Twitter Changes in the Aftermath of Elon Musk’s Acquisition
In the aftermath of Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover of Twitter, there are a lot of questions about the social media company. Many of those are around how Twitter will monetize itself.
WeChat is a massively successful super app in China for banking, hailing a ride, and shopping. It’s famous because of its ease of use. That’s something that Twitter can learn from, and that’s what Musk wants to do with the social media company he bought last October.
He Wants X to Be Everything
Following several months of legal uncertainty, Twitter’s CEO Elon Musk successfully finalized his acquisition of the social media company during the late hours of Sunday night. He then fired a host of senior executives and began a rapid clean-up.
Many changes are coming at Twitter, whose growth has been slow in recent years. Some will be immediate, while others will shape up over time.
First up: a significant purge of blue check marks previously granted to accounts verified under Twitter’s previous verification system.
This is an essential step toward establishing Twitter’s new moderation standards. The intention is to be far more rigorous than the former regime’s. But it could also create confusion among users. Starting Thursday, hundreds of thousands of verified accounts will be removed from Twitter.
That will make it difficult for people using the platform for years to trust it. It could also hurt the social network’s reputation as a place where journalists can report accurate information. The credibility of some public agencies will also take a hit, including those that have remained on Twitter after the changes, including National Public Radio and the BBC.
Second: a significant move announces that there will be a removal of the label that some media organizations are “government-funded” or “state-affiliated.” This is a policy that Musk previously defended, but that has now been removed without explanation.
Third: the tech entrepreneur and the Founder’s Council are forming an all-new content moderation council.
Despite all of these changes, the path ahead for Twitter remains to be determined, and there are no guarantees that the newest iteration will be better than the old one. After all, Musk had a lot of trouble converting Twitter into a nifty app in the first place.
It’s Not Easy To Become A Super App
If Musk’s ultimate goal is to make Twitter into an “everything app” that includes payment services and everything else, it will be hard for him to do so without the proper resources. As it stands, Twitter’s staff is down about 75 percent from its pre-Musk peak of more than 7,500 employees.
