Lots of people thought Twitter was going to fall over this weekend (are you on there? I’m @sarb if you are), but I wasn’t one of them. Even though he has slashed the workforcve with some very questionable leadership and management decisions, I don’t think he’s prepared to crash it into the ground just yet.
Even if all he has left on board are people who need their jobs because of their work visa conditions, it still remains a platform with outsize influence over the news - both reporting it and making it - as well as a reflection of the cultural zeitgeist, warts and all.
Musk indicated that no suspended accounts would be re-instated before a ‘moderation council’, but it looks like the poll that Elon ran on whether to reinstate Donald Trump got viewed over 130 million times in 24 hours, and has come in 52% in favour of Trump being reinstated.
We will see what happens next.
What are your views on Twitter and how it is used? Have you joined the exodus to other platforms? Or will you be staying to either eat popcorn and watch the circus continue, or are you morally repelled by the whole thing? I’m keen to hear your views!
Musk has already admitted there were bots voting. Pretty opaque as to what, if anything, was done about it. Makes a mockery of his promise of a moderation committee. I mean, it’s no wonder advertisers are on hold. It’s not exactly a stable environment.
Me thinks I’ll stay and watch the paint peel off the walls off the Musk monolithic pile - and wait to see what kind of graffiti is daubed crudely or even creatively . The lights and heating are already turned off- !!? And as for Musk petting pal Trump!! He will relish a new dog kennel
I think some people will try Mastodon (like me) and find that it is a different place to Twitter, and perhaps they prefer that, but will keep a presence there but perhaps find it less community and more news and outrage. Or news and outage.
Twitter has been good for a mix of what is current and community, but has caused harm to many. I see that getting worse, and advertisers abandoning the platform as a result.
I wonder how much re-instating Trump was part of his business plan. Yes, it's the polarisation that worries me. And the idea that he is not removing harmful material - just demonetising and not surfacing it. It will become a repository of much more vile content than even now: $8Chan even. It's no good telling people that if they don't want to be exposed to harmful material, they will provide virtual earmuffs and eyemasks. The content on the platform will become even more corrosive to social cohesion. We need connective tissue between people that disagree without cleaving people further into tribes. I do wonder about the power of advertisers too, and how long they stay away. At the moment, Musk seems to want to make a poison tabloid out of twitter. And unfortunately, there are lots of eyeballs following this.
"We need connective tissue between people that disagree without cleaving people further into tribes." <- this is a really hard problem, and I am not sure it can done on social media unless the algorithm is designed to encourage that, and not the propagation of outrage. What we are seeing are the byproducts of business models that put shareholders first and citizens last. Musk is incentivised to double down on that model; he does not really have a choice having over-paid for the platform.
I have seen some commentary (early on) that he was trying to create a major culture shift inside Twitter, that that was what was holding the platform back from profitability.
I suspect that there are so many systemic issues at Twitter - people and tech - that would make it hard to change - but coming in and disrupting this complex system in an attempt to shock it into some new state is pretty foolhardy in my view.
You simply cannot change culture by fiat, and the chaos that ensues will certainly result on more damaging social outcomes.
And finally, if it is all part of some crazy plan, then he's put all of the brands associated with his name at risk.
I agree, the commercial setup of the company and subsequent changes do not incentivise community building in a good way. And degraded brand safety is probably going to keep most premium brands away. But I do think culture can be changed by fiat - in a negative direction. We are seeing this happen in real time.
He overpaid for sure. But Twitter was run as a commercial operation and bit his hand off, and he was forced to complete. So if he thought he offer to buy it just to make the left of politics outraged, its backfired spectacularly. And now he looks like he's only just really getting to know how the platform works. Marketing, right now, is pretty much all he's got.
It's such a pity - I've mostly liked Twitter, and have found it great to help spread public health messaging. But my picture of the future of the platform vary between a cesspool of disinformation and harm, and a hollowed out doughnut of nothingness. I may get more hopeful, but I wonder if an endgame is Microsoft eventually picking it up and finding someway to integrating it with LinkedIn. Pretty far down the line though ...
So here’s a theory. What if Musk reinstates Trump only to kick him off as soon as he breaks rules - which he will. Just to show that he’s fair both ways and win back advertisers? Because extreme contrast works to keep attention.
Ffs America. What world does not need is elderly narcissistic rich white guys leading us into abyss. 18 mths to election so get yourselves sorted.
All of the above + more!
Would it be wrong to insist on a moderated re-count ... I don't trust that all the votes were legitimate and not cast by bots.
Musk has already admitted there were bots voting. Pretty opaque as to what, if anything, was done about it. Makes a mockery of his promise of a moderation committee. I mean, it’s no wonder advertisers are on hold. It’s not exactly a stable environment.
Me thinks I’ll stay and watch the paint peel off the walls off the Musk monolithic pile - and wait to see what kind of graffiti is daubed crudely or even creatively . The lights and heating are already turned off- !!? And as for Musk petting pal Trump!! He will relish a new dog kennel
How long til creditors start calling in loans or demanding Tesla stock as collateral when interest payments defaulted upon?
I think some people will try Mastodon (like me) and find that it is a different place to Twitter, and perhaps they prefer that, but will keep a presence there but perhaps find it less community and more news and outrage. Or news and outage.
Twitter has been good for a mix of what is current and community, but has caused harm to many. I see that getting worse, and advertisers abandoning the platform as a result.
I wonder how much re-instating Trump was part of his business plan. Yes, it's the polarisation that worries me. And the idea that he is not removing harmful material - just demonetising and not surfacing it. It will become a repository of much more vile content than even now: $8Chan even. It's no good telling people that if they don't want to be exposed to harmful material, they will provide virtual earmuffs and eyemasks. The content on the platform will become even more corrosive to social cohesion. We need connective tissue between people that disagree without cleaving people further into tribes. I do wonder about the power of advertisers too, and how long they stay away. At the moment, Musk seems to want to make a poison tabloid out of twitter. And unfortunately, there are lots of eyeballs following this.
"We need connective tissue between people that disagree without cleaving people further into tribes." <- this is a really hard problem, and I am not sure it can done on social media unless the algorithm is designed to encourage that, and not the propagation of outrage. What we are seeing are the byproducts of business models that put shareholders first and citizens last. Musk is incentivised to double down on that model; he does not really have a choice having over-paid for the platform.
I have seen some commentary (early on) that he was trying to create a major culture shift inside Twitter, that that was what was holding the platform back from profitability.
I suspect that there are so many systemic issues at Twitter - people and tech - that would make it hard to change - but coming in and disrupting this complex system in an attempt to shock it into some new state is pretty foolhardy in my view.
You simply cannot change culture by fiat, and the chaos that ensues will certainly result on more damaging social outcomes.
And finally, if it is all part of some crazy plan, then he's put all of the brands associated with his name at risk.
I agree, the commercial setup of the company and subsequent changes do not incentivise community building in a good way. And degraded brand safety is probably going to keep most premium brands away. But I do think culture can be changed by fiat - in a negative direction. We are seeing this happen in real time.
He overpaid for sure. But Twitter was run as a commercial operation and bit his hand off, and he was forced to complete. So if he thought he offer to buy it just to make the left of politics outraged, its backfired spectacularly. And now he looks like he's only just really getting to know how the platform works. Marketing, right now, is pretty much all he's got.
It's such a pity - I've mostly liked Twitter, and have found it great to help spread public health messaging. But my picture of the future of the platform vary between a cesspool of disinformation and harm, and a hollowed out doughnut of nothingness. I may get more hopeful, but I wonder if an endgame is Microsoft eventually picking it up and finding someway to integrating it with LinkedIn. Pretty far down the line though ...
Interesting. Bloomberg are reporting Trump is not planning on returning back to Twitter right now. We shall see https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-19/trump-cites-twitter-problems-says-he-ll-stick-to-own-platform
As they say, how do you make a million dollars building a social media platform? Start with billions.
So here’s a theory. What if Musk reinstates Trump only to kick him off as soon as he breaks rules - which he will. Just to show that he’s fair both ways and win back advertisers? Because extreme contrast works to keep attention.