Twitter Co-Founder Ev Williams Says Follower System Was a Bad Idea, Promoted ‘Popularity’ Game

Twitter co-founder and former CEO Ev Williams claimed the social network’s follower system was a bad idea at the Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, this week.

“I think showing follower counts was probably ultimately detrimental,” declared Williams. “It really put in your face that the game was popularity.”

“It’s easy to say in retrospect — today — maybe we shouldn’t have follower counts… A lot of these things drove growth, and if we hadn’t had them, maybe someone else would have done them and built a much more dominant platform,” he continued, adding, “But today that’s not necessarily healthy.”

Twitter’s follower system wasn’t the “worst” system implemented, however, according to Williams. The “suggested user” system was.

“This was my fault,” the Twitter co-founder proclaimed. “Those weren’t really interest-based follows, and then someone who had grown their following organically compares themselves to them. It’s inauthentic.”

Last year, Williams claimed he “was wrong” about his previous beliefs that freedom of speech made the world, and the Internet, a “better place.”

“I think the internet is broken… And it’s a lot more obvious to a lot of people that it’s broken,” Williams expressed. “I thought once everybody could speak freely and exchange information and ideas, the world is automatically going to be a better place… I was wrong about that.”

In 2017, Williams also admitted that social media was “dumbing the entire world down.”