Tech Talks
The Tech That Went Shitty: Twitter's First Employee on the Right to Exit and Open Protocols
Published: 21 November 2025 at 11:17 Europe/London
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Episode notes
Today we have a real treat for you! Rabble Evan Henshaw-Plath, Twitter’s first employee, reveals the chaotic, hackathon origins of the platform.
He details how user feedback built Twitter's core features (hashtags, retweets), and why the subsequent shift to advertising destroyed the original promise. We unpack the critical concept of ‘inshitification’ and how new open-protocol platforms like Bluesky are designed to combat centralization by giving users the fundamental right to exit and maintain platform accountability.
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