Elon Musk Becomes Twitter’s Largest Shareholder…

[Expat]

That is part of what makes Musk interesting. He is a climate change warrior. He made most of his money from the gubmint. He just has some classic liberal leanings but it seems to confuse people on both sides.

 

[jamil]

I disagree with this point. He can absolutely keep and grow his investment in Twitter by allowing other viewpoints than what has traditionally been the case. Appeasing the Left isn't the only avenue to keeping his investment.

As long as twitter's primary source of revenue is advertising, he is at least a little beholding to advertisers wishes. They all have ESG departments. There's a very sizeable opposition to free speech. I think expecting him not to give an inch is unrealistic.

Allowing other viewpoints isn't what's profitable. Getting advertisers to buy ads, right now, is how Twitter makes money. Pool is right about some things, like that progressives don't want to pay for anything other than things like fancy sounding coffee. In an advertising model, the users are the product. I don't think progressives mind that. I think it will be tricky for Musk to switch to a different model where people pay for services that Twitter provides. But that's what it's gonna take.

 

[jamil]

That is part of what makes Musk interesting. He is a climate change warrior. He made most of his money from the gubmint. He just has some classic liberal leanings but it seems to confuse people on both sides.

This is exactly right. Musk knows tech. He's not a conservative. Maybe he's a little red-pilled. But he's always voted Democrat. I hope he can figure out how to make money on free speech. One thing though. I enjoy watching him spar with people like AOC, lol.

 

[KLB]

As long as twitter's primary source of revenue is advertising, he is at least a little beholding to advertisers wishes. They all have ESG departments. There's a very sizeable opposition to free speech. I think expecting him not to give an inch is unrealistic.

Allowing other viewpoints isn't what's profitable. Getting advertisers to buy ads, right now, is how Twitter makes money. Pool is right about some things, like that progressives don't want to pay for anything other than things like fancy sounding coffee. In an advertising model, the users are the product. I don't think progressives mind that. I think it will be tricky for Musk to switch to a different model where people pay for services that Twitter provides. But that's what it's gonna take.

You left out the other nations of the world. That nonsense from the EU could play a big part in what happens.

 

[chipbennett]

It already has at least a little. A week ago there is now way that a warning would have been applied to Biden's account about him not telling the whole truth.

"Twitter" didn't apply that warning. Twitter users did.

 

[printcraft]

"Twitter" didn't apply that warning. Twitter users did.

I think this was the first time in 2 years that was allowed to happen though.

 

[chipbennett]

I think this was the first time in 2 years that was allowed to happen though.

Nothing under the hood - yet - has changed at Twitter. Birdwatch functionality has been around for almost 2 years.

 

[KLB]

"Twitter" didn't apply that warning. Twitter users did.

No. Twitter allowed it to be applied. You actually think they could not stop that if they wanted to?

You also dodged the question. Were there tweets from before the ownership change where the "Twitter users" applied a message like that to one of Biden's Tweets?

 

[chipbennett]

No. Twitter allowed it to be applied. You actually think they could not stop that if they wanted to?

You also dodged the question. Were there tweets from before the ownership change where the "Twitter users" applied a message like that to one of Biden's Tweets?

Did things like that get throttled based on ideology? I'm certain of it. I don't know whether any Birdwatch notices appeared on any Biden/White House tweets. I didn't dodge the question; as I said when you asked in the other thread: I don't know the answer.

But, again, as far as I know, nothing has yet changed under the hood. Perhaps some of the "data engineers" were actively monitoring/censoring, but the functionality has existed since January 2021.

 

[KLB]

Looks like Twitter is doing layoffs today. About 50% of the staff.

Twitter lays off staff, Musk blames activists for ad revenue drop

Teams responsible for communications, content curation, human rights and machine-learning ethics were among those gutted, capping a week of chaos and uncertainty about the company's future under Elon Musk.

www.reuters.com

 

[buckwacker]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

 

[oze]

Looks like Twitter is doing layoffs today. About 50% of the staff.

Twitter lays off staff, Musk blames activists for ad revenue drop

Teams responsible for communications, content curation, human rights and machine-learning ethics were among those gutted, capping a week of chaos and uncertainty about the company's future under Elon Musk.

www.reuters.com

That reminds me of the bloodbaths that went on at Alcatel Lucent in the days of the glorious Obama recession. Every Thursday for two months, all employees had to be at their respective desks at 8AM local. If your phone didn't ring by 8:15, you were good to go for another week. I survived, but hearing phones ringing up and down the hall, together with some screams and sobs, made for a ****** work environment. Add the local cops outside every exit, and you get a feeling for the morale for those 2 months and beyond. I don't envy those tweeters.

 

[KLB]

That reminds me of the bloodbaths that went on at Alcatel Lucent in the days of the glorious Obama recession. Every Thursday for two months, all employees had to be at their respective desks at 8AM local. If you're phone didn't ring by 8:15, you were good to go for another week. I survived, but hearing phones ringing up and down the hall, together with some screams and sobs, made for a ****** work environment. Add the local cops outside every exit, and you get a feeling for the morale for those 2 months and beyond. I don't envy those tweeters.

We went through twice a year layoffs for 3 years back then. Of course, I don't remember anyone acting like they were entitled to the job they had.

 

[KLB]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Wow. What an elitist that author is.

Because when you cut out the virtue signaling and the PC ********, at the end of the day, an ad is supposed to reach the richest, most willing to buy segment of society.

An ad is supposed to reach whoever might buy a product and has the ability to do so. I don't think marketing Cheerios only towards the richest people is going to get them much return on investment.

 

[oze]

We went through twice a year layoffs for 3 years back then. Of course, I don't remember anyone acting like they were entitled to the job they had.

Agreed. A lot of good people were let go though, some who could engineer circles around me. But what I was really good at, better than most, was sticking my head out the window to see which way the wind was blowing. It was a knack for determining what projects/teams had futures and which ones were dying, and requesting transfers accordingly.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

 

[KLB]

Agreed. A lot of good people were let go though, some who could engineer circles around me. But what I was really good at, better than most, was sticking my head out the window to see which way the wind was blowing. It was a knack for determining what projects/teams had futures and which ones were dying, and requesting transfers accordingly.

That's a great skill to have.

Ours was getting rod of the dead weight early. After that I don't know how they really chose people. I ended being the only network engineer standing when it was all done. Some were laid off. Some left and were not replaced. It was a long time before staff returned to a somewhat normal state.

 

[Cameramonkey]

How they did the firings/layoffs was really smart. I hadnt seen it reported elsewhere, but all offices were closed today. Employees were told to go home yesterday and not return to the office today. If you were retained, you were told so in your work email. If you were fired, they emailed your personal email. I guess when you can half the staff, its kinda hard to prevent sabotage. Between those ticked off about being fired, coupled with those who still had a job who SHOULD prevent losses might look the other way out of solidarity. And I assume that those fired will be brought back in by appointment to clean out their desks.

 

[wtburnette]

As long as twitter's primary source of revenue is advertising, he is at least a little beholding to advertisers wishes. They all have ESG departments. There's a very sizeable opposition to free speech. I think expecting him not to give an inch is unrealistic.

Allowing other viewpoints isn't what's profitable. Getting advertisers to buy ads, right now, is how Twitter makes money. Pool is right about some things, like that progressives don't want to pay for anything other than things like fancy sounding coffee. In an advertising model, the users are the product. I don't think progressives mind that. I think it will be tricky for Musk to switch to a different model where people pay for services that Twitter provides. But that's what it's gonna take.

I don't know that it's not possible for Twitter to make money with subscriptions. Even if the Left doesn't like to pay for such things, there are plenty of conservatives, libertarians and middle of the road types that probably wouldn't balk. I would actually love to see things go this route and dump advertisers and ads. I've always wanted to keep my web experience "free", but lately I'm coming around to having a preference for no ads or at least ads being minimized, even if I have a pay a small amount for the privilege.

 

[KLB]

I don't know that it's not possible for Twitter to make money with subscriptions. Even if the Left doesn't like to pay for such things, there are plenty of conservatives, libertarians and middle of the road types that probably wouldn't balk. I would actually love to see things go this route and dump advertisers and ads. I've always wanted to keep my web experience "free", but lately I'm coming around to having a preference for no ads or at least ads being minimized, even if I have a pay a small amount for the privilege.

It wouldn't survive in anything close to its current state. Charging the blue checks I see as legit though. Many of those people use the platform to make money. Why shouldn't there be a charge to enable that?