Paskalis said Dorsey apparently seemed to make the importance of Twitter as a “town square” and the responsibilities placed on the company and brands a safer place. Dorsey tried to restart Twitter after the platform gained a reputation as a place of widespread harassment and abuse. Perception was one of the biggest issues, holding back user growth and advertiser demand.
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Paskalis and others credit Dorsey for listening to advertisers and taking steps to implement brand safety controls and community standards. “He stabilized the platform,” said Paskalis.
In 2016, Dorsey’s first full year as CEO, Twitter generated $ 2.5 billion in revenue, mostly from advertising. This year, Twitter is expected to generate more than $ 5 billion in revenue this year, according to its quarterly financial reports and forecasts. Compared to Facebook, Google, and Amazon, Twitter is still a niche social media platform, competing for brand money with Pinterest and Snapchat. Facebook, now called Meta, generated nearly $ 85 billion in advertising revenue last year. Twitter has been withheld in part because of its “Town Square,” which is a compelling place to consume news and common interests, but it can also pose risks to brands.
However, Twitter and Dorsey have received credit for taking tough positions in politically turbulent waters. Twitter was the first platform to block former President Donald Trump’s account. Given Trump’s popularity with a large core of Twitter users, it was a risky decision and a potentially damaging choice for Twitter’s engagement rates. In 2019, Twitter also banned political advertising, though some of its peers were reluctant to go that far.
However, it is unclear how much Dorsey was involved in some of the toughest decisions for the platform. The Twitter team, which included new CEO Agrawal, made some of these calls behind the scenes. A former Twitter employee who was close to Dorsey said he was sometimes absent from most political decisions. A “visionary” leader of Twitter, Dorsey often ran his other company, Square, attended meditation retreats, and philosophized about the next generation of crypto, said the person. “There were moments when Jack was out of the pocket,” said the Twitter alum. He also “didn’t care about advertising,” that person said, and Dorsey had to be persuaded to take on some of the official duties as CEO of a billionaire advertising company.
