Is Twitter a Musk?

Elon Musk has finally blinked and agreed to take ownership of Twitter. So, what does that mean?

Seemingly out of the blue, with an important and almost unwinnable court date looming, Tesla boss Elon Musk agreed to go through with the purchase of Twitter. He made the initial motion back in May 2022 after blasting (on Twitter of course) numerous complaints about the platform, its rules, the truths or lack-there-of, and the dictator-like control to ban users, opening the debate of First Amendment infringement.

So, with a new captain at the helm, and promises of big changes ahead for the platform, what does this mean for the average user?

LOSE THE ADS, EMBRACE THE SUBSCRIPTION

One of the most disappointing predictions is that Musk intends to reduce the number of advertisements on the platform by switching to a subscription-based model. In 2021, advertisements made up 90% of the company’s revenue according to the Wall Street Journal. Implementing a subscription service would do away with the reliance and annoyance of ads and ad bots, but pose a serious question to the consumer. DO YOU WANT TO PAY FOR AN OPEN-SOURCE SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM?!

According to Musk’s aspirations for the platform, he wants to rid the system of all the bots and fakes, and implement more firm rules into the Twitter-verse that would require more truth in words posted than there are currently. This would also include allowing a strong social media presence as former President Donald Trump back on the platform, assuming he can meet the authenticity and truth benchmark.

TAKING THE COMPANY PRIVATE

One way he can control the outcome of his hopes for Twitter is through the privatization of the company, meaning shareholders will be bought out, and the stock ticker TWTR would cease to exist in the publicly traded markets. This allows Musk much more control over the company, and fewer people to answer to, leaving him the power to alter Twitter’s business and software platform to meet his standards

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR MY TWITTER?!?

In short, we do not know the specific fate of Twitter as a staple social media platform. In the short-term, probably nothing will happen, the mid-term picture would probably (and hopefully) shape up to remove much of the spam bots and ad bots, cleaning up the platform and giving the user a taste of what ‘social life’ will be like on the other side of this acquisition. Then, inevitably, the subscription plan will hit, offering the New World for a price…

But even with that annoyance, I still hold a bit of optimism. If Twitter 2.0 becomes anything like Elon Musk’s previous ventures (some small companies you might know named Tesla and SpaceX, and The Boring Company) you should be optimistic too! The man has a knack for innovation and testing the status quo.

If I were Meta (a.k.a Facebook) I would be a bit concerned about what he’s got planned, and the bears he is so courageously eager to poke.