Thread: The decline of Twitter

Elon Musk launches $US8 monthly subscription for Twitter with blue check for users who want to pay for it


Twitter has launched a subscription service for $US7.99 ($12.40) a month that includes a blue check previously given to verified accounts as new owner Elon Musk overhauls the platform.
Key points:

• Before the overhaul, Twitter had about 423,000 verified accounts
• The blue checks were meant to help prevent impersonations of high-profile accounts such as celebrities and politicians
• Twitter has already seen "a massive drop in revenue", Mr Musk said

In an update to Apple iOS devices, Twitter said users who "sign up now" can receive the blue check next to their names "just like the celebrities, companies and politicians you already follow".
So far, verified accounts do not appear to be losing their checks.
The ability for anyone to get the blue check could lead to confusion and the rise of disinformation ahead of Tuesday's elections if possible impostors pay for the subscription and use the names of politicians and election officials.
Along with widespread lay-offs that began on Friday, many fear what may happen if content moderation and verification are reduced.
The change represents the end of Twitter's current verification system, which was launched in 2009 to prevent impersonations of high-profile accounts such as celebrities and politicians.
Before the overhaul, Twitter had about 423,000 verified accounts, many of them rank-and-file journalists from around the globe verified by their companies regardless of how many followers they had.
Verification not mentioned in iOS update



Mr Musk said he wants to "verify all humans" on Twitter.(Reuters: Dado Ruvic)Experts have raised concerns about upending the platform's verification system that, while not perfect, had helped Twitter's 238 million daily users determine whether accounts were authentic.
The update Twitter made to the iOS version of its app did not mention verification as part of the new blue check system.
Mr Musk, who had earlier said that he wanted to "verify all humans" on Twitter, has suggested public figures would be identified in ways other than the blue check.
How will Elon Musk juggle running Twitter with his China interests?

Critics of the Chinese government are worried Beijing will use Elon Musk's interests in China as leverage to have their voices silenced on Twitter.





Read more


Currently, for instance, government officials are identified with text under names stating that they are posting from an official government account.
US President Joe Biden's @POTUS account, for example, says in grey letters it belongs to a "United States government official".
The change comes a day after the company began laying off workers to cut costs and as more companies are pausing advertising on Twitter as a cautious corporate world waits to see how it will operate under its new owner.
About half of the company's staff of 7,500 was let go, tweeted Yoel Roth, Twitter's head of safety and integrity.
He said the company's frontline content moderation staff was the group the least affected by the job cuts and that "efforts on election integrity — including harmful misinformation that can suppress the vote and combating state-backed information operations — remain a top priority".
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey on Saturday took blame for the wide job losses.
He had two runs as CEO of Twitter, with the most recent stretching from 2015 into 2021.
"I own the responsibility for why everyone is in this situation: I grew the company size too quickly," he tweeted.
"I apologise for that."
'A massive drop in revenue'

Mr Musk tweeted late on Friday that there was no choice but to cut the jobs "when the company is losing over $4M/day".
He did not provide details on the daily losses at the company and said employees who lost their jobs were offered three months' pay as a severance.
Twitter has already seen "a massive drop in revenue" because of pressure from activist groups on advertisers to get off the platform, Mr Musk tweeted Friday.
That hits Twitter hard because of its heavy reliance so far on advertising to make money.
During the first six months of this year, nearly $92 of every $100 it made in revenue came from advertising.
Mr Musk tried to reassure advertisers last week, saying Twitter would not become a "free-for-all hellscape" because of what he calls his commitment to free speech.
But concerns remain about whether a lighter touch on content moderation at Twitter will result in users sending out more offensive tweets.

https://www abc net au/news/2022-11-06/twitter-launches-monthly-subscription-with-blue-check-tick/101621330

For someone who is supposed to be so intelligent, Musk seems to have screwed himself on this endeavor.

Laying off half of the work force is unprecedented. This is a very strange tale being played out.

A workforce of 7,000 seemed excessive to me.

Originally Posted by aging one

Laying off half of the work force is unprecedented.

Yes and no. But doing it on the first day is certainly unusual (and aggressive).

Since they've kicked off thousands of Saudi users for basically being paid mouthpieces and spies for MBS, it's surprising that they now have a major Saudi investor in Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal.

Crazy to pay to read people bitch, piss and moan. I am not on any social media platform so I do not care if it goes completely belly up.

I did find it funny that he bought it to "Save Civilization" and then threatens to go "thermonuclear" and name names of businesses that cancel their contracts.

What a douche nozzle

Originally Posted by cyrille

A workforce of 7,000 seemed excessive to me.

Depends as many are/were employed in sales and getting clients to advertise, behind that you then have marketing, accounting etc... in every country they have an office.

A five billion dollar company with 7000 employees isn't surprising.

Originally Posted by misskit

For someone who is supposed to be so intelligent, Musk seems to have screwed himself on this endeavor.

Let's just hope it doesn't turn into a massive tax write-off, as a tax credit or similar, for shits and giggles so he doesn't have to ever pay tax again.

Originally Posted by panama hat

Let's just hope it doesn't turn into a massive tax write-off, as a tax credit or similar, for shits and giggles so he doesn't have to ever pay tax again.

Let’s hope it sinks without grace, along with Facebook and other money grubbing, get rich quick opportunists.

Originally Posted by misskit

For someone who is supposed to be so intelligent, Musk seems to have screwed himself on this endeavor.

All of his other success stories had successful, smart people in the background that did most of the heavy lifting, he just took the credit.

My knowledge of business and business practices is essentially nonexistent. But from my reading, Twitter is "worth" 13 billion - ish. So Musk bought something for 44 billion that is worth 13?

Even then, I do not understand where the "value" is in Twitter. It seems that people just "agree" that it has value? So if people en mass just decide not to use it - then it has zero value?

Are we watching someone pour 44 billion down the toilet?

Originally Posted by nidhogg

Are we watching someone pour 44 billion down the toilet?

Many are hoping so, especially the 3500 people that just got axed by Elon plus the probably 30% that still work there that hate it and him and are looking for employment elsewhere.

But Hey. He bought it to save "Civilization".... That still cracks me up. If Twatter, Instagram and Fagbook all went under tomorrow, there would be little loss IMHO. Now there may be mass suicides for the posters who can't update their followers and the "influencers" might have to find a real job....But maybe that's not a bad thing either....

Originally Posted by Stumpy

Many are hoping so, especially the 3500 people that just got axed by Elon plus the probably 30% that still work there that hate it and him and are looking for employment elsewhere.

But Hey. He bought it to save "Civilization".... That still cracks me up. If Twatter, Instagram and Fagbook all went under tomorrow, there would be little loss IMHO. Now there may be mass suicides for the posters who can't update their followers and the "influencers" might have to find a real job....But maybe that's not a bad thing either....

I'll be devo if ratemypoo.com shuts its doors.... but yeah twatter/instagrim/fagbook/tiktok.... meh, they can all fuck right off.

Twitter appears to be the best medium for spreading misinformation; probably why skiddy likes it so much.

It may be a ruthless approach but if it's making a loss then there's little choice but to prune in order to make it flourish again.

One thing I always questioned in regards to social media platforms, just how do they really plan to manage, confirm/deny and edit misinformation? Elon wants freedom of speech so that essentially means that anyone can say anything they want at anytime. Factual or not.

It's all a farce and this Twitter deal is proof of that.

...no change noted to my twitter account: threats to leave from the left and crows of victory from the right...the predicted explosion of Qanon/tRump bots has yet to happen...that might make the site more interesting, however...

Twitter has rarely if ever made a profit, it subsists as a platform through advertising revenue.

Musk has overpaid hugely and despite his attempts to renege on the deal he has had to follow through and introducing a pay regime is his only way to recoup some of his losses.

But he is fucked. Membership will drop and in the end it will wither on the vine and we can all take pleasure from the cvunt’s misfortune.

His cars are shit too.

^
it was never built to make a profit
as daft as that sounds
its the fallacy of silicon valley and platforms in general
its built to sell, all it needs to do is show traction
now it seems to be losing that

Originally Posted by Seekingasylum

His cars are shit too.

His cars aren't really shit but have grown boring and bland and for whatever reason the stock and the company are significantly overvalued. This will rear it's ugly head soon as more car companies offer, better performance, better styling and better price in the near future.

Originally Posted by reinvented

its built to sell, all it needs to do is show traction

That's the bottom line with all of them. Advertising. The BS posted is just a means to get traffic in hopes someone will be sucked into a click bait ad. The human race is slowly becoming a bunch of brain dead gnomes.

Originally Posted by david44

44 large

I remember the days when this meant 44.000 . . .

Musk should read the decline of photobucket before he makes too many radical changes.

Originally Posted by happynz

Musk tweeting, then quickly deleting whacko conspiracy stories regarding the attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband isn't going to encourage PepsiCo or General Motors to make big ad purchases.

He really walked right into that, didn't he. Not very bright at all, but then again when you look at his personal life it becomes apparent that he is really a slimeball who is not very bright.