Twitter CEO Asks Users How They’d Improve the Platform

Jack Dorsey copied Airbnb’s Brian Chesky’s approach of crowdsourcing advice for his own company.

By Lydia Belanger | Dec 30, 2016
Drew Angerer / Staff | Getty Images

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On Christmas night, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky tweeted, “If @Airbnb could launch anything in 2017, what would it be?” Inspired by this callout, Jack Dorsey used his own company’s product yesterday to take a page out of Chesky’s book.

On Thursday, Dorsey tweeted, “Following in the footsteps of Brian Chesky: what’s the most important thing you want to see Twitter improve or create in 2017? #Twitter2017”

Related: Airbnb CEO Asks Twitter What His Company Should Launch in 2017

Earlier this week, Dorsey promoted Chesky’s suggestions callout by quote-tweeting it with the caption, “Love this.” Less than 24 hours after the thread began, Chesky tweeted that he had received more than 1,000 ideas — everything from tips for improving Airbnb’s booking interface to expanding the company to Mars.

Respondents to Dorsey’s brainstorm session included techno-sociologist Zeynep Tufekci, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark and Box co-founder and CEO Aaron Levie. As of Friday morning at 9:49 a.m., Dorsey’s initial tweet had garnered 5,960 replies, 1,309 retweets and 2,520 likes. (He also created a similar thread for Square, the other company he leads, which has received 219 replies.)

Related: Twitter’s Jack Dorsey on How Entrepreneurs Should Use Twitter

Dorsey received several suggestions about cracking down on bullying and harassment on Twitter, to which he replied that the company has done a lot of work but has a lot more to do.

The thread was also a forum for debate about a feature many users have demanded for quite some time: Tweet editing. Dozens of people weighed in with thoughts about time limits and clear labels for edited tweets.

Twitter has implemented a few product tweaks this year, such as removing usernames from the 140-character count of tweet replies, but the core service has largely remained static since 2006. Now, faced with executive resignations and an inability to close a sale, Dorsey’s callout seems like less of a matter of curiosity or PR and more of a practical means of boosting Twitter’s appeal. However, Dorsey has long admired the use of Twitter by business leaders to engage with the public.

Related: Jack Dorsey Explains Why Elon Musk Has One of the Best Twitter Accounts

The CEO followed-up with a note that he would summarize the Twitter conversation on Friday.

On Christmas night, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky tweeted, “If @Airbnb could launch anything in 2017, what would it be?” Inspired by this callout, Jack Dorsey used his own company’s product yesterday to take a page out of Chesky’s book.

On Thursday, Dorsey tweeted, “Following in the footsteps of Brian Chesky: what’s the most important thing you want to see Twitter improve or create in 2017? #Twitter2017”

Related: Airbnb CEO Asks Twitter What His Company Should Launch in 2017

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Lydia Belanger is a former associate editor at Entrepreneur. Follow her on Twitter: @LydiaBelanger.

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