. It might sound like a good idea today, but it will kill you tomorrow. You can’t build a great community when you’re forced to chase metrics that don’t matter.
