So "X" - nothing to see here. Elon's in control - Part XXX

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119880727#Comment_119880727

A CEO is not a King or Queen; if they can't deal with some semi-public trash talking by employees they probably shouldn't run a company. They're not owed allegiance of respect by dint of being top of the tree. You think every Amazon employee respects Jeff Bezos? Even the ones peeing in bottles and whatnot?

I draw the line at trash-talking on a public service, but hunting across internal Slack? That's nonsense, a borderline invasion of "privacy" and all that reads like a bunch of Class Action Lawsuits waiting to happen.

FunLover18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119880727#Comment_119880727

When you buy a company you don't buy the respect of the employees. It's not like he's shown them much, if any respect, he marched in and fired most of the staff and has been consistently undermining their work and making a fool of himself in the process.

Burty330

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119879404#Comment_119879404

Advertisers aren't going anywhere when all eyes are on twitter right now. Marketing basics bruh😎

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119880865#Comment_119880865

Musk himself said advertising revenue is down as spending has been paused, bruh.

Elon Musk said Friday that Twitter has seen a “massive drop in revenue,” as a growing number of advertisers pause spending on the platform in the wake of his $44 billion acquisition.

“Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists,” he said in a tweet. “Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America.”

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/04/tech/twitter-advertisers/index.html

Boggles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119880727#Comment_119880727

That you at the back?

Burty330

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119880879#Comment_119880879

Musk attributed that claim to "pressure from activists". Context matters , bruv. 👍️ Sooner rather than later advertisers will side with the platform over non-profitable activist types . Besides , Im looking at twitter right now and its riddled with ads.

VinLieger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119880963#Comment_119880963

But one of those same advertisers publicly called him out for not listening to their concerns and then he blocked them on twitter.....

Burty330

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119880968#Comment_119880968

One goes another dozen will take their place.

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119880963#Comment_119880963

musk says a lot. mostly crap mind.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119880963#Comment_119880963

As recent events have shown, Musk says a lot of things, and crying about "activists" putting pressure on Advertisers is trying to blame something of his own making.

Advertisers will return if there's profit to be made from Twitter - right now, they are pausing their spend while the platform shows itself as a potentially unreliable landscape for marketing. It's as simple as that; I'm sure it's still "riddled" but (say) a dozen low-spend companies wouldn't be as valuable as 1 or 2 global brands. And if what you originally said held true then those major brands wouldn't be taking stock, loving the eyeballs on the demonstrable chaos.

"There's no such thing as bad publicity" isn't universally true.

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119880963#Comment_119880963

Twitter ad pricing is set using auctions. If major advertisers have paused advertising on twitter then those auctions will end up at a lower price. Musk has already confirmed that ad revenue is down.

Burty330

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881031#Comment_119881031

It should be well known by now that Musk is not the full shilling. But that is besides the point. How many , if any , global brands pulled spend from the world cup in Qatar? How many have explicitly said they don't support human rights violations. Electric car man bad , though?

Business will contunite on Twitter as usual. These brands don't care as much as you think they do.

VinLieger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119880976#Comment_119880976

This was a meeting with many major advertisers, you don't understand how any of this works do you?

https://twitter.com/LouPas/status/1588599808587345921

https://twitter.com/LouPas/status/1588600619904163842

https://twitter.com/LouPas/status/1588601547902324738

And then

https://twitter.com/LouPas/status/1588622182066057216

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881079#Comment_119881079

Whatbout Qater? This isn't about the World Cup and brand collaboration so park the stupid nicknaming. Twitter, for better or worse (it's worse) is probably the preeminent media platform on the planet and its new owner seems to be operating with a degree of operational chaos and technical ignorance that brands have "paused" their spend - the articles' own semantics have made it clear this is not a Forever Action. Advertising Revenue is down, and given that was probably the one place Twitter made any money, that's kinda Big News and wouldn't take many weeks of pause before Twitter's financial situation got worse. Hence the Blue-Tick subs as a desperate attempt to make income independent of advertisers - which have also proven to be a hot mess, only exacerbating the already ludicrous scenario.

And frankly, "Electric car man bad" is by Musk's own making. He chose to live his business and personal life in the public eye - this is the end result. His life becomes examined more than other billionaires when he makes big announcements about (say) turning off MicroServices on Twitter cos he's an IT dinosaur. Nobody's taking about Jeff Bezos for a reason. Say what you will about him he keeps his head down, his actions sober.

And I see VanLieger already has demonstrated advertisers' own points of view. When Twitter's value is eroded by mercurial action - this is the result.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881154#Comment_119881154

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881154#Comment_119881154

what is worse is that the guy he blocked once served on the advisory council for Twitter. Musk is a clown. He is a kid that sticks his fingers in his ears and goes "la la la I cant hear you"

VinLieger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881568#Comment_119881568

LOL I love how he claims what I posted is "demonstrably false" meaning it should be easy to show why its false with logic and evidence and yet still doesnt...... He doesnt even know the meanings of the words hes using, he just thinks it sounds smart.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881617#Comment_119881617

This is why I dropped out of this thread the last time: cos invariably you get these occasional users who at the first sign of pushback or debate, start bullshítting about liberal tears, jealousy - or acting like we're all wailing into our keyboards over Billy Big Balls Musk. It's fúcking tedious segues and nonsense. Why can't people talk like grown-ups?

Burty330

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881568#Comment_119881568

What , that Musk should be more like Bezos and keep his trap shut to make you happy? You hate the man , I get. Just unload your personal baggage about the man on your own dime . k ? There's a bigger picture at play here other than personal fee fees and that ad Musks ad revenue. Are advertisers leaving in their droves like somebody claimed? I don't think so. Pushing pause? Yeah , but really doesn't mean anything. 👍️

steddyeddy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119880727#Comment_119880727

You don't command respect by crying like a child when criticized.

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881636#Comment_119881636

eh, it means a loss of revenue when Twitter now has debt repayments to make that they didnt have before musk took over.

steddyeddy

There's a type of false logic called emotional reasoning. I feel it is being displayed here when it comes to Musk. The defense of Musk boils down to "I like him so everything he does is great".

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881703#Comment_119881703

Twitter was losing money before Musk took over - They lost about 220M in 2021 , in fact they have only made money twice in the last 10 years (2018 & 2019).

So before Musk took over they were losing about $4M/week in 2021 (220/52)

Now though after his takeover, according to the man himself they are losing $4M a DAY, which is a run-rate of ~$1.5B annually.

Almost all of that increase can be attributed to the fact that Musk has stuck the interest repayments for his takeover on to the Twitter balance sheet meaning they have about $1.2B in annual repayments to be added on top of the $220M plus that the company was already losing.

Given that annual revenue has been around $5B in recent times , having to spend 25%+ of revenue on debt management just isn't sustainable.

And again , the man himself has said that advertising revenue has collapsed , ad revenue which accounts for 80%+ of income.

Twitter is f*cked.

Cordell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881686#Comment_119881686

It's not about commanding respect, and it's not about him either. It's about the employee who works in a company while having no respect or even despising the CEO - this is an unhealthy situation which needs to be resolved asap, and Musk provided a quick solution.

And as a small rant, my linkedin is overrun with stories from laid-off "tweeps", "metamates" and now "amazonians" and their stories about their workplace friends and families. Folks, a family doesn't kick out members when money gets tight, these are not families and your co-workers are not your friends. Somehow a lot of tech industry forgot to be professional.

VinLieger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881843#Comment_119881843

Also lets not forget he claimed he wanted 50% of revenue to be from subscriptions, at 8 dollars a month for a subscription that amounts to twitter needing 26 million annual subscriptions.....

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881854#Comment_119881854

would that be the CEO who just sacked half the workforce and was publicly making a show of himself? yeah, a lot there to respect.

Cordell

No one said they must respect him, just that it is a prerequisite of working for him. They can disrespect and despise him, but doing it so while being paid by him is hypocrisy (to say the least). Which goes back to my previous post about tech workers who forgot how to be professional and keep their personal opinions out of their working place.

His latest genius move is to offer three months severance to the remaining staff if they don't sign up to working "long hours at high intensity" and being "extremely hard core" by COB Thursday.

Twitter 2.0

The world's oldest start-up seems to be the plan now.

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881854#Comment_119881854

There's an element of "the beatings will continue until moral improves" about the way Musk is going about his activities in Twitter.

He has come in and crapped all over every single employee either by firing them or telling those that remain that everything they've been doing for the last however long is crap.

Him then acting all surprised and upset that the staff don't like him and that some of them are saying it out loud shows a genuine lack of understanding of basic people management and leadership.

Clearly he has a plan of some kind and hard decisions are having to me made to get to the end-state he has in mind , but he appears to be making absolutely zero effort in trying to sell that vision to the staff so that they buy into it and get stuck in to the work to make it happen.

The result is that he will have a work-force that don't give a damn and are merely marking time until they can leave for another job elsewhere - That's not sustainable.

BTW - Totally agree with you about the "Corporate culture" guff that US Tech Companies waffle on about . They are employees working to make the owners more wealthy than they already are and hopefully getting a decent paycheck to do so , but they aren't "families" nor are they "working to make the world a better place" or whatever other bullsh!t "Vision statement" the marketing department have come up with.

VinLieger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881938#Comment_119881938

Giving out about people who take his money while working for him would be hypocrisy, criticising him and despising him while working for him is nothing close to hypocrisy, I personally wouldn't do it but criticisng people who do is pretty fvcking arrogant. Also surrounding yourself by fawning yes men which you seem to be advocating for is a recipe for disaster.

I know many people who dont respect their employer, simply being an employer, manager, ceo etc doesnt immediately confer the respect of employees, it has to be earned through actions and words, he has yet to come close to doing that at twitter.

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881946#Comment_119881946

I'd say quite a few will take the money and run.

Given all that we are hearing, who in their right mind would choose to work there now.

I mean some might stay because they think that they don't have alternatives , but who is going to be interesting in joining the company now?

I mean stuff like "extremely hard core" is a raging Red flag - That just says "We'll treat you like crap and you can either like it or f*ck off"

He'd made it the poster child for "Toxic work environment".

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119882012#Comment_119882012

You'd have to imagine every HR department and recruitment agency will be spamming LinkedIn like crazy at the moment, trying to fish for disgruntled Twitter employees with one eye on the door.

The "hard core" stuff is laughable, archaic and ... of course, hypocritical 'cos we know Musk will not be leading from the front here - given we've found out the ceiling of his (software) engineering knoweldge.

steddyeddy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881854#Comment_119881854

Do you also think the CEO of a company should act with decorum on social media? You keep talking about professionalism while simultaneously defending a man who fires people by Twitter, blocks those who disagree with him and calls another who disagrees with him a pedophile.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881632#Comment_119881632

Because, "bro", there are certain posters here, "bruv", who aren't remotely interested in talking like grown ups, "bruh".

Or words to that effect..."k"

Cordell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119882025#Comment_119882025

I am not defending him as a person, but also I'm not impressed by these laid off "tweeps" who found appropriate to tell him off in public or even tell him to kiss their arse. They deserve him as a CEO :)

steddyeddy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119882041#Comment_119882041

Out of interest have you have bad experiences from tech environments? Sounds like you have.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881961#Comment_119881961

Irrespective of Musk's farcical, and quite bizarre, machinations over the recent period with regards to Twitter, the American corporate culture influence upon the workplace is the worst scourge I can think of in my years of working.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119882034#Comment_119882034

It has been an education the degree to which people revert to playground jibes, all to defend Elon Musk. A man who named one of his children "X AE A-XII Musk". 😂

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881938#Comment_119881938

No one said they must respect him, just that it is a prerequisite of working for him.

Now it may just be my poor english but if something is a prerequisite then you must do it

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119882012#Comment_119882012

The ones with the most mobility are more likely to take the money i.e. the ones with the best skillset. It is a great way to get rid of your best people and leave yourself with those who would struggle to find work elsewhere.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119882115#Comment_119882115

And I thought Moon Unit and Dweezil were bad.

MrMusician18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119880753#Comment_119880753

Broadcasting negative opinions of management across internal discussion boards generally is considered insubordination and isn't tolerated in many companies.

Management want everyone on #oneteam, i.e. their team.

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119882157#Comment_119882157

Absolutely - Anyone opting to stay at this point has either drunk the Musk kool-aid or doesn't think they have better options elsewhere.

Not a good mix at all.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119882193#Comment_119882193

"insubordination"? The degree to which the language of fealty or serfdom is used re. Musk is weird. It's not the armed forces, it's a workplace of collaboration: for one, there'll be a Code of Conduct employees have to adhere to - so if "ragging about the CEO" is listed there, fair enough and by all means show an example from experience 'cos I've never seen it.

But criticising the boss is not a capital offence, watching people's Slack potentially a privacy issue - and if the CEO's skin is that thin, it'll get even thinner when he finds the civil suits lodged against him for wrongful termination (Assuming such avenues are allowed in whatever State the sacking occurred). Cos if it isn't in the Code of Conduct, it's a deep irony Musk might find the 1st Amendment his enemy here 😂

AdamD

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881938#Comment_119881938

What sort of idealistic utopia do you live in where everyone respects their boss? Out of touch is an understatement

Cordell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119882227#Comment_119882227

Let me correct myself: I mean show respect, conduct yourself with respect and professionality. What you really think is your business.

MrMusician18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119882223#Comment_119882223

Yes, it's insubordination and it's just not tolerated really anywhere. Even in places where employees are almost immune from dismissal, like in government jobs, you do not see open criticism of management or government on internal channels. You want to bitch about your manager, take it to the water cooler - you never ever write it down. Not unless you want to be hung by your own words.

One poster really nailed it, that the issue is the corporate culture that has established itself in these companies. Your colleagues aren't your family or friends and the reality is that if you aren't loyal to management - even, or perhaps especially, the new guy, you can expect to be shown the door.

This isn't to excuse Musk (who has not covered himself in glory by any means), it's just it's been this way always in the corporate world.

It’s genuinely amazing how quickly Twitter seems to be just unravelling before our very eyes.

I wonder though what will become of it ?

Tech moves so quickly, I mean the headline below was from 2007, even if it might seem be utterly laughable from today’s perspective, but I could easily see people going: “do ya remember the auld Twitter? We used to be tweeting mad stuff and getting into fights with conspiracy theorists from Alabama, Brexiteers, MAGA loopers and Russian bots! It was great craic.”

It’s not as indispensable as we think…

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2007/feb/08/business.comment

Tony EH

Cordial professionalism is one thing, but respect has to be earned. So far, Musk has done nothing at Twitter to earn that, and the manner in which he's pissed away a huge sum of money on a vanity purchase, fired thousands of staff on a whim, and then threatened the remaining staff with snooping and possible sanction isn't going to get him the respect he thinks he's automatically entitled to either.

MrMusician18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119882301#Comment_119882301

Respect is earned but loyalty is bought and comes via the bank transfer Twitter employees get at the end of every month.

Open bad mouthing management in writing has consequences. I was once told starting in a new job, that if I wrote anything in a PM about anyone, that I would need to be as comfortable with that as if I had put it in a letter directly addressed to them and signed by me.

It seems some Twitter employees have forgotten this.

VinLieger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119882318#Comment_119882318

Or they are just following the bad example set by their new CEO