EEsJul 26, 2023
Taylor Lorenz
Musk’s rebranded Twitter is offering extremely hefty discounts to advertisers while simultaneously threatening them that if they don’t spend at least $1k on ads in the next 30 days their brand will lose its checkmark and they won’t police impersonation https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musks-rebranded-twitter-cuts-ad-prices-d2615d8f
WSJ News Exclusive | Elon Musk’s Rebranded Twitter Cuts Ad Prices

Social-media site X is offering hefty discounts to lure back ad dollars

WSJ
Jul 26, 2023 at 6:07amMastodon for iOS
Show threadAmy DentataJul 26, 2023
@taylorlorenz who doesn't love a little extortion
Show threadIpso FactoJul 26, 2023
@amydentata @taylorlorenz beat me to it, lol
Show threadAllan Svelmøe HansenJul 26, 2023
@taylorlorenz That's a nice checkmark you got there - would be a shame if something happened to it. So pay up.....
Show threadRodneyPetersonTalentAgencyJul 26, 2023
@svelmoe @taylorlorenz To use an analogy from an episode of Monty Pythons Flying Circus: “You’ve got a nice football team there coach…it’d be a shame if something were to ‘appen to it.”
Show threadJackbr99Jul 26, 2023
@RodneyPetersonTalent @svelmoe @taylorlorenz sure the crowd wont play
Show threadJoel VanderWerfJul 26, 2023
@taylorlorenz What's the point of building a troll army if you don't mobilize it?
Show threadSeanJul 26, 2023

@taylorlorenz

I jumped ship from Twitter just in time. That site is going down in flames.

Show threadanubis2814Jul 26, 2023
@beefbaby182 @taylorlorenz So many dumpster fires. 2015 people were freaking out about Harambe and Alan Rickman dying acting like it was the worst thing ever. So cute.
Show threadSeanJul 26, 2023

@anubis2814 @taylorlorenz

OMG...Harambe seems like a century ago

Show threadGilesJul 26, 2023

@anubis2814 @taylorlorenz @beefbaby182

May 28, 2016. There's a good number of people who equate the death of Harambe as the moment the whole frickin' world just went totally batshit. Rickman and Lemmy died, 45 got voted into office, and nothing has been the same since.

Show threadSeanJul 26, 2023

@idlewise @anubis2814 @taylorlorenz

When future generations read about this time it will start with something like, "well, first a gorilla got shot and everybody pooped their pampers. And from there on shit just kept getting weirder."

Show threadGilesJul 26, 2023
@beefbaby182 @anubis2814 @taylorlorenz
Show threadkatsterifficJul 27, 2023
@idlewise @anubis2814 @taylorlorenz @beefbaby182 And the Cubs won the Series! That was my point where the timeline broke, but I could accept yours.
Show threadSeanJul 27, 2023
@katster @idlewise @anubis2814 @taylorlorenz oh yeah that's right! I remember when the Cubbies finally won a series! That was what line the first time in more than 100 years? Good for them.
Show threadTheriacJul 26, 2023
@taylorlorenz

#facebook must be loving this. Both i_er and #facebook are rushing to make the "everything" site

https://plasmatrap.com/@Theriac/pages/1690271254311
Why Facebook is meta and why Twitter is X

Making sense of coporate koolaid at these 2 titans of the attention economy.

Plasma Trap~
Show threadGraywulf Dolfinson (Esquire)Jul 26, 2023
@Theriac @taylorlorenz Facebook has *been* wanting to become the everything website. The only thing dividing it from Tencent QQ/WeChat is the fact that our internet needn't be governed by two or three companies.
Show threadTheriacJul 26, 2023
@GrayDaDolf @taylorlorenz
by "everything" it goes beyond the "all of your attention" - they mean to set things up so you live through their live service - you buy your groceries on their live service from the wages you earn on their live service, paid in their own online currency, and relax via streaming/gaming/interacting with other users on their live service. Where you being there makes you a commodity for commerce. RIght now its virtual reality, but only because they can't get away with neural implants, yet.
Show threadLee 🌏Jul 26, 2023
@taylorlorenz
Wow! Bullying people to advertise on your platform. A new low for #Elonmusk
Show threadBornachJul 26, 2023

@MrLee @taylorlorenz

Or yet another low in a long history of lows

I'd still rank calling the Thai cave rescuer a "pedo" as a lower low
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/15/elon-musk-british-diver-thai-cave-rescue-pedo-twitter

Elon Musk calls British diver in Thai cave rescue 'pedo' in baseless attack

Accusation directed on Twitter at Vern Unsworth, who called Tesla CEO’s offer of ‘mini-sub’ to help rescuers a ‘PR stunt’

The Guardian
Show threadMxhradJul 26, 2023

@bornach @MrLee @taylorlorenz

Yes. That's when he announced to the world that he's an immature jerk.

Show threadRodneyPetersonTalentAgencyJul 26, 2023
@MrLee @taylorlorenz Nah…Elons gone much lower than that before…this is only one of his semi lows…
Show threadNicole ParsonsJul 26, 2023

@taylorlorenz

Musk and his investors really like the "captive" part of "captive consumer markets".

Extortion and blackmail, is that an effective technique to retain customers?

Show threadJL RobersonJul 26, 2023
@taylorlorenz How is this guy worth bothering with anymore, wtf can he offer
Show threadjordanJul 26, 2023
@jlroberson @taylorlorenz inertia. that's all he's got right now.
Show threadMxhradJul 26, 2023

@jlroberson @taylorlorenz

When you start appealing to bigoted incels, you're admitting to the world that you've got nothing useful to offer.

Show thread😀🚲Jul 26, 2023
@taylorlorenz dude paid $44B to destroy a website, he gets to do it just as creatively as his little heart desires 😂
Show threadcybik Jul 26, 2023
@enobacon @taylorlorenz bold of you to assume he still has one. (and bold of me to assume he ever did)
Show thread😀🚲Jul 26, 2023
@root @taylorlorenz it's probably just a tiny blood diamond
Show threadEdelruth, PBS Passport HolderJul 26, 2023

@taylorlorenz

So, Elon is racketeering now?

Show threadPaladin  Jul 26, 2023
@taylorlorenz Oh, oh, oh, sign me up! #FOMO or a repulsive act that won't attract any company with a strategy.
Show threadRoscoJul 26, 2023
@taylorlorenz The good ol’ protection racket, hey. He’s been watching the Sopranos again, hasn’t he?
Show threadMastodon MigrationJul 26, 2023
@taylorlorenz It's great to have you back here Taylor.
Show threadOzzy ☮️Jul 26, 2023
@taylorlorenz is that the same as threatening advertisers that their brand could possibly be flooded by spam from x-things if they don't comply?
Show threadThat Anonymous CowardJul 26, 2023

@taylorlorenz

And lo, onto Space Karen the brands said, in German so his fanbois could understand it...

Tschüss Felicia

Show threadOsma A 🇫🇮🇺🇦Jul 26, 2023

Just in case racketeering seems to you like a new Musk behavior - he did the same with the Starlinks to Ukraine bait and switch. Get Pentagon, Europe and volunteers pay up for the terminals with promise bandwidth would be there as a promotional sponsorship, then threaten cutting off service unless someone paid honey for it.

Grifters gonna grift, no matter what.

@taylorlorenz
https://mastodon.social/@taylorlorenz/110778885888184817

Show threadThis Is A Dumb TimelineJul 26, 2023

@taylorlorenz

What's wild, it's really not hard to see how this hurts advertising and the brand long term. If impersonations won't be enforced, it de-legitimizes the whole site for big legitimate companies with a brand to protect.

Not many companies are going to advertise on the internet equivalent of a mud slinging free for all. The only advertisers left would be grifts

Show threadsabikJul 26, 2023

@Ceejaybeau @taylorlorenz
It's apparently hard for him to see 🤷

He never did seem to know who or what the checkmarks are for

Show threadcodeslaveJul 26, 2023
@Ceejaybeau @taylorlorenz I think X/Twitter is already there. Several weeks ago they changed something and my ad filters hadn't yet caught up, so I saw a bunch of promoted tweets. Let's just say I did not see any A-list advertisers – more like somewhere between Wish and "As Seen On TV" ads.
Show threadAxe AkaneJul 26, 2023
@taylorlorenz that guy is such a scumbag!
Show thread Why Not Zoidberg? 🦑Jul 26, 2023
@taylorlorenz 😜 😆
Show threadninavizzJul 26, 2023
@taylorlorenz Dang, that makes Yelp look downright ethical.
Show threadlucas 🎺Jul 26, 2023
@taylorlorenz brands should drop Twitter and migrate to threads
Show threadLett OspreyJul 26, 2023

@theLUCASTDS @taylorlorenz Brands should migrate to a service that is not accessible in Europe because it violates too many of our privacy laws?

Sounds like a bad idea for any international brands and what should European brands do?

Show threadJohanna JaneJul 26, 2023
@taylorlorenz I don't usually like to kink shame, but Elon's fetishes have really gotten out of hand
Show threadmosttoastJul 26, 2023
@taylorlorenz ....isn't that just extortion?
Show threadpepper1700Jul 26, 2023
@mosttoast @taylorlorenz "protection tax"
Show threadKris Sargent, MDJul 26, 2023
@taylorlorenz "Buy my shitty product or else" really builds the ol' brand loyalty.
Show threadTea time.Jul 26, 2023

@taylorlorenz 𝕏tortion.

Contact your Senator. Contact your congress critters.

Show threadA. RiveraJul 26, 2023
@KraftTea @taylorlorenz Do recall Fanucci was not around long after.
Show threadLuis_Fierro Jul 26, 2023
@taylorlorenz threatening advertisers seems like a great business strategy!
Show threadJuliafinJul 26, 2023
@taylorlorenz who cares about a checkmark that doesn't prove authenticity on a dying platform?
Show threadDanJul 26, 2023
@taylorlorenz “advertise your brand on my site that now makes people associate you with porn or else” is really going to go over well with lots of advertisers.
Show threadBlaster1360Jul 26, 2023
@taylorlorenz this is why you don't let a megalomaniac with a god-complex and an ego that could challenge Kanye West's own a social media site...
Show threadJoel Klebanoff 🇨🇦Jul 26, 2023
@taylorlorenz “Nice little brand you’ve got there it’d be a shame if anything happened to it.”
Show threadTM 🍥Jul 26, 2023
@taylorlorenz
Elon is not just a genius. He's a wrecking ball
Show threadA. RiveraJul 26, 2023

@taylorlorenz

He can't even run a protection racket right. You don't give them a discount along with the "warning" of what could happen if they don't pay.

Show threadMikeKJul 26, 2023

@taylorlorenz

So. A charm offensive. Or possibly just offensive.

Show threadGina Intheburg 🇺🇦 🌻 🥥🌴Jul 26, 2023

@taylorlorenz

In the best (sarcasm) mafia tradition.

Show threadellinstJul 26, 2023
@taylorlorenz Bringing mob boss techniques to business, à la Trump. "Nice little brand you got here. Would be a shame if anything were to happen to it."
Show threadLuca da FirenzeJul 26, 2023

@taylorlorenz

if you do not pay something bad cold happen to your brand name... who knows

😄