Is Twitter Doomed? This article focusses on the changes in Twitter Since Elon Musk’s takeover and the impact this has had on staff, reliability, and bullying.
It is the second of a 2-Part post: See Part 1
If ever there was a harbinger of things to come this could very well be it. A beaming Elon arrives at Twitter HQ bearing a kitchen sink (answers on a post-card) as staff simultaneously hear there may be plans to cut staff numbers by 75% (Guardian, October 2022) a claim Musk later denied to staff (Bloomberg, October 2022).
Prior to Musk’s takeover, Twitter had approximately 7,500 staff. This has now dropped to approximately 1,300 active, working employees – fewer than 550 of which are engineers (CNBC, January 2023). A drop of 82%. You could argue that he was accurate in his assertion to staff that he would not lay off 75% of the workforce – he appears to have laid off more.
An Ignominious Redundancy and Rehire
Haraldur Ingi Þorleifssonm an Icelandic Entreprenuer (and Icelandic person of the year, 2022) sold his company, Ueno, to Twitter in early 2021 and was on a “do not fire” list at Twitter.
Irrespective, Haraldur was fired from Twitter in February 2023, and only received confirmation of his job loss via a bizarre twitter dialogue with Musk culminating in the Tweet on the left.
On March 2023, Musk had accused Haraldur of using his disability as an excuse and that he did no actual work. Within 24 hours he had deleted several Tweets and apologised to Haraldur for a “misunderstanding”.
Who is keeping Twitter running?
Evidently fewer people. According to The Verge (March, 2023) the layoffs have left Twitter with so few Engineers that only one Site Reliability Engineer was on a major project involving the platform’s APIs.
The project focussed on revoking access to Twitters hitherto free APIs (I find it amusing that 22.1k people “like” the fact that the APIs are no longer free in the above tweet). It should be noted that the Verge also points out that these changes might pre-date Musk’s takeover of Twitter. However, they go on to further note that Musk had promised to improve the reliability of the platform.
Blue Trick
It wasn’t long after Musk’s curious toilet-toting entrance at Twitter HQ until it was proclaimed that the Blue Tick could be bought by Twitter users. The Blue Tick, of course, had been a badge of honour for public figures, many of whom laboured to gain it. It is notable that Sarah Personette (Twitter’s Advertising Chief), resigned on 28th October, just 8 days before the announcement was made.
Per Twitter’s own eligibility criteria: to buy the tick you would need to have a Name and Profile Photo, have used your account in the past 30 Days, be non-deceptive, and be more than 90 days old. Oh, and you must have a payment method, of course.
Advertiser Exodus
So, what’s to stop just about anyone getting a Twitter “Blue Tick”? Absolutely nothing, as famously illustrated by a fake Pepsi account claiming that Coke was Better, just 2 days after the ticks went on sale.
The ambiguity the Blue Tick was causing also had a devastating impact on Twitter’s advertising revenue.
Just 25 days after Musk gained control of Twitter, 50% of the Top advertisers had already abandoned the platform, including prominent firms such as Coca-Cola, Meta, Kellogg’s, Chevrolet, and Ford. Quite an accomplishment after 25 days in-post.
Welcome, all ye agitators
Alongside the blue-tick changes, it was announced that Donald Trump’s account would be reactivated – having previously been banned under Twitter’s Glorification of Violence policy. Rather than having a panel review the case for reinstatement, Musk ran a Twitter poll asking whether Trump should be reinstated. When the poll closed, 24 hours later, Musk announced “Vox Populi, Vox Dei”.
Latin for “The voice of the people is the voice of God” (conspicuously, Musk also wears a Gladiators outfit in his profile picture and therefore an apparent penchant for ancient Roman history). To date, Trump’s exclusivity agreement with Trust Social (which is he trying to escape) has meant that he cannot Tweet on the platform.
Andrew Tate
Other banned accounts were also unlocked around the same time. The depressingly predictable impact of these decisions have been felt across the platform.
Andrew Tate, an ex-kickboxer and current-misogynist, was unblocked on 19th November, 2022. His Twitter account remains active (he is banned from YouTube and Facebook) despite his arrest in Romania for allegedly forcing 6 accusers to create explicit content for “Only Fans”.
In the UK, counter-extremism workers in the government’s Prevent Programme have deliberated on the impact of the “incel culture”, whose women-hating culture has been drawn to, and compared with, Andrew Tate (learn more about “Incel culture” in the BBC documentary “Inside the Secret World of Incels“). This underlines the impact a single person on Social Media can have on impressionable and isolated people.
Marianna Spring and Bullying
Marianna Spring, the BBC’s Disinformation and Social Media Correspondent, produced an excellent documentary on Panorama on Twitter’s failure to handle the rise in hate the platform has seen. Unfortunately, Musk singled Marianna out for Criticism, which has resulted in death threats to the reporter.
Despite the increase in hate-speech on Twitter and the fact that even rape survivors such as Ellie Wilson (Glamour, March 2023) cannot escape the bullying, it is unlikely things will improve. Online safety teams have been slashed (including those tasks with rooting out illegal content) and Musk himself even had ordered the removal of a suicide prevention feature (Guardian, December 2022).
User Numbers
In spite of Musk’s protestations otherwise, Twitter numbers have fallen since he has taken over the platform by 5.1% (Insider Intelligence, December 2022). It is predicted that 32 million additional users will depart the platform within 2 years of his takeover. Given the total users numbers, this appears a modest decrease of 5%. When viewed through the wider context of Social Media growth which is sitting at 3% YoY (as calculated by Meltwater), however, this is a worrying sign for Twitter. (Note: in the UK, during the same 2 year period, user numbers are predicted to drop by almost 13%).
Conclusion
This saga is a story of Ego – the unyielding need some of us have to “win” at all costs, regardless of the impact it has on People. It is a story of a single person who views their own version of the truth as the only truth, and a person who does not handle criticism well.
That a company, with such wide reach and unique ability to influence the hopes and anxieties of users, is beholden to a single person should concern all free-thinkers.
I believe the point at which Governments will step in to regulate Social Media companies (in the same way as print media) is fast approaching. That, and the forthcoming Web 3.0 model and the potential it provides, will most likely hasten the demise of Social Media super-firms – but it will be a a long death!
Is Twitter doomed?
Given the drastic cut to staffing numbers, the inability for the platform to be policed, the resulting exodus of advertisers and their revenue, falling user numbers, the closure of a previously free and open API, and an increasingly toxic platform – it is unlikely Twitter will be able escape it’s doom their under current leadership and without gargantuan efforts.
Musk purchased a struggling Social Media company for a price higher than its value and has since presided over the disappearance of key revenue streams.
However, with the rate of Technology change, and warning signs for other Social Media companies such as TikTok, we are more likely a period of rapid change – where the impact Social Media has on society, and its ability to influence public discourse, has reached a point where its can no longer be ignored.
Alternatives
Other, decentralised open-source Social Media platforms such as Mastodon exist, the nature of which means a users content will not be monetised.
Although Mastodon might not be the “Twitter-killer” many hope for, it is illustrative of a decentralised technology and perhaps a harbinger of the promise of Web 3.0 – where users remain in control of their content, and where the power to monetise that content remains firmly in the hands of users.
It could be debated, in fact, that events at Twitter, Facebook, and elsewhere have served to accelerate the need for Web 3.0, and the benefits and power it hopes to bring to users.
Important Notes
For UK readers who know someone who may be being radicalised through social media, or other channels, please refer to the UK Government Guidance on Radicalisation.
This post is a personal opinion and in no way reflects the opinion of anyone I work for
One thought on “Ding-dong, the bird is…? (Part 2)”