6 ms·

Everyone is looking at it too short term. Twitter isn’t going to disappear and he has shown a willingness to ride through rough economic times to reach his visi

Everyone is looking at it too short term. Twitter isn’t going to disappear and he has shown a willingness to ride through rough economic times to reach his vision. Social Media is how people interact with the world now, most info we receive is filtered through it in some form. In the last 10 or so years the idea that these platforms need tight moderation to control what and who is speaking on them has become ubiquitous. I think his main gamble is that the future of social media does not involve automated moderation and tight content restrictions, but a more open platform and he is gonna use twitter to play that bet out. It isn’t a horrible bet.

bergenty 4y ago
It’s not a new idea though, having a completely open platform. It quickly devolves into cp, racism and general abstract violence. We’ve learned this lesson already at this point.
- ericmcer 4y ago
  Obviously not completely open. Open in the sense of ideas and viewpoints, not like an open market for illegal activity. More like one where Trump wouldn't be banned. Is that a good or bad thing? I don't know, in an ideal world humans could self-regulate and make good decisions about how they use information. The status quo is that we cannot control ourselves, and need to have sophisticated controls that filter out objectionable info.
heavyset_go 4y ago
Is that why Twitter is suspending accounts that tweet things that hurt Musk's feelings? That sounds like tight content restrictions to me.
- norwalkbear 4y ago
  Hurt his feelings or impersonating him. I've seen him replying to people insulting him and not suspending them.
  - heavyset_go 4y ago
    There's plenty of examples of Twitter removing and/or suspending content that Musk doesn't like[1][2]. [1] https://i.redd.it/5hgt89c599y91.jpg https://i.redd.it/5hgt89c599y91.jpg [2] https://external-preview.redd.it/LvQhCbGd3mXlAjyj0GktvQaAJ_3IDOLje2eCXdbgn1g.jpg?width=506&auto=webp&s=25b4e598a5c37d1c339d0af050af72804c640bb4 https://external-preview.redd.it/LvQhCbGd3mXlAjyj0GktvQaAJ_3...
    - PM_me_your_math 4y ago
      So two? What an epidemic.
      - bhouston 4y ago
        2 is enough to show a pattern that never existed before. Twitter now has a king and if you insult him and it hurts him, you will be restricted or banned.
        PM_me_your_math 4y ago
        2... In a sea of a 500,000,000 tweets... ...a day... Are you familiar with the term statistically insignificant?
        bhouston 4y ago
        If that is how we judge bad behavior, basically Elon Musk could block 100,000 tweets per day because he doesn't like them and it still would be statistically insignificant, and thus it wouldn't matter? Your logic is incredibly porous, but I think you know that and you don't care.
      - skinnymuch 4y ago
        Your response to receipts is this?
      - heavyset_go 4y ago
dragonwriter 4y ago
> Twitter isn’t going to disappear You seem more confident than Musk is reported to have been in today's sudden all-hands meeting; what do you know that Musk doesn’t? EDIT: see, e.g., https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-10/musk-tells-twitter-staff-social-network-s-bankruptcy-is-possible https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-10/musk-tell...
- AlphaSite 4y ago
  He has a pattern where attempts to create false peril in an effort to motivate people. Which is maybe telling about his managerial style that he relays on fear rather than inspiration.
  - nonrandomstring 4y ago
    Interesting observation. Spirit of our age? Terror management rather than bringing out the best we can be on a wave of optimism?
  - Dunedan 4y ago
    How is warning that the company can't afford losses forever a false peril? It's just saying out loud what everybody knows anyway.
- knighthack 4y ago
  Bankruptcy isn't always a bad thing. It can be a good thing, depending on how you use it. People who do not understand bankruptcy laws often perpetuate wrong myths. Bankruptcy is just a legal insolvency mechanism to stave off problematic creditors, while you find way to handle assets against the liabilities of the company. A bankruptcy isn't always the end of the world, and smart businessmen know this. Musk has a ton of people advising him on legal issues. It's possible that he's making the wrong business moves, but the fact that he's publicly seeing ahead at the possibility of bankruptcy, tells us that he's navigating the waters cognisant of avoiding it rather than to ensure the outcome arrives.
rob74 4y ago
> Twitter isn’t going to disappear Isn't it? Ok, maybe Musk has a magic wand that he can use to make it profitable (which it has been for only two out of the last 12 years), or is willing to subsidize it indefinitely out of his deep pockets... but I wouldn't bet on it.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
threeseed 4y ago
> Twitter isn’t going to disappear Digg, Myspace, Google+. They don't have to disappear but they can fade away into irrelevance.
lalos 4y ago
He has runway as long as he is able to fund it, so there’s an upper bound.
- smaryjerry 4y ago
  This is important, he can fund it but not forever. He’s owned it what 2 weeks now? In the current market I’m lucky if I can order paint for a small building and have it arrive in 2 weeks - these days it takes more like 3-6 months. He appears to be moving at lightning speed with these changes. The thing is, when you are moving 10 times as fast as normal you can trip up 10 times as much and still arrive on time.

bergenty 4y ago

It’s not a new idea though, having a completely open platform. It quickly devolves into cp, racism and general abstract violence. We’ve learned this lesson already at this point.

ericmcer 4y ago
Obviously not completely open. Open in the sense of ideas and viewpoints, not like an open market for illegal activity. More like one where Trump wouldn't be banned. Is that a good or bad thing? I don't know, in an ideal world humans could self-regulate and make good decisions about how they use information. The status quo is that we cannot control ourselves, and need to have sophisticated controls that filter out objectionable info.

heavyset_go 4y ago

Is that why Twitter is suspending accounts that tweet things that hurt Musk's feelings? That sounds like tight content restrictions to me.

norwalkbear 4y ago
Hurt his feelings or impersonating him. I've seen him replying to people insulting him and not suspending them.
- heavyset_go 4y ago
  There's plenty of examples of Twitter removing and/or suspending content that Musk doesn't like[1][2]. [1] https://i.redd.it/5hgt89c599y91.jpg https://i.redd.it/5hgt89c599y91.jpg [2] https://external-preview.redd.it/LvQhCbGd3mXlAjyj0GktvQaAJ_3IDOLje2eCXdbgn1g.jpg?width=506&auto=webp&s=25b4e598a5c37d1c339d0af050af72804c640bb4 https://external-preview.redd.it/LvQhCbGd3mXlAjyj0GktvQaAJ_3...
  - PM_me_your_math 4y ago
    So two? What an epidemic.
    - bhouston 4y ago
      2 is enough to show a pattern that never existed before. Twitter now has a king and if you insult him and it hurts him, you will be restricted or banned.
      - PM_me_your_math 4y ago
        2... In a sea of a 500,000,000 tweets... ...a day... Are you familiar with the term statistically insignificant?
        bhouston 4y ago
        If that is how we judge bad behavior, basically Elon Musk could block 100,000 tweets per day because he doesn't like them and it still would be statistically insignificant, and thus it wouldn't matter? Your logic is incredibly porous, but I think you know that and you don't care.
    - skinnymuch 4y ago
      Your response to receipts is this?
    - heavyset_go 4y ago

dragonwriter 4y ago

> Twitter isn’t going to disappear You seem more confident than Musk is reported to have been in today's sudden all-hands meeting; what do you know that Musk doesn’t? EDIT: see, e.g., https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-10/musk-tells-twitter-staff-social-network-s-bankruptcy-is-possible https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-10/musk-tell...

AlphaSite 4y ago
He has a pattern where attempts to create false peril in an effort to motivate people. Which is maybe telling about his managerial style that he relays on fear rather than inspiration.
- nonrandomstring 4y ago
  Interesting observation. Spirit of our age? Terror management rather than bringing out the best we can be on a wave of optimism?
- Dunedan 4y ago
  How is warning that the company can't afford losses forever a false peril? It's just saying out loud what everybody knows anyway.
knighthack 4y ago
Bankruptcy isn't always a bad thing. It can be a good thing, depending on how you use it. People who do not understand bankruptcy laws often perpetuate wrong myths. Bankruptcy is just a legal insolvency mechanism to stave off problematic creditors, while you find way to handle assets against the liabilities of the company. A bankruptcy isn't always the end of the world, and smart businessmen know this. Musk has a ton of people advising him on legal issues. It's possible that he's making the wrong business moves, but the fact that he's publicly seeing ahead at the possibility of bankruptcy, tells us that he's navigating the waters cognisant of avoiding it rather than to ensure the outcome arrives.

rob74 4y ago

> Twitter isn’t going to disappear Isn't it? Ok, maybe Musk has a magic wand that he can use to make it profitable (which it has been for only two out of the last 12 years), or is willing to subsidize it indefinitely out of his deep pockets... but I wouldn't bet on it.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

threeseed 4y ago

> Twitter isn’t going to disappear Digg, Myspace, Google+. They don't have to disappear but they can fade away into irrelevance.

lalos 4y ago

He has runway as long as he is able to fund it, so there’s an upper bound.

smaryjerry 4y ago
This is important, he can fund it but not forever. He’s owned it what 2 weeks now? In the current market I’m lucky if I can order paint for a small building and have it arrive in 2 weeks - these days it takes more like 3-6 months. He appears to be moving at lightning speed with these changes. The thing is, when you are moving 10 times as fast as normal you can trip up 10 times as much and still arrive on time.