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Twitter & Elon Musk – A Love, Hate Relationship

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Khayla

By Khayla Broad

January 30, 2023

You have probably heard the news…

Eccentric billionaire, Elon Musk has purchased the Social Media Platform – Twitter. Read on for a snapshot of events that occurred during and after the infamous acquisition and an outline of what this means for Twitter in 2023.

On Friday, October 28th, 2022, Elon Musk finalised his deal to purchase Twitter. The $44 billion acquisition actually began back in April 2022 in what at first seemed like an elaborate joke from Musk when he first submitted the purchase proposal at $54.20per share.
From there came a series of snap decisions some with backlash that came just as swiftly. Musk’s mass layoffs of staff are now subject of ongoing lawsuits, he has pulled back employees from monitoring disturbing content on the site and has instituted temporary suspensions on a group of journalists all of which has been criticized.
One of the largest backlashes came when Twitter banned users from promoting social media accounts they hold on other major social media platforms e.g. Facebook, Instagram and Truth Social.
Twitter users were quick to express their outrage for the new rule, stating it was a hypocritical move from a man who claimed to be using Twitter to promote free speech but was implementing more oppressive rules than any other social platform. The controversial new rule mysteriously vanished from Twitter’s policy page mere hours after it was published.

Musk recently was a guest on the All-In podcast where he reflected on his time as ‘Chief Twit’, during so he stated:

 

“I guess I’m in some ways in a fortunate position, where I don’t have to answer — it’s not public, and we don’t have a board, really, I can take actions that are drastic. And obviously, if I make a bunch of mistakes, then Twitter won’t succeed, and that will be pretty embarrassing and sad.” – Elon Musk

Shortly after the purchase, Musk publicly stated his intent for the platform.

  • Removal of a mass amount of Twitters lifetime bans.
  • Reworking Twitter’s Algorithm to promote free speech.
  • Removal of all fake accounts & bots.
  • Downsizing Twitters office space and staff.
After which, Elon Musk wrote the below Tweet to brands and advertisers to ease concerns during the turbulent time of initial change within the platforms content and community regulations.

Musk reassures advertisers and brands that his goal is to make Twitter the most respected advertising platform in the world that works to not only strengthen brands but help businesses grow their enterprise.

New Features & Updates

Paid Verification – The Launch of Twitter Blue

One of the biggest announcements was the paid verification plan where users can pay an $8 per month subscription to receive a blue checkmark allowing everyday people to ‘dress up’ as influencers or celebrities. As you can imagine as soon as this was launched celebrity and brand impersonator accounts began to rise – Musk has since revised the program to counteract this. Even with the updates there seemed little benefit to users other than confirming they are human, that is until Musk released additional features to the program:

According to Twitter, Blue Members now receive:

  • Priority in replies, mentions & search.
  • The ability to post longer video and audio.

Musk is currently working on additional incentives and benefits for Twitter Blue Members including one notable feature – paying subscribers may be able to downvote other accounts in turn, limiting their tweet exposure.

Twitter’s Edit Feature

Twitter has finally rolled out its tweet editing feature to Twitter Blue subscribers in selected countries. There are limitations however, Tweets can only be amended within the first 30 minutes of posting and can only make 5 edits max within this period. Your edits won’t go unnoticed! Edited posts will have a mark indicating they have been edited – similarly to Instagram & Facebook.

Twitter’s Rules & Regulations

A lot of concern has been raised regarding Musk’s freedom of speech initiatives but has this really effected Twitters content regulations? Interestingly, as Musk talks about updating Twitters approach to filtering different kinds of speech, Twitter as a platform continues to reassure advertisers that its policies have not changed.

“None of our policies have changed. Our approach to policy enforcement will rely more heavily on de-amplification of violative content: freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach.” – Twitter Blog, November 30th.

Long-form Tweets in 2023

Musk has noted his aim to build YouTube like features into Twitter which would enable tweets to include longer videos.
It won’t just be video length effected; Musk has also stated that longer tweets are coming soon – with the word count potentially going from 280 characters to 4000.
These changes are all to keep users from leaving Twitter and going to consume content in another app.
What’s your take?
2023 is sure to be an exciting year in the ‘Twitterverse’ and we look forward to watching it unfold!
What’s your take on Elon Musk’s reign as Chief Twit and how would you vote in the below poll?

To learn more about the ever-changing social media landscape and to start making an impact with a tailored, omni-channel Social Media Management strategy – contact our team of experts today.

Sources

1. https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-updates/twitter/
2. https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/How-Twitter-Has-Changed-Under-Elon-Musk/639041/
3. https://fortune.com/2022/12/30/twitter-employees-bring-own-toilet-paper-as-elon-musk-keeps-cutting-costs/
4.https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-admits-to-making-mistakes-in-first-weeks-as-twitter-ceo-2022-12
5. https://napoleoncat.com/blog/twitter-new-features-and-updates/
6. https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/Twitter-Shares-Mock-Ups-of-Longer-Tweets/638552/

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