/7 Day 185 - #JackDorsey now regrets #ElonMusk’s take over of #Twitter. I guess there were no signs of toxic narcissism and egomania when he advocated for #Musk as the owner a year ago
I wonder if Dorsey is feeling more anti-Musk now that #BlueSky is making the news?
/8 It used to be that #Twitter was a preferred distribution channel for governmental agencies, that status appears to be crumbling. The MTA, #NYC’s transit agency used the network to provide service updates - now no more.
Twitter is now apparently offering gold and gray check marks for organizations. Maybe a poop brown tick mark will work for #ElonMusk?
/9 Ah yes that looks like a winning strategy to bring back #NPR to #Twitter
#ElonMusk oozes hostility towards legitimate #NewsMedia companies. At what point do #Journalists cut the cord and say ENOUGH!
I get it's difficult to walk away from a large following, but do you really want to continue putting money in this #oligarch's pocket?
Newly minted Twitter CEO Elon Musk threatened to reassign National Public Radio's official account — which uses the @NPR handle — to "another company" on Tuesday, weeks after the non-profit media…
/10 Looks like #ElonMusk has just realized that public service announcements are additive to #Twitter. Could be, requiring public agencies pay for access to the #TwitterAPI might cool said organization’s enthusiasm for the #SocialMediaPlatform
https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/new-reversal-twitter-after-move-sparked-mta-withdrawl.amp
11) The #TwitterBlue value proposition appears to be lacking. Churn rates on the service are extraordinarily high. Without a bona fide set of support services to truly validate users, #BlueCheckMarks have become meaningless. Chalk this one up as an #EpicFail
https://mashable.com/article/half-of-twitter-blue-earliest-subscribers-no-longer-subscribed
13) Increasingly #Twitter looks like a seedy, battered, casino property. There are plenty of adds for erectile dysfunction and bongs likely encouraging mainstream advertsiers to stay away. Or might it be the bigotry encourage by #ElonMusk under the guise of #FreeSpeech?
The #NYT is out with a story based on an internal presentation from Twitter showing a 59% decline in YOY ad revenues for April.
All is clearly not well
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/05/technology/twitter-ad-sales-musk.html
14) Another clownish misstep from #Twitter is drawing to a close. Clearly an attempt to force people to register on the site, I imagine the hope was to increase the MAUs
https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/05/twitter-silently-removes-login-requirement-for-viewing-tweets/
15) Meanwhile the Facebook/Meta complex has lumbered onto to the stage to take a crack at #Twitter’s microblogging empire
Nice for those who feel they can trust #Zuckerberg. I’m sure he’ll be kind to your personal data even if he’s not as erratic as #Elon
16) Yup that’s a real good look for #Twitter. So much for the virtue of #BlueCheckMarks. Now that designation has become a symbol for #disinformation
17) I think this cartoon from Bruce MacKinnon captures the current state of #Twitter and #ElonMusk’s judicious approach to managing a prime #SocialMedia property
18) How much do people dislike #Twitter? Enough for 70 million users to sign up for #Threads two days into it’s launch!! That’s the equivalent of 15% - 20% of Twitter’s active users.
How many of those 70 million know that threads is part of the #Meta, sell your data to anyone complex, is a question that is likely not on the radar.
We might be at an odd moment when #Zuckerberg is considered a benign #SocialMedia actor compared to #ElonMusk
19) Speaking of #Meta and #Zuckerberg, Fast Company is out with a review of #Threads and it’s certainly not complementary.
Pretty surprising that the app was launched without support for #HashTags!
#TwitterMigration #TwitterExodus #Twitter
https://www.fastcompany.com/90919575/zuckerberg-one-job-threads-ux
20) #Twitter is not worried about the reported 100 million #Threads signups, it’s just blocking URL’s which reference the new #Meta service.
Disappointing to see so many people jumping from one #SocialMedia oligarch to another. Do they really think that #Zuckerberg can be relied on to be less willful than #ElonMusk?
21) How far along the #Twitter wrecking curve are we?
@lopezlinette has the detailed litany and when gathered together, rather than from the daily assault of #Elonmusk’s narcissistic foolishness, it’s even more damning
That said, there is no alternative that has an obvious lead in supplanting the #BirdSite, plenty of contenders, but they’re just nibbling so far.
22) Looks like @catvalente took unfiltered dictation from my brain as we watched the #Musk vs #Zuckerberg which personal data sucking #oligarch do you want to support, play out
Does anyone get it?
Seriously I wish I could write with as much comedic profanity and stay on point at the same time
#TwitterMigration #TwitterExodus
https://catvalente.substack.com/p/mark-fking-zuckerberg-is-not-your
23) David French of the #NYTimes with some thoughts on how attempts to enable toxic #RightWing demagogues and their bankrupt ideas on #Twitter yielded an enormous opportunity for #Threads
Sadly he fails to note/appreciate that throwing your lot in with #Zuckerberg’s new social media project, might be quietly toxic for democracy. Do you remember #CamebridgeAnalytica?
#TwitterMigration #TwitterExodus #ElonMusk #SocialMedia
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/13/opinion/twitter-new-right.html
24) How do signups look for #Threads?
Is the volume accelerating or not?
Here’s a chart
First 24 hours yields 50 million
Second 50 million takes a little more than 3 days.
Unsurprisingly the growth is not linear despite the extraordinary volume.
Will the next 10 days yield another 100 million?
I’m guessing not.
Opinions?
25) Things are not going well at a #SocialMedia service, when it‘s on the receiving end of a scathing take from the sober pages of @foreignpolicy
I’d also suggest that the financial situation for #Twitter is increasingly precarious. The debt burden of $12 billion and Twitter’s ability to service the payments is questionable and may threaten ongoing operations. #ElonMusk May need to ante up again.
With thanks to @miah_he for the great piece
26) It’s no surprise that advertisers have fled #Twitter. #ElonMusk has admitted a 50% drop in revenues. Those advertisers are not going to return soon knowing that their ad placements could pop up next to a racist post from the likes of Nick Fuentes.
Coupled with $13 billion of debt, the company is in more than a shaky position. Are #oligarch types going to be willing to throw more money at this sinking ship to curry favor with his Muskness?
27) Day 269 since the #ElonMusk Twitter acquisition and the latest change appears to be a pure exercise in narrcisism and self sabotage.
#Twitter is not in need of renaming and rebranding, it is in need of investment to prop its creaky technical infrastructure, and a serious content managment effort which might lure advertisers back; they're not fond of #HardRight wackadoos and agents of #disinformation
Don't hold your breath folks
#SocialMedia #TwitterMigration
https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-twitter-logo-x-bird-d58758cdd3f8441e7d2c8d3ac827ba90
Elon Musk plans to change the logo of Twitter to an “X” from the famous blue bird, marking what would be the latest big change since he bought the social media platform for $44 billion last year. In a series of posts on his Twitter account starting just after 12 a.m. ET on Sunday, Twitter’s owner said that he’s looking to make the change worldwide as soon as Monday. Earlier this month, Musk put new curfews on his digital town square, a move that sparked criticism that it could drive away advertisers and undermine its cultural influence as a trendsetter.
28) A scathing obituary for #Twitter from @oliverdarcy at @CNN
Not much to argue with here as the #ElonMusk wrecking ball continues to level the edifice of a once extraordinary #SocialMedia company
Twitter mortuus est. Vivat Mastodon
29) #ElonMusk wants to turn the #SocialMedia company formerly known as #Twitter into an #EverythingApp
Pretty interesting that there is an expectation of turning over personal financial information to an entity that can barely handle text postings at the moment.
Yeah I want to tell #Elon all about my money 🙄
Long before Elon Musk’s $44 billion purchase of Twitter Inc. last year, he would talk about building an all-encompassing service called “X.” In typical Musk fashion, the concept was expansive and amorphous. Then over a weekend in July, he kickstarted that venture by abruptly changing the name and logo of the influential social media platform. Now dubbed X, it’s the start of the billionaire’s vision to transform Twitter into what he’s calling “the everything app.”
30) In a true sign of #ElonMusk's sucess in monitizing #Twitter's blue checkmark, some poor coding creature was charged with making said checkmark hideable
The old #BlueCheckmark has come a long way in 10 months. What was once and indicator of authenticity and influence has now degraded into what exactly?
Please fill in the blank:
The X Blue Checkmark signifies ________
https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/2/23816924/twitter-x-blue-subscribers-hide-blue-check-option
31) Just in case you were wondering whether #X would retain the term #Tweet, apparently that is being tossed onto the garbage pile along with #Twitter
#ElonMusk is expunging every element of the #BlueBird brand, it will be no more
#NYT has the goods tweet will be replaced by post, I guess xost wasn’t a runner
All this is the most extensive case of brand vandalism I’ve observed
Rock On #Elon LOL
🔑 https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/03/technology/twitter-x-tweets-elon-musk.html
32) On #X, digital eviction is part of the new operating philosophy
Fond of your X handle, well a hammer can come down anytime and change things arbitrarily. Too bad if you thought you owned a handle, that’s certainly not the case on #ElonMusk’s X.
Just another case being made for decentralized #SocialMedia and #Mastodon
https://www.pcmag.com/news/elon-musk-swipes-control-of-another-twitter-account-this-time-at-music
33) Another day, another petulant use of power by #ElonMusk
#X formerly known as #Twitter is adding to its pile of reasons to leave the degrading #SocialMedia site
The site is still heavily favored by many #NewsMedia professionals. Is it time to reconsider their support for the blighted site?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/08/15/twitter-x-links-delayed/
34) Contempt for #Journalism and #journalists is core to #ElonMusk’s world view. His latest move, detailed in #TheGuardian, is just one more swipe at #FreedomOfThePress.
Increasingly the #Twitter/ #X platform is becoming increasingly hostile to members of the #NewsMedia and yet members of the profession cling to the corrupted platform.
What or where is the tipping point?
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/aug/22/elon-musk-x-twitter-changes-news-links
35) Day 305
#Twitter / #X’s formerly valued #BlueTick has now degenerated into a tool for scammers and frauds. #TheGuardian has the story below.
It’s extraordinary to see how quickly #ElonMusk has destroyed one of #SocialMedia’s premium brands
36) Another day another threat of legal action directed by #ElonMusk. His target, the ADL?
Apparently #ADL analysis reveals #HateSpeech is on the rise at #Twitter / #X since the #Musk acquisition
Coming from a supposed #FreedomOfSpeech advocate, this critique of a data driven fact based study, is more than dissonant. I guess the only speech that is acceptable in Musk land is that which aligns with his bigoted world view
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/05/elon-musk-sue-adl-x-twitter
37) Excellent graphic visualization from #TheMarkup on how #Twitter is attempting to strangle traffic to sites that #ElonMusk doesn’t like
Am I surprised? No
Is Twitter continuing to undermine its credibility? Yes
Will more users leave the site as a result? Maybe
With thanks to @dangillmor for sharing this piece. Dan is on my daily reading list and has been at the forefront of encouraging journalists to leave the #DeadBird site
38) Not only does he want to sell your data to the highest bidder, now #Elon Musk wants to charge you for the pleasure on a monthly basis
Is this just a trial balloon or will all users now have to pay for #twitter
Interesting how #Musk is justifying a fee as an anti bot strategy, nothing to do with the fact that all his changes have driven the network deeper into the financial ditch
40) Day 347 since the #Twitter acquisition and all credibility for what was once the preferred #SocialMedia breaking news platform, has evaporated
#Wired has the story on how bad algorithms, bogus blue checks and the the elimination of Twitter’s fact checking team has resulted in a flood of #Gaza and #Israel disinformation
https://www.wired.com/story/x-israel-hamas-war-disinformation
41) #Frontline just released an excellent history of #ElonMusk’s Twitter take over
The phrase “chaos monkey” jumped to mind in watching this extended treatment of the #Twitter takeover story
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/elon-musks-twitter-takeover/
42) #Twitter’s numbers are continuing to slide while #Threads does not seem to be gaining any traction.
A space has been made by all the madness of the last year with distrust of the #Technogarch class, #SocialMedia is up for grabs.
Will the space opt for a more decentralized solution?
https://www.bigtechnology.com/p/exclusive-data-twitter-is-shrinking
43) Tomorrow will mark 1 year since #ElonMusk took control of #Twitter, what has he wroth?
.While #X is private, it is generally agreed that the company is now worth 1/3 of the acquisition price, an implosion of $30 billion in value
Attempts to monetize the platform, with user fees largely failed while top advertisers have cut back on their spend or left the platform altogether. Despite an 80% workforce reduction cash continues to hemorrhage
44) #Twitter has now entered the twilight zone where a once proud brand, used to source #BreakingNews, is now begining to be discounted as a useful #news sourcing tool
How long will it take before it will drop to complete irrelevance for #journalists and #politicians? The war in #Gaza has revealed just how unreliable a source it has become. There is nothing in #ElonMusk's plans that will make it better
The only constancy now on Twitter if the flow of #disinformation
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/11/08/twitter-news-global-conflicts-00123806
45) Hard to believe that anyone with a scintilla of commonsense would endorse this kind of bigotry on #Twitter
Sensible behavior has long fled #ElonMusk’s brain. As his wealth expanded, I imagine an inflated sense of self was given free rein.
Most bigots keep their #racism hidden, but when an individual is worth a couple of hundred billion, the worst types choose to indulge their #bigotry
#Bloomberg has the story 👇
46) Another day and more advertisers are fleeing #Twitter on the back of #ElonMusk’s endorsement of #FarRight #Antisemitic posts on #X. This time, #IBM has pulled the plug
The troubled #SocialMedia company has been hemorrhaging cash since the #Musk takeover a little over a year ago
Twitter is no longer a viable business. Its ability to continue to service its debt is highly questionable. How much is #Elon willing to spend to continue its operation?
https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/16/23964160/elon-musk-antisemitic-x-post-ibm-ads
47) Nothing like a little #Trumpian hyperbole to go along with the lawsuit threat.
The current world’s richest man, is upset that his #SocialMedia plaything aka #X, formerly #Twitter is being damaged by #MediaMatters. Apparently he wants to destroy the company all on his own
Is it just me, or does anybody else feel that #ElonMusk and #DonaldTrump have done a mind meld?
I’m sure #Trump would like to have #Musk’s bank account merged into his
48) Looks like a new record broken by #ElonMusk.
Apparently #X the #SocialMedia network formerly known has #Twitter has lost more major million dollar advertisers in one day, than any other social media company
Congrats #Elon. I’m relying on you to improve on that performance. I’m sure you can be even more bigoted with a little practice.
Maybe tune into #DonaldTrump rally to get a few pointers?
49) Glad to see Ann Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, calling it quits on #Twitter
Is your elected representative still playing in the sewers of #X? Maybe they should be encouraged to do otherwise?
Time to start encouraging your representative to leave the nightmare that #ElonMusk has constructed behind. Maybe they should be encouraged to join #Mastodon where real engagement happens?
50) With the latest #ElonMusk public tantrum, #Twitter moves closer to bankruptcy.
When the company was taken private in Oct last year it was larded up with $13 billion of debt. Servicing that debt in addition to ongoing operations is increasingly questionable without an additional cash infusion
Will #Musk ante up by liquidating some of his Tesla/SpaceX holdings? I’m highly sceptical of the likelihood that existing investors will wish to throw good money after bad
Multiple concerns. From a national security point of view, there is too much dependence on his low orbital satellite network. That’s an issue #Ukraine has had to deal with.
He strikes me as a desperately damaged man deeply in need of adulation, something he has in common with the last president
50) Interesting effort from the wonderful folks at @indivisibleteam - see the link below
As denizens of #Mastodon, a question we have to ask of ourselves is to what degree we should persuade friends colleagues and those we admire to leave the blighted #Twitter platform? Is there a moral obligation?
51) Another day, another step downward towards complete irrelevance.
At the behest of #ElonMusk, #X has reinstated #AlexJones
While #Musk claims to champion #FreeSpeech, he clearly has little interest in truthful speech. The US courts have found Jones guilty of the most mean spirited fabulation, but I guess truth and honesty are of little relevance in the mind of the world’s richest man
52) The Verge is out with a big series on #Twitter. While I don’t thing Twitter died in 2023, I think that’s a plausible outcome in the upcoming year.
Clearly Twitter is going to have increased difficulties servicing its $13 billion debt and I highly doubt that #ElonMusk will find outside investors willing to ante up good money after bad to keep the outfit afloat. The only question left is whether #Musk is willing to liquidate some of his portfolio to prop things up
https://www.theverge.com/c/23972308/twitter-x-death-tweets-history-elon-musk
53) A batch of stories around #ElonMusk’s alleged drug habits made the rounds this past weekend
Can #Musk’s erratic behavior be explained by #Ketamine abuse?
One thing is certain, this kind of news is not going to help #Twitter as the company with its shrinking revenues stares down at the looming need to refinance its $13 billion debt
Elon Musk has used illegal drugs at parties and appeared drugged at events, worrying executives and board members of his various companies, a new bombshell report claims. The 52 world richest man a…
I think that is certainly true of garchy types
54) Yet another example as to why #journalism and #journalists can be harmed by their continued participation on the #Twitter platform.
I sympathize with hard working #NewsMedia people who have built up a following on the butchered service, but am in agreement with @dangillmor that #X should be abandoned
While the #Irish journalist's account has been reinstated,
everbody is just one step away from an arbitrary #Musk ban with little or no transparency
55) Is #LinkedIn eating some of #Twitter’s lunch?
Interesting report⬇️ from #TechCrunch detailing the decline in traffic to the #DeadBird site and a corresponding rise on LinkedIn
Thoughts?
https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/01/linkedin-is-the-twitter-x-rival-no-one-is-talking-about
56) We’re now more than a week into the #Twitter shutdown in #Brazil. Who will blink first #Musk or Brazil?
Brazil is Twitter’s 4th largest user base but according to some reports only contributes 2% to revenues. Musk may be willing to bite the bullet to assert #oligarch supremacy over nation states.
57) The pain of the #Twitter / #Brazil shutdown is being felt by many small businesses and fan pages
Will this showdown trigger more interest in #activitypub based decentralized #SocialMedia?
58) I try to avoid climbing into the heads of #oligarchs who have lost the run of themselves. Who live in an echo chamber surrounded by sycophants who tell them every brain dropping produced is of celestial significance.
This post from the lost soul that is #LeonMusk made me want to retch. A reminder that #Twitter needs a hood old fashioned boycott
#Twitter #SocialMedia #Musk #DeadBird #TwitterMigration #Technogarchs #USPol #TaylorSwift
59) #LeonMusk is a fan of #authoritarianism like his preferred candidate #DonaldTrump.
Like #Trump and other #oligarchs the goal is to accumulate more wealth by dismantling democracy. There is no empathy nor any humanitarian impulse in either of these men.
#Twitter is just a democracy destabilization tool for #Musk. When is the pursuit of audience unconscionable?
Boycott #TwitterX it’s poison ☠️
https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/amp/rcna169608
#SocialMedia #Musk #DeadBird #TwitterMigration #Technogarchs #USPol
In truth I don’t think most #SocialMedia choices are driven by whether a network is open or decentralized. I might think that should be an important consideration.
It’s sad to see some small business folks in #Brazil losing their livelihood because of #Musk’s ego. Most, likely opted to build a presence on the platform by virtue of its scale.
Yeah just switching out one #technogarch for another. I’d suggest that #Zuckerberg is less volatile than #Musk, but I see little evidence of him restraining toxic algorithms which drive engagement
#Musk isn’t interested in moral principles or intellectual consistency. He just wants to flood the zone with BS and create enough uncertainty in the world so that he and his ilk have a free hand to do what they want
52) An interesting piece on #Threads from Pamela Paul. I never signed up for Threads as I assumed it would engage in the same kind of algorithmic manipulation found on #Twitter.
The commentary on the prevalence of purity tests amongst the chattering classes of the left resonates. How can so many people be so blind to the fact that they are being stoked and exploited by algorithmic profit engines?
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/28/opinion/threads-x-twitter-social-media.html
I’ll take your word on that having not ventured on #Threads nor having any intention of bothering with another profit driven version of #SocialMedia
I know that are mixed views on the NYT, that said it is in my view one of the better American media companies. I expect your opinion differs
That said, the commentary I believe is valid regardless of your view on the publication and I’d recommend it.
The nice thing about #Mastodon is the ease with which one can block #trolls and types who lack basic #civility. Truth is you know little or nothing about me nor I of you.
I responded to your comment I believe with courtesy and yet you chose to ridicule me. It appears you don’t believe in the exchange of ideas, rather you prefer a scorched earth policy of sneers and dismissal as being the best way to persuade. I think you’ll find that is not the path to success
I try to avoid spending to much time tracking the vacillations of obscene #garch wealth
Certainly #Twitter has become a significant sinkhole for #ElonMusk and will likely go bankrupt in the not too distant future. That is unless #Musk decides to incinerate more of his fortune through wealth implosion management techniques deployed at #X
LOL. He seems bent on destroying what little commercial viability #Twitter had left
LOL interesting to see the spin this evening on how how this was somewhat of a success
If that’s the backstop they’re in deep doodoo
In truth, I’m not a fan of the whole billionaire thing fake or not. I think we can aspire to greater things
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