Stupid World

[husaberg]

Musk has been publishing Twitter user figures but these are regarded as suspect. People are leaving in droves.

Tech people have commented that Twitter will run until there's a problem, but there are now very few there capable of fixing complicated problems.

I'm not sure Musk even understands what Twitter is. He said he wanted to make it a subscription service like Netflix. There's a major difference. Netflix provides the content you are paying for, on Twitter it's the users who provide the content. Most will not pay for that privilege.

[QUOTE=onearmedbandit;1131208434]So true, context and and important details are often left out by media outlets, changing the actual message. But that behaviour isn't limited to just media sources. Like in your post below where you forgot to mention that the subscription service is purely for those that want 'blue tick' verification and the added benefits of being able to post longer videos, see less adds and gain priority status.

Not at all. The blue tick thing is just a first step, the money it raises is only peanuts compared to what he needs. Musk needs to monetise Twitter in every way possible. Some of his other investments have been bailed out by government cash. It's hard to imagine any government spending billions on Twitter.

Anyway the blue tick is now worthless. Twitter now has a "verified" account for Jesus Christ. The ticks being irrelevant, if you want to know if you are reading the person they claim to be you have to check their follower count. If they have hundreds of thousands or even millions they are likely the real deal. If they have twenty followers, maybe not.

That email is old news, so nothing new there, and nothing specifically outlining a plan to charge all users $8 a month to access the platform. Now I'm not saying it will or it won't happen, none of us have a crystal ball, but I am saying that stating it is going to happen is at the moment pure speculation.

You claimed it was conjecture, its clearly not. But whatever Fraser.....

Not at all. The blue tick thing is just a first step, the money it raises is only peanuts compared to what he needs. Musk needs to monetise Twitter in every way possible. Some of his other investments have been bailed out by government cash. It's hard to imagine any government spending billions on Twitter.

Anyway the blue tick is now worthless. Twitter now has a "verified" account for Jesus Christ. The ticks being irrelevant, if you want to know if you are reading the person they claim to be you have to check their follower count. If they have hundreds of thousands or even millions they are likely the real deal. If they have twenty followers, maybe not.

Not at all? Are you sure about that? If so can you provide a quote of his stating that's his goal? Or are you just speculating again? Be honest.

In a much quoted email to staff Musk said the company faced bankruptcy unless he could replace lost advertising revenue with subscriptions. The subsequently announced $8.00 blue tick subscription brings in a tiny amount. He needs more, much more.

There are advertisements on Twitter still, but they are for companies I've never heard of. He drove the big names away and so far they don't seem to be coming back.

So speculation. Glad that's sorted. I see advertisers like Starbucks, Playstation, Air NZ, etc are still on the platform. Surely you've heard of them right?

From: Elon Musk [email removed]

Date: Nov 9, 2022 [time stamp removed]

To: Team

Sorry that this is my first email to the whole company but there is no way to sugarcoat the message.

Frankly, the economic picture ahead is dire especially for a company like ours that is so dependent on advertising in a challenging economic climate. Moreover, 70% of our advertising is brand, rather than specific performance, which makes us doubly vulnerable!

That is why the priority over the past ten days has been to develop and launch Twitter Blue Verified subscriptions (huge props to the team!).

Without significant subscription revenue, there is a good chance Twitter will not survive the upcoming economic downturn. We need roughly half of our revenue to be subscription.

Of course, we will still then be significantly reliant on advertising, so I am spending time with our sales & partnerships teams to ensure that Twitter continues to be appealing to advertisers.

This is the Spaces discussion that Robin, Yoel and I hosted today: [Link to Elon Q&A: Advertising & the Future removed]

The road ahead is arduous and will require intense work to succeed. We are also changing Twitter policy such that remote work is no longer allowed unless you have a specific exception. Managers will send the exception lists to me for review and approval.

Starting tomorrow (Thursday), everyone is required to be in the office for a minimum of 40 hours per week. Obviously, if you are physically unable to travel to an office or have a critical personal obligation, then your absence is understandable.

I look forward to working with you to take Twitter to a whole new level. The potential is truly incredible!

Thanks,

Elon

[onearmedbandit]

You claimed it was conjecture, its clearly not. But whatever Fraser.....

Point out where it is stated that the plan is to charge every user $8 a month to use twitter.

[onearmedbandit]

Actually husa, don't bother. You are literally the last person on this forum that I would want to have any discourse with, and most certainly the type of person I would avoid in the real world too.

[pritch]

Oh come on, stop shifting the goal posts lmao. First you said "companies I've never heard of" , then when I present you with a small list of only three recognisable companies out of many that still advertise on Twitter you change the standard to "they are not the big players". And what relevance does whether I use Twitter or not fit in? For the record, I stopped using it around 6yrs ago but rejoined in 2020. But yes other than that short exodus I have regularly viewed tweets although never tweeted myself.

At this stage you are indistinguishable from a troll. You are talking about things you know nothing about. And it shows. The companies you mention I've never seen. Because of this conversation I've tried to notice the few ads. Small beer indeed.

Find someone else to play with. I'm done.

[pritch]

Starbucks, PlayStation, not big players on the international stage... really?

Compared to General Motors and Volkswagen? Absolutely.

[husaberg]

Actually husa, don't bother. You are literally the last person on this forum that I would want to have any discourse with, and most certainly the type of person I would avoid in the real world too.

That will teach me for showing, that you were talking shit.
Carry on making new challenges to what pritch or 1 never suggested.

[onearmedbandit]

At this stage you are indistinguishable from a troll. You are talking about things you know nothing about. And it shows. The companies you mention I've never seen. Because of this conversation I've tried to notice the few ads. Small beer indeed.

Find someone else to play with. I'm done.

You need to get your glasses checked old man. You constantly shift the goal posts in online debate, nothing new from you there. But you've made your stance quite clear on Elon so it's understandable.

[TheDemonLord]

I mean, I'm on the sidelines for this one - but I see the plays being made - not my approach (obviously...), it does however have a charm of its own...


Play on.

[Al Bundy 4eva!]

In regards to advertising/advertisers

Musk has been quite vocal he wants to rely less on these revenues

He has also been making noises about a Twitter X app, He used to own much and be CEO of PayPal so he has some unfinished business with that platform

He's been very opinionated on emerging technologies like web3/Defi

Some sort of decentralized payment system, it's above my paycheck to understand this

But what advertisers have left have been replaced, so I doubt this would be affecting revenue very much for now, a global recession is expected next year so advertising revenue will be down across all social media platforms Google, Meta ,TikTok etc.

My point being is like the Tesla company, Tesla cut out all the middle men and go directly to the source, there profit margins are the highest in the e.v or automotive industry...similar to cutting out reliance on advertisers, and the political views that sometimes comes with there business as a customer.

I posted on this thread, these original investors that help Musk would see their R.O.I double in 5/6 years, that could come as early as 3 years and perhaps 5x there original investment if Musk succeeds and proves the doubters wrong.

Musk required the X.com name from PayPal in 2017 for an undisclosed amount...

Perhaps this was always his plan?

I look forward to seeing what eventuality happens

But please, cast stones after or if he fails, knocking the guy while he's in the process of climbing this mountain highlights your own character.

[onearmedbandit]

I mean, I'm on the sidelines for this one - but I see the plays being made - not my approach (obviously...), it does however have a charm of its own...


Play on.

Nah, that's me out. For two reasons. Online debates rarely go anywhere, look at the Trump thread for example. Same protagonists, same arguments, nothing gained. Secondly, since husa appeared the taste has soured. I can't respect a person who behaves in the manner he does, as pointed out by another moderator on the forum a while ago, the sort of behaviour where 'life catches up with you and delivers a great big kick to your rear end'. So I'm certainly not going to let myself get engaged in any discussion with him.

[R650R]

Some interesting conjecture on another site about why so long before Elon let trump back in (along with Jordan Peterson).
Apparently a bit of live bait for any disloyal staff who missed getting fired. Hi grade AI discovered internal interference as Trumps follower numbers got trimmed here and there by soon to be fired employees.
Trump himself is not back yet apparently... My own thoughts that he lnowingbit was a leftist hangout that he probably only ever saw it as a tool to give them enough rope with trolling to wear themselves out in fitful rages....
A good fighter knows you never win fighting angry...

[mashman]

You are talking about things you know nothing about. And it shows. The companies you mention I've never seen. Because of this conversation I've tried to notice the few ads. Small beer indeed.

Find someone else to play with. I'm done.

So speculation. Glad that's sorted. I see advertisers like Starbucks, Playstation, Air NZ, etc are still on the platform. Surely you've heard of them right?

I don't see any of those advertisers either... almost as if the internet is built on a set of engines that are trying to feed me that which they think I'm interested in instead of what I'm not. I guess not everyone that claims to know how things work actually know how things work. All I get is porn and woodwork and I haven't been into that since last week.

[nerrrd]

Notice how on public platforms like this, and other social media, Kiwis really love attacking successful or those that strive for success, like the old proverb goes of frogs trapped in a bucket, ones trying to escape but the rest are always dragging that frog back in.

Similar to how Musk is trying to escape Earth and build a civilization on Mars, half the world is wanting him to fail .

Although I am a swing voter, It seems to be coming from the left, When I was a Helen Clark and Obama supporter in a previous life ,I don't remember being so envious of the successful or those that strived towards success,

Fascinating how time's have changed!

I'm not sure why being successful at something should make someone immune from criticism when they make a mistake, which we all do. I can appreciate how being successful might make you a little overly sensitive to criticism, since success usually comes with an element of fame, which is a much harder thing to deal with – any mistakes you make once famous are made in the public eye, which I agree is unfair compared to the rest of us who continue to fail in private. I don't think there's any way to avoid that, I don't see how it's political, and it happens everywhere, not just in NZ.

Theranos would be an obvious example of how badly things can go when criticism is ignored or overlooked in favour of celebrating 'success', especially in the tech sector.

Elon has delivered enough real progress from his companies to be justifiably celebrated for their achievements so far. I really hope he and NASA make it to Mars in my lifetime, but if you look into the actual logistics involved, even with Starship operational it's several orders of magnitude beyond that in difficulty. As far as his stewardship of Twitter goes, I hope it doesn't distract him from the cool tech-y stuff in the meantime.

[pritch]

Some interesting conjecture on another site about why so long before Elon let trump back in (along with Jordan Peterson).
Apparently a bit of live bait for any disloyal staff who missed getting fired. Hi grade AI discovered internal interference as Trumps follower numbers got trimmed here and there by soon to be fired employees.
Trump himself is not back yet apparently... My own thoughts that he lnowingbit was a leftist hangout that he probably only ever saw it as a tool to give them enough rope with trolling to wear themselves out in fitful rages....
A good fighter knows you never win fighting angry...

There is reportedly a team scouring the internal mail system and social media looking for employee posts disrespecting Musk. Offenders are fired.

Trump's account was back yesterday morning having presumably been reactivated overnight our time. He is not posting though. Last tweet was January.

[Al Bundy 4eva!]

I'm not sure why being successful at something should make someone immune from criticism when they make a mistake

Elon has delivered enough real progress from his companies to be justifiably celebrated for their achievements so far. I really hope he and NASA make it to Mars in my lifetime, but if you look into the actual logistics involved, even with Starship operational it's several orders of magnitude beyond that in difficulty. As far as his stewardship of Twitter goes, I hope it doesn't distract him from the cool tech-y stuff in the meantime.

Nice post

Yes , I suppose your right, criticism comes with success,

Your post makes me look at myself, perhaps I'm in the minority, because I believe success should be either celebrated or ignored, attacks on the success doesn't make sense to me? Im finding it hard to process (in my own mind) why I would intentionally knock someone for being successful.

Yes, Perhaps if this is at the expense of a large number of people, environment etc, politicians can cause this, corrupt companies tend fail eventually or regulations catch up on them

I'm with you, I hope they make it to Mars, but the logistics just blow my mind, water is the main problem, a civilization on Mars won't last long without water ! I'm looking at 2035 at the earliest, and Elon Musk like us all isn't getting any younger!