Probably doesn't help that the guy is taking advice from Jason and David Sacks (classic "oh you're mad at me? That means I'm right" personalities). The best thing Musk could do right now is find someone who does not have a twitter account (or doesn't care) and talk to them. Yet another case study for "don't just work with people because you are friends".
In behaving this way, he is erasing a tremendous amount of the goodwill he generated from his space and electric car businesses. The world's media, political, business, scientific elite are on Twitter and watching carefully.
It's all very upsetting to watch. I hope that, as you've said, he finds a better management team to fix this ongoing trainwreck.
Elon erased his goodwill when he started his crypto pump and dump scams. Or there's the whole vaporware thing to sucker in more investors. Or there's the fact that he argued Ukraine should concede to Russia's demands.
No, I'm pretty sure this is just another in a long list of mistakes by Elon. I don't believe he knows what he's doing here.
And in the process destroying so much. Twitter is going to lose most its value and be sold in a fire sale at some point. I doubt it will ever recover.
He’s destroying lives too. ~3700 Twitter employees got randomly fired. Maybe Twitter needed a haircut but 50%? Plus you know many of those people had spouses and children. Add that to the total. There are people whose entire income as software developers is for Twitter apps. If Twitter goes down they’re in trouble.
His other businesses are taking reputation hits by proxy (he doesn’t look like such a good/smart businessman anymore does he?).
And of course there are 40m daily active users. Even if only a small percentage really enjoy it that’s millions of people losing something they really like (like me).
All because he didn’t want to lose a $1B lawsuit and risk whatever would come out in discovery.
When this is over I just can’t see us ending up in anything but a net-negative for everyone.
This, and that default genre of emotionally retarded mocking of individuals and groups that goes over the line from "critique using humor" to just "making fun of somebody" (exemplified nowadays by pepe and wojack), are both hallmarks of the hyper-low-quality bickering the masses have always engaged in on the internet, often stemming from a disagreement about something petty.
Now, that style of interaction is common not just for adult children arguing about fantasy lore, but for public discourse about political and social issues, for the CEO of Twitter, for US presidents. In fact, it's not just common - it's popular, and many people see Elon's behavior (not just his executive decisions - his behavior) as a good thing (given the prerequisite perception that those targeted by that behavior are primarily members of their social enemy group(s)). Given this, I wouldn't be so sure about the scale of the negative consequences for Elon/Twitter.
I know - people have always been shitty and petty to each other about things like politics. But there's something terrifying about it reaching this particular tier on the immaturity scale.
Why does he think anyone would be ashamed of _not_ advertising on Twitter? Twitter ads are worthless. If you're a CMO who manages to kill your entire Twitter ad spend, that should probably go on your resume.
Ok, so maybe this is tin foil hat but maybe the 4d chess is to destroy Twitters relationship with its advertisers so that advertisers lose control of the platform and he can go ahead with the long term “free speech” changes. It is his and Jack’s vision, the only question is does he have the money to fund twitter until he can cut costs and raise money.
Yeah that’s 4d chess. Guy wanted out of the deal remember?
Guy probably thinks he can get away with whatever and misunderstands “every VC is addicted to Twitter” with “Twitter will always be used”, and can get the site running with a skeleton crew.
I mean honestly I think you can get away with a tinier team! But he’s doing so much that makes life harder for himself it’s hard to imagine this as anything but him being himself.
I know I’m not a big fish in the SF tech pond. I lead performance marketing/growth at my startup - spend a few grand a day across the typical channels. Seeing things like this from Elon make it nearly certain that my company won’t be advertising on Twitter in the foreseeable future.
I was actually considering jumping in while other larger corps were pulling out (better CPMs), but I can’t risk the act of advertising on Twitter becoming a brand liability, especially on the off chance that Elon publicly unleashes millions of followers in anger on my startup.
Elon is making a massive mistake picking fights with advertisers. It’s a new brand attack surface that didn’t exist last week.
Facebook and Google have provided homes for Farrakhan, ISIS, etc. and they're the two largest advertising platforms on the planet, yet Elon is a dick so that it as bridge too far?
It's advertising, literally the only thing that matters is public perception. If Elon dickishness makes public perception toxic that's all that matters.
> Remember, the word blackmail refers to a crime wherein the threat is a revelation of information, extortion refers to a crime wherein the threat is either physical, violent or an unfair use of power.
I assert that getting people to boycott me because I don't buy his services would be an unfair use of his power.
And if you disagree, then please explain to me how boycotting Twitter or people who advertise on Twitter is bad...?
Calling for advertisers to pull out of Twitter seems to be a proper exercise of free speech, not an attempt at destroying it. Then again, so is naming & shaming.
This sounds like such a dumb and self-defeating response. Advertisers have pulled ads from all kinds of platforms before as a performative act. But if that's where the eyeballs are, they'll just wait a few months and come back. Striking back at them seems like it might prevent that.
Twitter's also far from being the biggest social media platform. I'm not sure how useful it is to advertisers going by the kind of ads I see. Barrons (sorry, paywall) says they only have about 1% of the ad market.
>So the message is "if you advertise with us, we will try to sink you if you ever decide to stop". I'm sure companies will be rushing to sign up.
How can he not see this? With a single Tweet Elon made buying Twitter ads into a risk companies will have to weigh against any benefit from the ads. Literally threatening your customers.
I was convinced it was fake Tweet. He needs to hire someone to delay all his Tweets by 24 hours so he can sleep on them.
As I saw someone point out somewhere in the last few days, he can’t see it because he’s Elon Musk.
He’s rich and seemingly successful at everything he does. People fawn all over him. He has enough money to buy his way out of almost anything, and he’s been able to get away with insane stuff like naming Autopilot, testing it on public roads w/o any oversight, lying to the SEC, ignoring his deal with the SEC, stuff in his personal life, etc.
He seemingly hasn’t ever had to face real consequences. At least not since he was a child.
So he’s not scared of them. He doesn’t care. Doesn’t think about it. He’s always right because he’s Elon Musk.
So when he doesn’t get his way he doesn’t understand and lashes out (e.g. pedo remark over sub to help kids in cave).
And he was getting more fans! The right wing had started to embrace him! He knew what to say to them! More praise!
Then something happened. He screwed up massively. He jokingly(?) made an offer to buy Twitter with moronic terms. And based on what we’re seeing that probably would have gone badly.
But it got worse. The market dropped a bunch and now his high price was crazy. But he couldn’t back out because he agreed to terms preventing it! He lost a ton (stock holdings) and now had to overpay for Twitter or face a lawsuit.
And he seemed to be more scared of the lawsuit than wasting all that money and destroying Twitter.
It’s all consequences. And Elon Musk doesn’t know about consequences. So he’s responding to them like a 5 year old, lashing out. But that’s causing more consequences.
Advertisers/etc got nervous about his “no moderation” approach. Consequences. He tried to reassure them and pissed off all his new right-wing friends. Consequences. But the advertisers are holding back so now Twitter has less money (and new heavy debt). So he tries to raise money with the blue check thing and everyone gets mad. Consequence. Decided to cut a ton of jobs to save a lot of money. Now EVERYONE is unsure about Twitters future and advertisers get MORE scared. Consequences.
He’s not living in Elon world any more. And he can’t take it. It can’t be his fault. He’s perfect. It must be someone else’s fault.
Everyone involved in these tweet threads seems so overly aggressive and dedicated to this cause that, as a person who has never used Twitter, I feel like doesn't really matter. I don't particularly care that Musk owns Twitter but I do think he would be better off staying off the platform until he has a solid strategy worked out. The way things keep changing every couple hours seems stressful. I don't want this to come off as high and mighty or anything but I really think everyone (advertisers, Musk, his cronies, etc) just needs to take a break from social media for a week and come back to it with a clear head.
Its almost like the guy who spent $44 billion to buy an ad-funded social media company did not understand that advertisers and data buyers are the customers and users are the product. Its not rocket science!
I just DDG’d “brand safety conference”. Turns out to be an executive-class professional role.
> The Brand Safety Institute was founded to professionalize and advance the executive capacity needed at every company to protect their brands.
> There are certified brand safety practitioners at the world’s largest advertising agency holding companies, global 500 brands, and major technology platforms.
Makes sense that someone has to be responsible for making sure their brand not be associated with bad things.
Readit News
https://twitter.com/karaswisher/status/1588668007244759041 sounds like Elon was caught flatfooted, and his continued behavior is just another in a series of unforced errors.
Probably doesn't help that the guy is taking advice from Jason and David Sacks (classic "oh you're mad at me? That means I'm right" personalities). The best thing Musk could do right now is find someone who does not have a twitter account (or doesn't care) and talk to them. Yet another case study for "don't just work with people because you are friends".
No, I'm pretty sure this is just another in a long list of mistakes by Elon. I don't believe he knows what he's doing here.
He’s destroying lives too. ~3700 Twitter employees got randomly fired. Maybe Twitter needed a haircut but 50%? Plus you know many of those people had spouses and children. Add that to the total. There are people whose entire income as software developers is for Twitter apps. If Twitter goes down they’re in trouble.
His other businesses are taking reputation hits by proxy (he doesn’t look like such a good/smart businessman anymore does he?).
And of course there are 40m daily active users. Even if only a small percentage really enjoy it that’s millions of people losing something they really like (like me).
All because he didn’t want to lose a $1B lawsuit and risk whatever would come out in discovery.
When this is over I just can’t see us ending up in anything but a net-negative for everyone.
This, and that default genre of emotionally retarded mocking of individuals and groups that goes over the line from "critique using humor" to just "making fun of somebody" (exemplified nowadays by pepe and wojack), are both hallmarks of the hyper-low-quality bickering the masses have always engaged in on the internet, often stemming from a disagreement about something petty.
Now, that style of interaction is common not just for adult children arguing about fantasy lore, but for public discourse about political and social issues, for the CEO of Twitter, for US presidents. In fact, it's not just common - it's popular, and many people see Elon's behavior (not just his executive decisions - his behavior) as a good thing (given the prerequisite perception that those targeted by that behavior are primarily members of their social enemy group(s)). Given this, I wouldn't be so sure about the scale of the negative consequences for Elon/Twitter.
I know - people have always been shitty and petty to each other about things like politics. But there's something terrifying about it reaching this particular tier on the immaturity scale.
Guy probably thinks he can get away with whatever and misunderstands “every VC is addicted to Twitter” with “Twitter will always be used”, and can get the site running with a skeleton crew.
I mean honestly I think you can get away with a tinier team! But he’s doing so much that makes life harder for himself it’s hard to imagine this as anything but him being himself.
There is a good chance Twitter will go the way of Tumblr - sold worthless for parts.
I was actually considering jumping in while other larger corps were pulling out (better CPMs), but I can’t risk the act of advertising on Twitter becoming a brand liability, especially on the off chance that Elon publicly unleashes millions of followers in anger on my startup.
Elon is making a massive mistake picking fights with advertisers. It’s a new brand attack surface that didn’t exist last week.
Facebook and Google have provided homes for Farrakhan, ISIS, etc. and they're the two largest advertising platforms on the planet, yet Elon is a dick so that it as bridge too far?
Fascinating lol
Think about some company that was just starting to think about advertising on Twitter.
And now Elon Musk is threatening that if you ever stop advertising with them, he will try to convince his followers to boycott your products.
hard sell, considering you clearly don't know the meaning of the word.
"the practice of obtaining something, especially money, through force or threats."
He's threatening advertisers so that they'll stay on the platform and continue to pay him. Why isn't that extortion?
> Remember, the word blackmail refers to a crime wherein the threat is a revelation of information, extortion refers to a crime wherein the threat is either physical, violent or an unfair use of power.
I assert that getting people to boycott me because I don't buy his services would be an unfair use of his power.
And if you disagree, then please explain to me how boycotting Twitter or people who advertise on Twitter is bad...?
https://i.redd.it/a41q5e8ka0y91.jpg
A fair few historical examples of "nobody do business with X" have involved improper levels of coercion.
https://twitter.com/GoAngelo/status/1588696157794242560?ref_...
https://www.barrons.com/articles/twitter-advertising-ad-busi...
How can he not see this? With a single Tweet Elon made buying Twitter ads into a risk companies will have to weigh against any benefit from the ads. Literally threatening your customers.
I was convinced it was fake Tweet. He needs to hire someone to delay all his Tweets by 24 hours so he can sleep on them.
He’s rich and seemingly successful at everything he does. People fawn all over him. He has enough money to buy his way out of almost anything, and he’s been able to get away with insane stuff like naming Autopilot, testing it on public roads w/o any oversight, lying to the SEC, ignoring his deal with the SEC, stuff in his personal life, etc.
He seemingly hasn’t ever had to face real consequences. At least not since he was a child.
So he’s not scared of them. He doesn’t care. Doesn’t think about it. He’s always right because he’s Elon Musk.
So when he doesn’t get his way he doesn’t understand and lashes out (e.g. pedo remark over sub to help kids in cave).
And he was getting more fans! The right wing had started to embrace him! He knew what to say to them! More praise!
Then something happened. He screwed up massively. He jokingly(?) made an offer to buy Twitter with moronic terms. And based on what we’re seeing that probably would have gone badly.
But it got worse. The market dropped a bunch and now his high price was crazy. But he couldn’t back out because he agreed to terms preventing it! He lost a ton (stock holdings) and now had to overpay for Twitter or face a lawsuit.
And he seemed to be more scared of the lawsuit than wasting all that money and destroying Twitter.
It’s all consequences. And Elon Musk doesn’t know about consequences. So he’s responding to them like a 5 year old, lashing out. But that’s causing more consequences.
Advertisers/etc got nervous about his “no moderation” approach. Consequences. He tried to reassure them and pissed off all his new right-wing friends. Consequences. But the advertisers are holding back so now Twitter has less money (and new heavy debt). So he tries to raise money with the blue check thing and everyone gets mad. Consequence. Decided to cut a ton of jobs to save a lot of money. Now EVERYONE is unsure about Twitters future and advertisers get MORE scared. Consequences.
He’s not living in Elon world any more. And he can’t take it. It can’t be his fault. He’s perfect. It must be someone else’s fault.
Begun, the conspiracy theories have.
Stoned off his duff, probably. He might sober up in the morning
> The Brand Safety Institute was founded to professionalize and advance the executive capacity needed at every company to protect their brands.
> There are certified brand safety practitioners at the world’s largest advertising agency holding companies, global 500 brands, and major technology platforms.
Makes sense that someone has to be responsible for making sure their brand not be associated with bad things.
Deleted Comment