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Traditionally, the real value that comes with owning a media outlet is not revenue generation, it's being able to manipulate public opinion and promote certain

Traditionally, the real value that comes with owning a media outlet is not revenue generation, it's being able to manipulate public opinion and promote certain narratives over others. The fact that Musk seems to view it instead as mostly a lark, a meta-trolling game that's looking more like The Onion writ large, with no real expectation that satire and parody can reliably be distinguished from 'serious journalism' (which has, again traditionally, included a lot of state-corporate propaganda) - this seems to be raising institutional hackles. It might be an attempt to mimic Tik-Tok's success by switching Twitter over to essentially an entertainment channel?

mikkergp 4y ago
> It might be an attempt to mimic Tik-Tok's success by switching Twitter over to essentially an entertainment channel? The real confusing part is Musk’s insistence on a public square but yeah this seems much more realistic. But still not an easy path, he’s got a long way to go to change the tooling and culture of Twitter. Maybe he could sign someone like Mr. Beast? Or another of the bro-y YouTubers? But I would think that’s a better deal for Musk than a successful YouTuber, even with improved revenue sharing their view count would probably drop significantly for a long time. Are any of those YouTubers sticky enough to pull essentially all of their viewers? Or what percent of their views are from casual viewers and the YouTube / Tik-Tok algorithm.
rchaud 4y ago
> It might be an attempt to mimic Tik-Tok's success by switching Twitter over to essentially an entertainment channel? Considering how badly the $8/mo feature launch was botched, how threadbare their staff is, and how bad video on Twitter always was.....I think this is unlikely.
atoav 4y ago
I think there is no evidence that what we wittness here is an attempt at anything in particular. This looks more like Elon tries to throw mud at the wall to see what sticks, intermixed with impulsive, unchecked ideas and panicked reactions.
root_axis 4y ago
> It might be an attempt to mimic Tik-Tok's success by switching Twitter over to essentially an entertainment channel? Twitter has always been and continues to be an entertainment channel by an overwhelming margin. It's the digital equivalent of the magazine rack in the supermarket checkout aisle.

mikkergp 4y ago

> It might be an attempt to mimic Tik-Tok's success by switching Twitter over to essentially an entertainment channel? The real confusing part is Musk’s insistence on a public square but yeah this seems much more realistic. But still not an easy path, he’s got a long way to go to change the tooling and culture of Twitter. Maybe he could sign someone like Mr. Beast? Or another of the bro-y YouTubers? But I would think that’s a better deal for Musk than a successful YouTuber, even with improved revenue sharing their view count would probably drop significantly for a long time. Are any of those YouTubers sticky enough to pull essentially all of their viewers? Or what percent of their views are from casual viewers and the YouTube / Tik-Tok algorithm.

rchaud 4y ago

> It might be an attempt to mimic Tik-Tok's success by switching Twitter over to essentially an entertainment channel? Considering how badly the $8/mo feature launch was botched, how threadbare their staff is, and how bad video on Twitter always was.....I think this is unlikely.

atoav 4y ago

I think there is no evidence that what we wittness here is an attempt at anything in particular. This looks more like Elon tries to throw mud at the wall to see what sticks, intermixed with impulsive, unchecked ideas and panicked reactions.

root_axis 4y ago

> It might be an attempt to mimic Tik-Tok's success by switching Twitter over to essentially an entertainment channel? Twitter has always been and continues to be an entertainment channel by an overwhelming margin. It's the digital equivalent of the magazine rack in the supermarket checkout aisle.