The Last Office

I actually love Twitter. I know that’s an unpopular thing to say now. The people who care about it are journalists, ADHD YouTubers, and actual Nazis in egg costumes, which is not exactly a compelling advertisement. Most people look at the whole thing and can’t fathom the appeal. They’re content if Facebook still loads.

So Twitter’s closing its Berlin office by year-end. Consolidating in Hamburg. No profit, no stability, just the standard playbook for a dying company—cut costs, trim the fat, make yourself look salable to whoever’s willing to take you off your hands. Some tech billionaire. A Saudi fund. I don’t know anymore.

I’ve seen this film before. You watch something slowly disintegrate, each cost-cutting measure another confirmation that it’s already over. Then it either collapses, which is sad, or someone buys it and it becomes a mausoleum—like what happened to Tumblr, MySpace, StudiVZ. Still technically breathing, still technically a website, but the life drained out. The zombie phase might be worse than death. At least death is honest.

I keep using Twitter anyway. Knowing better. There’s something stubborn or stupid about it, I can’t decide which.