Economics Corner: Twitter

[El Presidente]

I am not a user of Twitter but am aware of plenty of members who are. Maybe you can clarify the following for me. 

What on earth is Elon doing? What is his end game in relation to Twitter/X?

From an outsider looking in, this whole process has been an absolute cluster F,  devaluing personal brand while launching a rival and actually doing the impossible.....making Zuck look good. 

Where is Elon heading with Twitter/X?  What is his end game? 

[Arabian]

not a twitter user but I mentioned this before,

Quote

"a super platform-app, something like the Chinese model, one app that does everything where you can order food, shop, send/receive money and watch videos, text.....etc

a must daily life tool. I think that's his goal."

and now the recent memo comes out ..

"Our usage is at an all time high and we’ll continue to delight our entire community with new experiences in audio, video, messaging, payments, banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities,” she wrote

The amazon of social media perhaps. 

 

[Pantone151]

I use it to keep up with sports news. It seems like he wants to push his new AI stuff to that established user base rather than trying to build a separate base from the ground up.  I can't imagine ever doing anything serious like payments and banking through Twitter.

[Ford2112]

I avoid it like the plague.

[Low]

7 hours ago, El Presidente said:

What on earth is Elon doing? What is his end game in relation to Twitter/X?

Where is Elon heading with Twitter/X?  What is his end game? 

He has a weird relationship with the letter X. SpaceX, Tesla Model X, he even named his son X. His original banking website was named X, and when he was installed as PayPal CEO, he advocated for the name X before being replaced by Peter Thiel.

He wants to turn Twitter into a worldwide version of what China primarily uses in Wechat and Sina Weibo. Calls, text, video conferences, ID card, bank card, location services, shopping, and social media, fully integrated with crypto and "future" tech.

It is going to fail miserably due to the general publics dislike for him. 

I use Twitter daily for a couple of my niche hobbies, and the site is an absolute mess at this point. Ads everywhere, rate limiting, disabling of basic features, spam accounts, broken algorithms, boosted accounts that spew the dumbest crap imaginable, and porn bots (actually tons of bot accounts everywhere) just to name a small list of problems. 

[Rhinoww]

It has become a politically focused form. I use it to follow only sports. Waiting for other formats to catch up and I will be gone.  Helluva vanity project he has there. 

[MossybackR]

4 hours ago, Low said:

He has an weird relationship with the letter X. SpaceX, Tesla Model X, he even named his son X. His original banking website was named X, and when he was installed as PayPal CEO, he advocated for the name X before being replaced by Peter Thiel.

Hmmm …. Apparently, both Microsoft and Meta have trademark claims on “X” …

 

[Fuzz]

He's gonna bury Twitter/X and then come out with his new app.... Musk! So users/followers can be called Musketeers! 🤣

[Ford2112]

That is one doughy,pasty dude 

[BettyHumpder]

20 hours ago, El Presidente said:

I am not a user of Twitter but am aware of plenty of members who are. Maybe you can clarify the folowing for me. 

What on earth is Elon doing? What is his end game in relation to Twitter/X?

From an outsider looking in, this whole process has been an absolute cluster F,  devaluing personal brand while launching a rival and actually doing the impossible.....making Zuch look good. 

Where is Elon heading with Twitter/X?  What is his end game? 

i actually quite like twitter and use it every day.

other platforms mandate you scroll through content based on their algorithm which generates content based on your clicks, time spent hovering over posts, etc. 

with twitter, you are able to see all posts in a chronological order much like a forum. i can select which accounts i follow and even turn off the ability for content they've retweeted so i only see unique tweets. for news, i follow a select number of journalists (not their publishers) i believe are doing good work. the only news outlets i follow are my local city newspaper and the AP so i get breaking, factual news. i also follow sports writers and a few team accounts. then i have the "twitter comedy" accounts that i find entertaining, which is mostly just meta humor but it's a nice break from news and sports. i also follow a good deal of non-reactionary academics in history, politics, and war. 

being able to jump into the news chronologically and not be spoon-fed algorithmic nonsense is the only thing that keeps me on the platform. i also enjoy the semi-anonymity of it.

i long ago deleted my facebook account. i have an instagram account i only use for when friends text me funny posts. having an account makes it considerably less clunky to view instagram content. tik tok is not for me but i understand why people would want to use it.

i think the people who are freaking out the most about all the changes are the "journalists," influencers, and pundits who've built their social media brand on twitter and rely on it for continuing to build a following which they will one day cash in on.

none of the alternatives provide exactly what people who enjoy being on twitter are looking for. threads, bluesky, mastodon--all of them are either too complicated or poor clones. i don't think they pose any threat to twitter. the only threat to twitter is elon musk himself. i have no idea what he is playing at, but i know he has always felt that twitter was run by a club of people he 1) detested and 2) wasn't welcome in. i think it's a combination of changes he wants to see, deep narcissism, and trolling. i don't think he likes how popular lefty twitter is but right wing twitter is just as strong. twitter is immensely popular in saudi arabia, for example, and other places where government cracks down on speech and controls social media in ways that western democracies don't. i think part of the future of twitter is ramping up participation in these countries. there are vast parts of the globe that are not on twitter. if he can make the platform amenable to those governments, he could see future investment and participation, even if american millennials abandon the platform.

[BoliDan]

Never had an account. Still understand it when I am linked to a post and anonymously look at it. 

[BrightonCorgi]

I would never bet against Elon Musk.  It's better to watch and learn. 

Not everything goes as smooth or as planned.  How many thought Tesla was going to be a loser?  Pretty much everyone in the auto industry.