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Did Musk describe 'Breakthrough Twitter 2.0' in a separate message that hasn't been made public? "Stay at Twitter because we're moving to 80 hour work weeks an

by KVFinn 4y ago

Did Musk describe 'Breakthrough Twitter 2.0' in a separate message that hasn't been made public? "Stay at Twitter because we're moving to 80 hour work weeks and cancelling Christmas" can't be the argument by itself, right? It's got to be something like "Stay at Twitter because we're building exciting new project X, but we'll need 80 hour work weeks to pull this off..."

BitwiseFool 4y ago
Working for one of Elon Musk's companies sounds brutal, but I can understand the appeal of burning hot and bright on something truly innovative. I would feel proud and motivated to work like crazy on something like Starship, but this is Twitter. I suspect Musk's strategy of appealing to people who want to change the world and be on the bleeding edge of technology won't hold up the same way as it did for his other companies.
- madeofpalk 4y ago
  > on something truly innovative. like twitter? apparently elon's master plan is 2000s-era blogspot citizen journalism?
  - unity1001 4y ago
    > 2000s-era blogspot citizen journalism What's wrong with 2000s-era blogspot citizen journalism.
    - madeofpalk 4y ago
      Absolutely nothing! Early blogging was great! But doing what happened 20 years ago is hardly "truly innovative"
      - greenhearth 4y ago
        This is Elon Musk MO. He invents nothing, just repackages and markets - the electric car (the very first kind of car invented over a hundred years ago) and going to space in a rocket? These are his big things and people eat it up. Why?
    - chrstphrknwtn 4y ago
      Nothing, but it seems unlikely to make money.
    - anigbrowl 4y ago
      98% of it was/is just opinion articles. There's very little research or real information gathering involved.
  - SkyMarshal 4y ago
    No, it's "X", the all-in-one-app he wanted to do back in the 2000s, and which WeChat is now. That's not a terrible idea if he can pull it off and make it profitable even despite the massive debt he loaded Twitter with to purchase it.
    - anigbrowl 4y ago
      See also: Compuserve, AOL, Facebook WeChat succeeds because it caters to a less mature market with a simple integrated product. American network service users have demonstrated repeatedly that they are OK with bundling products but less enthusiastic about bundled services.
      - kravens_last 4y ago
        WeChat succeeds because it's a state sponsored monopoly. It would not have existed in a free and mature market in any western capitalist style economy.
        anigbrowl 4y ago
        I just gave 3 examples of products that succeeded brilliantly in a less mature market in western capitalist economies. WeChat might be an anachronism in 15 years just as AOL is today, although it continues to exist as a brand. Incidentally I just glanced at the AOL website to remind myself how it's doing, and their ad banner offers a service to reduce the amount of paper junk mail you receive by signing up for AOL's managed unsubscription service. Less Information Age and more Irony Age.
- MarkMarine 4y ago
  He was also offering them a chance to have options in clear growth companies that would make you financially secure after you put some time in. Twitter has no such promise, he is saying it might go into chapter 11, and he added all that debt. Why would you sign on to that, when on the backside you'll have options in a private company riddled with debt and no clear exit or growth path.
- x0x0 4y ago
  I suspect Elon wildly overestimates the attraction of working on Twitter. For Tesla, it was one of a handful of places in the world where you could work on electric cars. SpaceX was one of what -- maybe 3 places in the world? -- where you really could work on rockets. If either of those inspired you, Tesla and SpaceX are premier employers. If your interests are building large distributed systems, that has lots of choices.
pavlov 4y ago
No such vision exists. “Twitter 2.0” is still vaguely about free speech, somehow making lots of money from verified users, and also WeChat-of-the-West style payments (as if anyone would trust their money to this company).
- MildlySerious 4y ago
  > as if anyone would trust their money to this company Of all the problems I see with what's going on, this isn't one of them. Most of the current internet (and beyond that as well) exists solely on the premise that we give away power freely, with no expectations of proportional responsibilities in return. If Twitter survives and, somehow, flourishes, all it takes for people to forget and sign up is a benefit to them, and blaring you opinions into a bigger void may just be enough already.
- deeblering4 4y ago
  I'd almost put money on twitter 2.0 going on a blockchain
  - cwmma 4y ago
    Funnily enough that's the one stupid idea he isn't into, SBF tried to get into the twitter buyout on the idea of putting on the block chain and Elon shot it down.
- npn 4y ago
  I for sure do not trust a company that have security breaches happen every now and then. Not sure that even Mr. Musk can fix that.
SkyMarshal 4y ago
> It's got to be something like "Stay at Twitter because we're building exciting new project X, but we'll need 80 hour work weeks to pull this off..." Not only that, but "... and they'll receive larger compensation and/or share of the company."
- PartiallyTyped 4y ago
  A share of what company? The company has no vision, no real captain, nor is it public.
chasd00 4y ago
yeah if there's no roadmap or direction then what are they doing differently than before? heh just spending the extra 40hrs twiddling their thumbs in the office in the middle of the night? like what exactly does Musk plan to do with that extra effort? I've said it before, Twitter is a cancer and no one is immune. It certainly got a hold of Musk, I hope it's not his downfall but it's not out of the realm of possibility.
- disqard 4y ago
  Jaron Lanier wrote about how this cancer exerted an eerily similar effect on the formerly-distinct personalities of Trump, Musk, and Kanye. https://web.archive.org/web/20221112000701/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/11/opinion/trump-musk-kanye-twitter.html https://web.archive.org/web/20221112000701/https://www.nytim...
boc 4y ago
He's a techno-feudalist. The lord doesn't need to explain to his serfs why his demands are required. Elon's previous companies are populated by true believers (albeit because of a shared vision ie: colonizing Mars) who behave more like serfs when pushed. With Twitter, it's like Elon started governing a democracy and didn't realize that almost everyone (except H1B holders) can just leave and do something else.
kenjackson 4y ago
And the thing is, if you're increasing the hours I need to work by 1.5 or 2x -- then you better increase my pay. Otherwise, saying you're reducing bloat seems like a lie. If you're reducing bloat then I expect my hours to stay flat -- or heck maybe even go down by reducing internal comms. I'd expect more vacation time and shorter hours!
raisedbyninjas 4y ago
He wanted to add payments and digital identity and whatnot to the mobile app. Maybe cool if adoption is universal for some reason. Not exactly revolutionizing energy and transportation or colonizing Mars.

by KVFinn 4y ago

BitwiseFool 4y ago

Working for one of Elon Musk's companies sounds brutal, but I can understand the appeal of burning hot and bright on something truly innovative. I would feel proud and motivated to work like crazy on something like Starship, but this is Twitter. I suspect Musk's strategy of appealing to people who want to change the world and be on the bleeding edge of technology won't hold up the same way as it did for his other companies.

madeofpalk 4y ago
> on something truly innovative. like twitter? apparently elon's master plan is 2000s-era blogspot citizen journalism?
- unity1001 4y ago
  > 2000s-era blogspot citizen journalism What's wrong with 2000s-era blogspot citizen journalism.
  - madeofpalk 4y ago
    Absolutely nothing! Early blogging was great! But doing what happened 20 years ago is hardly "truly innovative"
    - greenhearth 4y ago
      This is Elon Musk MO. He invents nothing, just repackages and markets - the electric car (the very first kind of car invented over a hundred years ago) and going to space in a rocket? These are his big things and people eat it up. Why?
  - chrstphrknwtn 4y ago
    Nothing, but it seems unlikely to make money.
  - anigbrowl 4y ago
    98% of it was/is just opinion articles. There's very little research or real information gathering involved.
- SkyMarshal 4y ago
  No, it's "X", the all-in-one-app he wanted to do back in the 2000s, and which WeChat is now. That's not a terrible idea if he can pull it off and make it profitable even despite the massive debt he loaded Twitter with to purchase it.
  - anigbrowl 4y ago
    See also: Compuserve, AOL, Facebook WeChat succeeds because it caters to a less mature market with a simple integrated product. American network service users have demonstrated repeatedly that they are OK with bundling products but less enthusiastic about bundled services.
    - kravens_last 4y ago
      WeChat succeeds because it's a state sponsored monopoly. It would not have existed in a free and mature market in any western capitalist style economy.
      - anigbrowl 4y ago
        I just gave 3 examples of products that succeeded brilliantly in a less mature market in western capitalist economies. WeChat might be an anachronism in 15 years just as AOL is today, although it continues to exist as a brand. Incidentally I just glanced at the AOL website to remind myself how it's doing, and their ad banner offers a service to reduce the amount of paper junk mail you receive by signing up for AOL's managed unsubscription service. Less Information Age and more Irony Age.
MarkMarine 4y ago
He was also offering them a chance to have options in clear growth companies that would make you financially secure after you put some time in. Twitter has no such promise, he is saying it might go into chapter 11, and he added all that debt. Why would you sign on to that, when on the backside you'll have options in a private company riddled with debt and no clear exit or growth path.
x0x0 4y ago
I suspect Elon wildly overestimates the attraction of working on Twitter. For Tesla, it was one of a handful of places in the world where you could work on electric cars. SpaceX was one of what -- maybe 3 places in the world? -- where you really could work on rockets. If either of those inspired you, Tesla and SpaceX are premier employers. If your interests are building large distributed systems, that has lots of choices.

pavlov 4y ago

No such vision exists. “Twitter 2.0” is still vaguely about free speech, somehow making lots of money from verified users, and also WeChat-of-the-West style payments (as if anyone would trust their money to this company).

MildlySerious 4y ago
> as if anyone would trust their money to this company Of all the problems I see with what's going on, this isn't one of them. Most of the current internet (and beyond that as well) exists solely on the premise that we give away power freely, with no expectations of proportional responsibilities in return. If Twitter survives and, somehow, flourishes, all it takes for people to forget and sign up is a benefit to them, and blaring you opinions into a bigger void may just be enough already.
deeblering4 4y ago
I'd almost put money on twitter 2.0 going on a blockchain
- cwmma 4y ago
  Funnily enough that's the one stupid idea he isn't into, SBF tried to get into the twitter buyout on the idea of putting on the block chain and Elon shot it down.
npn 4y ago
I for sure do not trust a company that have security breaches happen every now and then. Not sure that even Mr. Musk can fix that.

SkyMarshal 4y ago

> It's got to be something like "Stay at Twitter because we're building exciting new project X, but we'll need 80 hour work weeks to pull this off..." Not only that, but "... and they'll receive larger compensation and/or share of the company."

PartiallyTyped 4y ago
A share of what company? The company has no vision, no real captain, nor is it public.

chasd00 4y ago

yeah if there's no roadmap or direction then what are they doing differently than before? heh just spending the extra 40hrs twiddling their thumbs in the office in the middle of the night? like what exactly does Musk plan to do with that extra effort? I've said it before, Twitter is a cancer and no one is immune. It certainly got a hold of Musk, I hope it's not his downfall but it's not out of the realm of possibility.

disqard 4y ago
Jaron Lanier wrote about how this cancer exerted an eerily similar effect on the formerly-distinct personalities of Trump, Musk, and Kanye. https://web.archive.org/web/20221112000701/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/11/opinion/trump-musk-kanye-twitter.html https://web.archive.org/web/20221112000701/https://www.nytim...

boc 4y ago

He's a techno-feudalist. The lord doesn't need to explain to his serfs why his demands are required. Elon's previous companies are populated by true believers (albeit because of a shared vision ie: colonizing Mars) who behave more like serfs when pushed. With Twitter, it's like Elon started governing a democracy and didn't realize that almost everyone (except H1B holders) can just leave and do something else.

kenjackson 4y ago

And the thing is, if you're increasing the hours I need to work by 1.5 or 2x -- then you better increase my pay. Otherwise, saying you're reducing bloat seems like a lie. If you're reducing bloat then I expect my hours to stay flat -- or heck maybe even go down by reducing internal comms. I'd expect more vacation time and shorter hours!

raisedbyninjas 4y ago

He wanted to add payments and digital identity and whatnot to the mobile app. Maybe cool if adoption is universal for some reason. Not exactly revolutionizing energy and transportation or colonizing Mars.