X/Twitter drives elite, in-group influence and is where news stories originate, but Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube are where you reach the early majority of a broader audience.
Amjad breaks down platform strategy along the diffusion-of-innovation curve: X for Silicon Valley/early adopters and story origination, Instagram/YouTube/Facebook for reaching the early majority. ✦ AI generated
Amjad Masad · a16z Podcast · 2026-07-17 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 20:37
“Just so some people ask, "Hey, how should I think about X versus other platforms? You know, maybe their customers aren't on X, etc." How do you think about that?”
Twitter's influence is amazing, but it tends to be elite kind of inside group influence. I think Instagram, Facebook still, you know, YouTube is where you get to the early majority.
verbatim transcript · starts at 20:37
20:37place where it is it is the start of stories. And that's another thing, you know, back to the conversation of why this is important is the landscape shifted so much that journalists report on Twitter. So, it's kind of starts on Twitter. So, Twitter's influence is amazing, but it tends to be elite kind of inside group influence. I think Instagram, Facebook still, you know, YouTube is where you get to the
21:01early majority. And I think I was late to to YouTube. Uh to sorry, to Instagram. Like um you know, I just started focusing on it in like maybe February or something like that. And we're getting insane amount of views and the followership kind of >> You started to build this clips machine of yours, your interviews. The podcast is interesting because it's a medium that could be turned into every other
21:22format. >> Right. Right. So I I feel like I I should have maybe done Instagram like a year or two ago. So I was like a little late on that. I thought it was going to be harder. Well, it turns out it can just like you know, do these clipping and just grow grow not just your account, it can grow a lot of different accounts that way.
21:42Um And but but but I would I would start with Twitter because the again, that's where the news starts to happen. This is where you can have outsized influence. >> And are you are you bullish on the platform? Do you do you think that in the next, you know, three to five years that will stay the same? >> I I think it is actually kind of risky
22:02because the algorithm changes so much and you know, you might do something that angers the power that powers [snorts] that be and you know, very you know, without anyone knowing, things might change for you in terms of your reach on X. And so I think there's like less transparency than Twitter 1.0. So it is it is a little it is a little risky, but I think the platform has so
22:31much staying power. Yeah. Like it's really hard to replace. Like you can you can change the name, you can destroy the brand and you and the platform will still be very valuable. Like it is it is it is it is one of those things that I think there's no way you can avoid it. >> Who who are some CEOs or leaders um that inspire you in terms of how they go