Nicely, he did it. Whereas, deep down, we knew he was loopy sufficient to do it, we didn’t suppose he’d really do it. Elon modified Twitter to X, and we’re all struggling a little bit of whiplash. However, for as daring and meme-worthy as this transformation is, altering Twitter to X received’t repair the platform’s issues.
Proper now, Twitter appears to be imploding. Certain, the platform had its critics earlier than Elon took over; all social media websites do. However, when Elon took the helm, our favourite blue chook began taking a nosedive. A slew, moderately, a torrent, of questionable adjustments introduced by the billionaire step by step made Twitter a worse place to be.
At this level, we don’t know the way lengthy Twitter can limp alongside like this. Whereas the corporate’s been gutted to drive profitability, it’s undoubtedly misplaced a ton of cash. The truth is, it’s valued at a few third of the $44 billion that Elon purchased it for (about $15 billion). That quantity is barely going to get decrease as extra individuals flock from Twitter to its alternate options.
With all this occurring, what’s an eccentric CEO to do? Change the identify…
Twitter has issues that X can’t remedy
Once we obtained the information that Twitter was being named to X, there was a bit of knowledge that we didn’t get. We obtained no phrase on what Elon and Twitter are planning on doing to make the platform higher. There have been no tweets or bulletins about how X can be totally different from Twitter. One thing like that may be significantly better than simply switching over.
What we’re getting, as a substitute, is Elon reacting to everybody’s rising contempt for the platform. We get heated tweets about Elon difficult Mark Zuckerberg to cage matches and calling him a cuck moderately than precise info.
However there are issues happening with Twitter, and altering the identify to X received’t repair them.
Let’s begin with the egocentric and narrow-sighted adjustments
Earlier than Elon Musk, adjustments that Twitter introduced, for higher or worse, mirrored what a bunch of individuals thought was good for customers. They weren’t all universally liked; you possibly can’t please everybody. However, that’s how most firms are. Modifications are distributed after going by way of a number of brains, they usually mirror the corporate’s views.
Nonetheless, that’s not what we’re seeing with Elon Musk. The adjustments that he’s making don’t mirror the corporate, they don’t mirror what’s finest for the person; they mirror what’s finest for Elon.
He purchased Twitter on the platform of free speech, and that’s in his finest curiosity. Hyperlinks from different platforms like Mastodon and Threads have been both blocked or deprioritized on Twitter. He’s battling information scraping, and that led to the speed restrict. He thought of eliminating mild mode as a result of darkish mode is healthier in his opinion. The listing goes on.
We’re always seeing half-baked adjustments being despatched out into the corporate that solely mirror what he feels ought to be performed. It’s like he’s sitting at a pc, coding these adjustments, and pushing them out himself. They’re half-baked, they usually don’t keep in mind how they have an effect on the common person.
Certain, information scraping is a factor, however limiting the variety of tweets that individuals can view has a extra adverse user-facing impact than the supposed slowdown. Many individuals view tweets whereas not logged in. Requiring individuals to be logged in inconvenienced individuals greater than it helped them. These adjustments have bigger adverse user-facing results than constructive.
The overly aggressive push for Twitter Blue
We get it, Elon is making an attempt to make Twitter worthwhile. Twitter Blue is a direct income for the corporate together with commercials. Nonetheless, one factor that’s killing Twitter is his overly aggressive give attention to Blue. Instantly after he took over, the value jumped to $8/month ($11/month when you enroll by way of the app).
Since then, evidently all new and helpful options have been reserved for Blue customers. Enhance within the algorithm, fewer adverts, longer tweets, undoing and modifying tweets, textual content formatting, and so forth. Free customers are sitting by and watching all of those options fly over their heads.
Sure, it’s an unique service, and all unique companies must have, properly, unique options. Snapchat+ has a few of them in addition to Meta verified. Nonetheless, not like Twitter, these different companies nonetheless distribute options to their free customers. Free customers nonetheless really feel like they’re utilizing a full social media platform, not the Lite model.
It wasn’t speculated to be like this…
Twitter Blue was initially a service the place you’d pay a bit a month and get to check out new options early. They’d make their technique to the general public after a bit. Nicely, it seems like Elon simply threw that out of the window. Free customers are nonetheless not capable of edit their tweets even when he stated that it will trickle down over a yr in the past. Blue customers can sort tweets as much as 20,000 characters lengthy whereas free customers are nonetheless caught on 280 characters.
Elon is placing a lot effort to get the Blue income that it doesn’t really feel like he’s making an attempt to enchantment to Twitter customers basically. He’s simply making an attempt to make Twitter Blue extra interesting so that individuals can pay.
The diminished employees
Twitter is working with a skeleton crew now. When Elon took over the corporate, he worn out half of its employees in a single fell swoop. Complete groups have been killed off. Clearly, with such a lowered employees, it’s quite a bit more durable for the corporate to function.
Additionally, Elon fired prime executives when he took management. Which means there aren’t any checks or balances to steer him from making terrible choices with the corporate.
Elon’s playful angle towards the scenario
Elon is piloting a aircraft in a wild tailspin, and he is aware of it. But, he’s treating it like a joke. It’s okay to make jokes every so often, and it’s okay to take criticism in stride. However, Elon is striving to be a dwelling respiratory meme at this level.
It looks like he’s not taking the scenario severely. Keep in mind, that is the person who walked into the Twitter HQ holding a kitchen sink. That is the person who tweeted “Zuck is a cuck” when Threads launched. Only in the near past, he posted an AI-generated video of him singing Rick Astley’s “By no means Gonna Give You Up”. This angle leads the web to deal with Elon and Twitter itself as a joke.
There’s nonetheless an opportunity for a turnaround
So, it’s apparent that Elon isn’t the person to push Twitter to new heights, however he received’t be chargeable for the corporate going ahead. He appointed Linda Yaccarino, the previous head of promoting at NBCUniversal as the brand new CEO of the corporate.
Linda is a contemporary face and, hopefully, has some contemporary concepts to show Twitter round. Might she be the one to show the corporate in the fitting path? Proper now, there’s quite a bit within the air, and we don’t know if Elon could have some form of affect in her decision-making. Yaccarino is perhaps the CEO, however Elon continues to be the proprietor. We’ll have to attend and see if they’ll repair the issues affecting Twitter or X.