Let’s remember who Elon Musk is. He’s a guy who got very rich peddling technofuturism to elites while cashing in on government subsidies. He’s a throwback to a libertarian Silicon Valley and he believes in free speech and debate… in principle.
The Joe Rogan political wing likes the idea of speech. It likes that speech to be on its own terms and it wants to be in charge. It likes controversy, but the kind it agrees with, and that makes it money.
Musk has his own balancing act, trying to make Twitter profitable after spending an incomprehensible fortune on it, which means not cutting off ad revenue, while courting a fan base that thinks of him as a heroic figure. He needs that fan base to inject money into it, beginning with a Twitter Blue subscription, while impressing them with his innovation.
Old Twitter didn’t have a balancing act. It leaned very hard into pandering to the leftist elites who kept it a ‘notable platform’. Musk’s balancing act is much more complicated. His bias isn’t reflexive, but it’s going to depend on building alliances with some remaining Twitter personnel, with tech industry investors, and advertisers, and with his fan base, who all want different things.
Beneath Musk’s trolling are these basic realities. And the trolling is a useful distraction from coming to terms with it. Twitter will be a more free platform, but it won’t be a truly free one. It will be a monetized one. And the best way to monetize it will be to convince everyone that they’re getting something while pitting them against each other.
With Musk as the arbiter.
A contested Twitter, one that is on the verge of teetering one way or another, a free-for-all or a walled garden for elite discourse, is the balancing act that will engage users and keep money flowing. That means management will be contradictory and will send mixed signals. Many of these mixed signals will be trial balloons disguised as trolling.
The question is will Musk be able to keep all of these balls in the air? I’m skeptical, but I was also highly skeptical that the deal would happen, or that he’ll be able to keep hold of the company.
The real storm, government action, is still coming. And i doubt he’s ready for it.
I’m glad he fired some of the twits though, especially the ones who wanted to get rid of us s….y conservatives.
That pendulum is still swinging and this is how that goes. Elon did his Trump thing with Twitster and so curb your enthusiasm. Doesn’t matter, People are happy with anybody who is isn’t overtly hostile. It won’t be quite a free speech platform. More like a slightly less restricted political correctness platform. Generates a buzz which is what we call #Winning.
Make big promises because when you don’t deliver people will give you points for trying even though you weren’t trying too hard and there was no other way this was going to play out.
Get on Twitster and implore Steven King to give free speech a chance. Got to deal with those bots.
Is the GOP ready for the storm? Speaking rhetorically because obviously the party of McConnell isn’t going to confront any storm any more than they are going to contemplate a government shut down. Over a decade since the Tea Party and the only thing different is that the GOP is further left in terms of policy than it was at the start.
The only storm they’re good for is a Kavanaugh storm. Kavanaugh was McConnell’s guy. Big tears like Boehner when he got the Thomas treatment, Big tears for the country when he goes into deliberation.
Twitter was not an economically run business before. Now it is.
Elon could install a sliding scale fee based on follower account to generate more revenue.
$1 if you use a little, $200 if you have a 2 million followers account and are clearly using Twitter as your business platform…
He also needs to stop with the AOC banter.
The best way to beat a malignant narcissist who craves attention is to ignore her.
Another thing: the thing going with Kanye: I wonder if we are being treated to some kind of kabuki theater-
Ye bought Parler, another platform that is snubbing the Davos censors, so maybe they are working together, not clear yet….
Thanks anna! I’m having to deal with a malignant narcissist currently.
So far, not going back there. So far, don’t feel Musk is a hero of any sort. Didn’t think he was to begin with. The problem with social media is leftism. Leftism ONLY can survive if it has censorship and control . It withers and dies without its own misinformation machine and the censoring of dissent.
So, there is not really a compromise possible.
Is Twitter usable? IDK. You let me know. Im too busy to find out.