Stefani Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images
On October 26, 2022, Elon Musk enjoyed his first and last good day as head of Twitter (now X). After a $44 billion acquisition that he tried to fail but was legally forced to close, he tried his hand at prop comedy—walking into the company’s headquarters with a porcelain sink and a mischievous smile. It was all preparation for a groan-inducing pun that announced his arrival: “Let that sink in!” he declared in the video caption of his appearance. It was a masterclass in cringe.
Almost a year later, you’d be hard-pressed to name a single improvement to the site under Musk’s leadership. His biggest ideas have all blown up in his face: an $8 monthly subscription fee for a blue check, which verified users then needed the ability to hide to avoid ridicule. The abandonment of a valuable brand name and logo in favor of the meaningless “X,” which led to a trademark lawsuit and the installation of a garish metal X-structure on the roof of Twitter’s offices – city inspectors had it removed just days later. Musk’s latest move is to remove the headlines from article links, leaving only an image and media source, which he says looks better and will encourage users to scroll. But for those who follow news on the app, it makes X all the more pointless.
Of course, these mistakes pale in comparison to the rancid sentiment that Musk has cultivated by reinstating right-wing extremists and misinformation peddlers who had previously been banned from the platform, amplifying their conspiracy theories, and ensuring that their garbage posts are included in the For You “feeds were inserted by Twitter’s algorithms. He supports white supremacist propaganda, endorses anti-LGBTQ hate accounts and, while advertisers flee these intolerable conditions, finds a way to blame the catastrophic loss of revenue on a Jewish civil rights group fighting anti-Semitism.
How long can this wreckage of a once-semi-functional website stay afloat? Although it has lost millions of daily active users since Musk started it, in the end it will come down to money. Seven banks run by Morgan Stanley are holding around $13 billion in debt after backing Musk’s blockbuster deal last year, and the company itself is probably worth much less at this point – even by its own calculations. If
Editor favorites
These days, when you mention Musk’s countless mistakes in running X, you get the usual retort from his defenders. It doesn’t matter if you’re taking stock of his growing desperation (e.g. when he begged Taylor Swift to release music on the platform) or a technical glitch that reveals an infrastructure falling apart (e.g .a frozen livestream at…). at the U.S.-Mexico border, where he had donned his cowboy hat to appear as an anti-immigrant ideologue, a mistake that led him to send a “please fix this” email to all employees . The answer is always more or less the same: If Twitter really is dying, why are you still posting on it?
That’s a fair question, even if it sidesteps the issue of Musk’s fundamental incompetence. I suppose a mix of malice and morbid curiosity goes a long way in keeping a person like me around. On the other hand, it’s not my first time seeing an online community undermined by a hostile force, and there’s something to be said for making the most of the ending with the remaining friends – sharing gallows humor and a sense of humanity as the situation develops move on.
See more
NEWS: X has added the description “formerly Twitter” to its iOS app page. and replaces the previous slogan “Blaze your Glory”. (h/t @cb_doge)
This should counteract X’s slide in the app store download rankings because people didn’t yet know that the app used to be Twitter. pic.twitter.com/TdfjO5XIuO
— X News Daily (@xDaily) September 21, 2023
And you almost have to admire the scale of the spectacle: Musk spending the GDP of a small country to buy a flashy toy, only to have it crash and burn like a Tesla on Autopliot. It’s a crazy thrill to watch him announce a tweak that never gets implemented – like getting rid of the “block” feature – and then argue with @Catturd2 about it. He has laid off thousands and is not afraid to personally fire any engineer who dares to correct him. Nevertheless, he believes that X can still be transformed into the “everything app” that integrates payment and shopping services. These things will likely be delayed indefinitely, much like SpaceX’s long-promised missions to Mars. Who couldn’t be entertained by such a saga of self-destruction?
Related
Musk has no shortage of salesmanship, which, coupled with the unconditional, breathless hype of his supporters, has kept the idea of his entrepreneurial and innovative genius alive. He and this audience spend more energy every day denying dire headlines and vaguely assuring thatthrives” like never before. Sooner or later this magical thinking will fail in the face of reality, and until then the site will survive – but in a state of waking doom, with a user base split between those who want what’s left. cannibalize, and the stunned spectators are divided.
That can hardly be confused with a healthy, livable public forum, let alone an asset that could one day turn a profit. However, it offers the illusion of living in arguments, insults, accusations and disgust. The paradox of what was once Twitter is that it is now sustained by little except the mutual contempt of hardened fighters fighting over an inch of territory. Nobody wants to give up the ground.
Trending