Elon Musk can’t become Twitter’s technology without a loyal audience
was intending to buy from him
TWTR -0.08%
second guessed by everyone in recent weeks, including himself, but Thursday Question and answer section with thousands of employees of the company has shown his interest in the social media platform still strong. How willing thousands of employees in Silicon Valley will be to work for the richest, least decisive man in the world is another matter.
Just showing up is a good start for Mr. Musk. Admittedly that is a low level but, for an ordinary person decorative business dress, and sometimes the rules, the participation is barely in place. He then described Twitter with what for him was an incredible warmth. While some people choose hairstyles to express themselves, he says he likes Twitter as a particularly effective speaker for his ideas.
He has no shortage of those. In response to staff questions, Musk described the grand plan to turn a rather niche social-media network into something like a super app, where a billion people live. Posts should be allowed “quite outrageous”, but people should feel comfortable. Revenue will come from advertising, but also from payments and subscriptions. And remote worker job very safe — assuming their job is “exceptional.”
With the specifics unclear, it’s certainly worth asking: In a world where remote work has become the norm for white-collar workers, how many will choose to put their careers in charge? Mr. Musk’s subjective trust? And who would sign up to run this undocumented program?
Mr. Musk also said on Thursday that he was not interested in titles, noting that taking the lead
he’s legit”Technoking. But he also said he hopes Twitter employees will listen to him about how the service will evolve. He clearly wants to call the shotsbut will probably call on others to do them.
Mr. Musk has had great success in motivating talented people to build the previously impossible. However, rocket trains and trams are both quite “S3XY”. Today’s market has ruffled and removed the social media realm, its pitfalls already in place.
We know bots are a must. We know that advertisers generally steer clear of controversial content. And we know that adding more engaging TikTok-like video content could put even more pressure on ad monetization going forward. No one is safe:
lost more than half of its market value this year, and Twitter’s stock could have been even worse without Mr. Musk’s extraordinary buy offer. With interest rates rising and consumers squeezed, some sell-side channel checks suggest that online ad spend could be getting worse and worse.
Leadership roles aside, a job at any social media company isn’t the hottest opportunity right now. If Mr. Musk really “loves” Twitter and wants to see it fly, he might try to be a little more likable.
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