This Ars Technica article made me think of a scene in the movie Ben Hur. In the movie, there is a sea battle where the galley ship that Ben Hur is on fire and sinking. Down in the hull of the ship, the slaves are rowing to the beat of a drum which has been pretty steady for a while. Then the captain orders ramming speed and the beat of the drum gets faster and faster. The slaves are having trouble keeping up as water starts to lap around their feet. Currently, Twitter reminds me of that galley ship only the difference is with Twitter a bunch of the rowers are being tossed off the ship, while the remaining rowers are being told to keep up the same pace as they had with a full crew or they will be forced to jump ship.