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You have to wonder if he really wanted to buy it. The first tweet basically forced him into it otherwise he would have had another sec investigation and been given another kicking
There were a bunch of messages released as part of the “make him buy us” lawsuit between Musk and various rich people all kissing his arse and just offering him cash.
God they were the absolute epitome of cringe. Almost unbearable to read! Like the desperate nerd in the film, awkwardly trying to ask the prom queen out on a date
"Uh, hey Elon, I was just thinking, you know, like, it might be cool if I gave you 50 million dollars for Twitter? Right? Like, could be fun? If you're not too busy and stuff?"
He’s a dangerous sociopath who’s somehow managed to convince a sizeable number of people that he’s a genius who could save the world but the world won’t let him do that.
Present wild technological “solutions” (like unworkable min-submarines, hyperloops, etc) and when they’re turned down, throw all your toys out the pram at how everyone is too stupid to see your genius.
This has been obvious for years. Unfortunately, fanbois...
Looks like he's trying to gut twitter, even by American standards he's riding roughshod over his soon to be ex employees rights.
Few of these about
https://twitter.com/SBkcrn/status/1588357614211158018?s=20&t=td8GtULI71p-exI7SI1efw
Reported that, at a private conference in NYC, ha said he had overpaid.
Aah; let's hear those tiny violins...
Not a brilliant time to be looking for a new job in social media (aka advertising).
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1588538640401018880?t=Vgso1VAoK6s26HMQD8qqUg
Absolute clown show.
RIP $44 billion.
Reported that, at a private conference in NYC, ha said he had overpaid.
Well at least he's intelligent enough to recognise that - but also too wealthy to care.
Tesla owner buys advertising platform and doesn't understand why Audi and Mercedes pull their ads. 🙂
Absolute clown show.
Yeh, its "activism" and definitely not the massive spike in racist slurs and sacking half the company that would normally have moderated it.
I think this all comes back to musk tweeting stuff when he's high
And then being too ego'd up to back down
Well at least he’s intelligent enough to recognise that – but also too wealthy to care.
That he spent several months trying to get out of it indicates he does care a bit.
This is doing the rounds on how free speech ideals meets reality.
He built an investment model with Tesla that got the investors in so deep they can't walk away.
His problem with twitter is that he does not have that dependency model and can't create it.
He will have to row back sharpish.
Elon is more drug dealer than entrepreneur..
Also certain folks who left with significant sums of money could build a twitter 2.0. ..
I suggest they call it twaddle...
He sacked the board 'for cause' which, under US employment law, means they lose their multi squillion share options.
That one is now heading to court.
I would be surprised if he wasn't looking to enforce non-compete clauses or impose restrictive covenants.
I hope a “disgruntled former employee” has left an open back door in the Twitter code to **** with musk, that’d be so sweet
What's stopping the ex employees just setting up a better version? Non compete clauses must be null and void with his behaviour
Wow. $44bn has to be the record bid for an NFT.
This looks like it could be up there with Murdoch buying MySpace but involving much larger suns of money.
I’ve just spent 44 billion quid on something or other and I’ve absolutely no idea whatsoever as to why
The bloke is an absolute cockwomble
Companies are pulling their adverts because they don't want to be associated with you Elon, they don't need activists to tell them you're a twunt.
When it comes to advertising, it's amazing how capitalists fail to understand how the free market works.
Twitter never had a face before, just a logo and now you've gone and stuck your ugly mug all over the masthead.
Now jog on and go and compete with Truth Social for market share.
https://twitter.com/GoAngelo/status/1588696162261143553
https://twitter.com/GoAngelo/status/1588696166249959424
Oh no the social media **** stains don't like him anymore #sadface
I don't think it is that easy to build another platform to attract so many posters. Yes, some will go but where can they go? Tweekter? FaceMyBook? Intergram? TickTong? WeTube? Will you buy a fake Addidas Shoes? Like Addidus? (my uncle bought me a fake Addidas as a key with 4 stripes. I was disappointed! LOL!) It is just not the same even if alternative platforms are available.
Say alternative to STW is MTW (MultipleTrackWorld)? Do you think you will go there?
Look at YouTube vs Patron which one is preferred? I don't visit Patron but I look at stuff on YouTube.
Remember he is the guy that will save the world with his electric car so I don't think it will do much harm to his wealth. Not sure if he can survive on US$1 Billion though ...
Thing is, we're talking about the demise of Twitter by sharing tweets...
All empires come to an end at some point, even those which you can't imagine coming to an end.
How many others have failed because Twitter existed though, they needed to offer an alternative but almost no-one actually needed an alternative. Twitter did what the bulk of the users wanted, and those that needed something else like lack of moderation - that's where 4chan etc., came in.
If Twitter becomes toxic, then there is a large group of users looking for a home and the point is not to gravitate to niche offerings, the point of mass SM is to follow the crowd and be where everyone else is
Or will he just have to sell at a loss?
Say alternative to STW is MTW (MultipleTrackWorld)? Do you think you will go there?
I came here from a couple of another MTB forums, providing similar content - but this forum and content of the forum is a better platform for me/my intersts. Could be the same for Twitter which (I haven't used since 2013....) - if Elon takes it in the direction he seems to be, there would be an open space to form a new platform.
Look at YouTube vs Patron which one is preferred? I don’t visit Patron but I look at stuff on YouTube.
Patreon and YouTube are completely different - Youtube is a platform for video content to be uploaded too and viewed, Patreon is a platform for content and creatives to be paid directly by their viewers / users. A creator can share/link a YouTube video on Patreon, but their isn't its own video viewing part of the format. Patreon was specifically designed to address the digital arts markets previously unfair economic model for the millions of creators out their.
How many others have failed because Twitter existed though, they needed to offer an alternative but almost no-one actually needed an alternative.
Lots of people did hence the success of Facebook, Instagram (before it was taken over), Snapchat (for a bit), Tiktok etc (especially country specific cases like some google thing in Brazil).
Twitter is a bit odd in that it is heavily driven by a small set of users tweeting a lot especially journalists and celebs. So persuade them to go and most others will get dragged with them.
Twitter is a hugely established channel though which is why we are sharing tweets here. Also the Ukraine thread - most of the public discussion and expert commentary is there. And if it's not there it's shared and linked to from there.
It's one thing for individuals to shift their social media to another platform but a lot of professional communicators and journalists are using it as an important channel.
It’s one thing for individuals to shift their social media to another platform but a lot of professional communicators and journalists are using it as an important channel.
If he takes it down the path he currently appears to be, then I can see that change happening. It wouldnt be instant and id expect for a while for those accounts that drive Twitter to be active on two or more (as many already are) platforms simultaneously. Until one of the alternatives gains enough traction and reach to leave Twitter.
Theres nothing particularly special about the platform once those contributors are excluded.
Then again, I dont know how much of a counter force the advertisers will be. None of it happens without them.
id expect for a while for those accounts that drive Twitter to be active on two or more (as many already are) platforms simultaneously.
Yeah. It'll be like when you'd tweet and you could have it mirrored to FB. There'll be apps that send your comment to multiple platforms, professionals will use that and followers can choose to read it on whichever. That way we'll be free to leave Twitter without missing out.
It’s one thing for individuals to shift their social media to another platform but a lot of professional communicators and journalists are using it as an important channel.
Which is both a strength and a weakness for them. For most platforms you need to get a critical mass out of everyone and their dog to move so they can talk about what they watched at the weekend in one place.
With twitter the target group is far smaller. Get those professionals to move and everyone else is dragged with them.
Ha ha, Elon wants to build the ultimate "Free Speech Rights Space" and is losing his shit because advertisers are exercising their free speech right to not participate.
Ha ha, Elon wants to build the ultimate “Free Speech Rights Space” and is losing his shit because advertisers are exercising their free speech right to not participate.
For such a supposedly intelligent human being, the complete lack of self-awareness in his tweets is bizarre. He's gone from speaking out against cancel culture, to threatening to cancel corporations who pull advertising on his app. Its all just about power really, isn't it. Game of Thrones.
With twitter the target group is far smaller. Get those professionals to move and everyone else is dragged with them.
This is it - Twitter is nothing without good content, no 'professional' users/creators no Twitter. Thing is Elon in his quest for 'free speech' will end up with a select type and focus of creators, alienating others and his town hall of speech will turn into a biker bar of brawling.
Mark Zuckerberg must be laughing his tits off
For now he’s not the most toxic social media platform owner. I’m sure he’s savouring that novelty
It’s all just about power really, isn’t it. Game of Thrones
He clearly disappeared up his own arse many years ago. Now he’s gone full ‘Mad King’. I suppose this is what inevitably happens when you never hear the word no
It is quite amusing watching him destroy his expensive new plaything. It’s never good for any business when the owner becomes the story
For such a supposedly intelligent human being
Americans love a hero to worship. That's why they end up in these tribes of fans and that perpetuates these myths.
Musk's alleged fortune comes from his close ties to the American national security state. SpaceX (Starlink) is the grid, the hardware.. Twitter the software. Neuralink is the human link hardware that will replace devices. And people think he cares about the people's 'free speech'. LMFAO. The guy is a deep state puppet actor. Wake up folks.
I don't know a huge amount about Musk and his companies, but this sums up the issue for me.
Completely irrelevant conversation, but if he spends his life surrounded by sycophantic yes men, then you can understand how he's ended up like this.
Americans love a hero to worship. That’s why they end up in these tribes of fans and that perpetuates these myths.
Musk nut swingers traverse boundaries of nation and identity though.
They are also the most entertaining, ultimately their whole raison d'être boils down to, "PLEASE PUMP MY CRYPTO BAGS ELON"
Edit: timely cross posting with that video above.
It's obvious that all the tech bros blowing smoke up his rear have him deluded
This thread is revealing
No wonder he's had to make staffing cuts!
https://twitter.com/GoAngelo/status/1588696157794242560?t=xuN7sstKrrqGvAydXY1PZw&s=19
Musk’s alleged fortune comes from
his close ties to the American national security statemining, getting a few bets on changing markets and tech spot on, and a good dose of subsidies and investors chasing those tech market bets.
Fixed that little bit for you. Can’t help you with the rest.
Musk’s alleged fortune comes from
...Borrowing money from his [insanely wealthy] dad and a couple of lucky investment guesses.
There's no need for conspiracy theory crap when it comes to Elon, it's all in the open. The weird thing is , Musk would just love that you think he's some deep state actor, when he's just a kid from wealth.
I quite enjoyed the BBC Sounds series on him. I binge listened to it this week. The guy who impersonates him is brilliant 🤩
During the dotcom years there were loads of companies all trying to do similar things. In some cases it's pot luck which ones succeeded. Some of these dotcom billionaires often aren't geniuses they just had an idea and got lucky with it.
What’s stopping the ex employees just setting up a better version?
You just described Bluesky I think.
Didn't know about Bluesky, that's interesting.
From the web:
"Bluesky is an initiative to develop a decentralized social network protocol. Organized by Twitter as a non-profit initiative, it was announced in 2019 and is in a research phase as of 2022. Bluesky is owned by the team itself, formally under Bluesky Public Benefit LLC, without any controlling stake held by Twitter."
That's the answer - when does it go live?
If I were involved in Bluesky I'd have a guerrilla advertising campaign ready to go before launch. Bluesky is a great brand name for starters.
Remember 'The future's orange", I'm sure a campaign like that could work.
Something like "If you're lost in a cloud, look for the Bluesky "
Jesus H Corbett /\/\/\
Elon Tweeted:
“Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists,”
This makes no sense to me, it’s hard to argue that nothing has changed when it’s reported that about half of Twitters employees have been let go.
Are these “activists” the same as the “tofu-eating wokerati”?
This makes no sense to me
Why are you against free speech? Are you some sort of commie to dare question the great Musk?
Are you some sort of commie to dare question the great Musk?
Musk (much like many super-rich and dictators and like some politicians) has surrounded himself with yes-men and acolytes his whole life.
Either he's paid people to tell him he's amazing or he's got a bunch of groupies around him hero-worshipping the ground he walks on.
Dissenting voices are fired or slandered (like the cave rescue guy who told him his sub idea was bollocks, Musk called him a paedo). They've never been told they're wrong so they're conditioned to see themselves as geniuses.
Still trying to work out if he's actually as dumb as he seems (but he's just had vast wealth to hide some of it) or, like this Twitter thread, he's a RW extremist...
https://twitter.com/andygawt/status/1588506524045152263?t=Ds1LM7pLbIPl3WTMT4g5aA&s=19
Musk is the latest in a long line of businessmen who look successful. Typically they then publish a ghostwritten book explaining how great they are, which actually sells quite well, making them money and inflating their ego still further. All their subsequent business ventures crash and burn, because actually they weren't that smart, they were just lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time with the right people working for them. Examples that spring to mind are Alan Sugar and Lee Iacocca.
Surely you’re missing the greatest living example, who manages to convince gullible half-wits that he’s some kind of business genius, despite all the evidence to the contrary…
Actually, there appear to be a growing list of similarities between the two of them
Fair point @binners, I did consider editing my post to add the godlike genius that is Donald Trump, but I knew someone would be along to do it for me. I still think it's entirely possible that far from being a billionaire he could be technically bankrupt. Certainly would be if he had to return all the money he just stole rather than earned.
Trump always worked on the same principle as Robert Maxwell. If you owe the bank thousands of pounds, it’s your problem, if you owe them millions, it’s their problem.
The only money Trump genuinely made was when he had millions in capital that daddy gave him when New York was effectively bankrupt (a situation deliberately engineered by financiers) so had to have a fire sale of all their property
Apparently, being in the right place at the right time, with suitcases full of your dads money is what marks you out as a business guru
Trump has only ever been a grifter and Elon Musk seems to be cut from the same cloth
The amount Twitter is worth as a business must be going through the floor by the day. He’s properly Liz Trussed it!
He’s properly Liz Trussed it!
I like that as a phrase.
The Guardian used Trusster**** the other day which I also enjoyed.
44 days and her name is a euphemism for a complete catastrophe! Wonder how long it'll take for Musk to reach the same levels of meme?
With marketing managers looking where they’re going to spend their budgets, it’s all about optics.
If you look at the people leaping to Musks defence, they’re all far right nutjobs for whom ‘freedom of speech’ seems to involve their right to be be really abusive and offensive
With friends like those…
I imagine those who haven’t pulled their advertising already will be looking at all this and reaching the same conclusion as those that have already headed for the exits
If you owe the bank thousands of pounds, it’s your problem, if you owe them millions, it’s their problem.
Actually that's true of most of the millionaires / billionaires who are on paper value. In a way they borrow to spend so cannot be taxed (not salaried). How that works I don't know go ask the accountants.
The problem with blue sky, Twitter, Facebook and the rest (including this place) is the success largely comes down to the the moderation. Get it right an people will want to stay and discuss. To tight and it becomes an echo chamber, too loose and it's a bear pit. I can't believe that Elon didn't see that and it looks like he wanted it a bit more open but whether or not that is possible is a different matter. This stuff is super finely balanced.
Musk is a pretty fascinating case study tbh. The successes and disasters pretty much all come from the same source- that he's a loose cannon with nobody who tells him no and enough resources to not need much support from outside people who would also tell him no. But the more it goes on, the worse it gets, as tends to be the case with these things. Obviously more so if you have aspergers, adhd, and a shipping container full of good weed.
It's frustrating because you can't quite separate the things that makes him call random people paedophiles, or say cars have "autopilot" then act surprised when people think they have an autopilot, or contradict himself in 2 adjacent tweets, with the things that makes stuff like a falcon heavy happen. And more so, happen quickly. That's really dependent on having a shortfall in people with common sense. So it's just a matter of degrees but it's so hard to say where the line is, til you're way over the line.
I think when it comes down to it Elon Musk is a bit of a fascist.
Like I mentioned earlier, a bit like that other rocket man and doubtless his hero, Wernher Von Braun. They'll both cosy up to any regime, autocratic or otherwise who will fund their fantasies.
Both have no moral moral compass, their particular dispositions leaving them devoid of empathy. Their ambitions for mankind are for mankind as a species, not as human beings.
For only $8 per month.
I'm not a Twitter user. I thought it's raison d'etre was that it was way of quickly sharing short messages. I've viewed various tweeks via this thread and the Ukraine thread and can see that videos and photos can also be shared.
The product doesn't seem particularly rich in terms of functionality.
So I was kinda surprised to learn that they had a workforce of 7500...anyone have any background of what all those 7500 employees did? For a "software company", Id assume a large percentage of those employees were developers but did they sit around all day twiddling their thumbs cos I can't see much evidence of "product"!
Or where they all content moderator's? If so, and they've fired half the moderators, that doesn't bode well...
Or where they all content moderator’s? If so, and they’ve fired half the moderators, that doesn’t bode well…
Certainly many of them are/were, remembering that different jurisdictions have different laws on what can be posted and stopping obvious (and not so obvious) hate speech I can see how the workforce could get large.
I only use it for looking at stuff on the Ukrainian war and some political stuff and even then, not often.
I won't have the app installed so I run it in a tab on my mobile. I don't want it to be too accessible for me. I find it hugely toxic if I spend any length of time on there, it really gets me down...
I’m not a Twitter user. I thought it’s raison d’etre was that it was way of quickly sharing short messages. I’ve viewed various tweeks via this thread and the Ukraine thread and can see that videos and photos can also be shared.
The product doesn’t seem particularly rich in terms of functionality.
It's really useful for following news feeds, etc. Nearly all the people I follow are blue checkmark journalists, academics, or sportspeople/teams. I follow a few parody accounts, but block anyone who is an obvious troll or spreader of disinformation.
Elon's plan to sell blue checkmarks will make it much more difficult to separate the useful stuff from the sewage.
https://twitter.com/Wolfiesmom/status/1588969800675782656
I thought it’s raison d’etre was that it was way of quickly sharing short messages.
It was many years ago along with the 100 something character limit. I thought it was pretty good back then but now it just has overlong posts, vides and a LOT of adverts and recommendations - none of which existed 10 years ago.
I only follow a small number of people and never read any comments made back to their posts and find it okay but it is definitely worse to use than it was when it started.
So I was kinda surprised to learn that they had a workforce of 7500…anyone have any background of what all those 7500 employees did? For a “software company”, Id assume a large percentage of those employees were developers but did they sit around all day twiddling their thumbs cos I can’t see much evidence of “product”!
Global platform, operating across dozens if not hundreds of languages on however many software platforms there are; the coding, security and moderation requirements for all that plus standard back-office admin (HR, legal, finance...). Fairly easy to get to 7500, I'd have thought!
He's insane - fire all your IT security staff, then ask all blue tick users for their credit card info to pay $8 a month. Erm... Nope!
For a “software company”
Yeah, that's what Elon thought he was buying as well. I mean obviously it uses software, but that's not how or why it makes money. It's like saying Space X is in the rocket fuel burning business, or Tesla is in the recharging business.
So I was kinda surprised to learn that they had a workforce of 7500…anyone have any background of what all those 7500 employees did? For a “software company”, Id assume a large percentage of those employees were developers but did they sit around all day twiddling their thumbs cos I can’t see much evidence of “product”!
Or where they all content moderator’s? If so, and they’ve fired half the moderators, that doesn’t bode well…
Even if they were all content modoraters its not very many. Think of the volume of content Twitter sees everyday and the volume and content. Social media companies don't really like to talk about who is doing the moderating or how. So you wouldn't really know if any of those 7500 are moderators or whether thats a service they outsource. Think I heard in a article yesterday that theres 4 people moderating all of Hungary's twitter output.
There was a BBC doc, no longer on iplayer sadly, called 'The Cleaners' about the outsourced moderators who have to view and moderate around 25000 images and videos a day of child exploitation, terroism, live-streamed suicides. A guy who's had to watch so many beheadings he can tell from a picture of a severed head how sharp or blunt the knife was and how long it would have taken the victim to die.
with Elon making these cuts his "“Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists,” I'd imagine the outsourced moderation is much lower hanging fruit than the tech-bods and board room folk. Its not a cut you need to announce because companies don't really announce the existence of these external contracts in the first place. It may well be true the policy hasn't changed but that doesn't preclude cutting the staffing and resourcing to enact that policy.
Again I'm not a Twitter user, but the impression I've built over the years is that it started as a neat, concise idea when users were limited on characters. The feeling I get now is that to remain 'relevant' the platform has had to first of all court enough contraversy in the form of celebrities and prominent bigots shit-posting and subsequently serving some sort of ban. The other string to their bow seems to be the general laziness of mainstream journalist (of all Stripes) wherein simply reposting and/or quoting tweets in their own articles now seems to count as "journalism".
The influencers all use YT, tik tok and insta now don't they, so really all Twitter had from it's relatively small, incestuous user base seemed to be the ability to be used as an tool with disproportionate influence over plagiarists contributing to other media and news channels. But with Elon alienating a significant chunk of those more mainstream users, that could well diminish.
It's just a platform at the end of the day, I really think people should be prepared to ditch it if it descends into being a toxic, unmoderated, alt-right "hellscape". Elon doesn't actually have a magic touch and he's not a visionary. If he's going to start courting the American right wing media more using a business that was never really intended for that he's welcome to find out just how choppy that rollercoaster is on his own...
The other string to their bow seems to be the general laziness of mainstream journalist (of all Stripes) wherein simply reposting and/or quoting tweets in their own articles now seems to count as “journalism”.
Good journalists use Twitter to publicize their work, they have written an article and want to let their followers know. That's very useful and not lazy.
The problem with Twitter is that getting noticed means saying something that nobody else is saying. The easiest way to do this is by shitposting. The only way to make Twitter useful (at the individual user level) is to block shitposters.
I think Cookea was referring to news articles based on random quoted tweets usually outraged at something.
Forty Four thousand million dollars has gone out of Musk’s and many other banks and investment funds different accounts to pay for Twitter. Where has such a mind blowing amount of money gone?? I assume much of it isn’t ‘real’ money!…………….. I always like the counting analogy to figure the size of numbers. It would take 11.5 days to count to a million, 32 years to count to a billion thus 1408 years for someone to count to 44 billion. That’s a lot of money gone somewhere?