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

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  • Registered Users Posts: 33,667 ✭✭✭✭Penn


    Twitter is losing money, and advertisers are biggest source of revenue for Twitter. So what does master business genius Musk aim to do?

    Reduce size and number of ads for everyone, and introduce another new subscription tier with no ads.

    The number of people who'd be willing to pay in excess of $8 a month for Twitter just to have no ads will surely never even come close to what Twitter makes from ads, and the value of that adspace itself greatly reduces if ads aren't going to be shown to everyone, as well as fewer, smaller ads in general.



  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 36,474 CMod ✭✭✭✭pixelburp


    I suppose if we're being pragmatic, the thinking would be the decrease in Advertisement spend from key 3rd parties might be offset by the bump in subscription numbers? Which is a bit of a gamble all told, presumably then dependent on subscribers hitting a certain critical mass before it can be deemed a success by the Twitter BrainTrust.

    Big ask to pivot a previously free service, and one of this size and global prominence, into something with subscriber tiers. It's not impossible, but it is deeply tricky and prone to blowing up in one's face. Ask any Minister of Finance of the blowback that happens when previously (near) free things suddenly cost anything, let alone more.



  • Registered Users Posts: 2,368 ✭✭✭ForestFire


    Genius...


    Get people to sign up to an advert free and service now, before all the adds are gone.... And they'll never notice, thinking it's their $8, when in reality, we're all getting advert free service for nothing..😁



  • Registered Users Posts: 17,998 ✭✭✭✭VinLieger


    He still has no idea what it is that he bought or why even he likes using it.



  • Registered Users Posts: 5,964 ✭✭✭Cordell




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  • Registered Users Posts: 182 ✭✭prosaic




  • Registered Users Posts: 3,838 ✭✭✭Flaneur OBrien


    Yes. Musk has never been caught stretching the truth.



  • Registered Users Posts: 29,980 ✭✭✭✭odyssey06


    Sued for unpaid rent in London after it unilaterally abandoned the office...

    https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jan/24/twitter-sued-by-crown-estate-alleged-unpaid-rent-london-hq

    "To follow knowledge like a sinking star..." (Tennyson's Ulysses)



  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 36,474 CMod ✭✭✭✭pixelburp


    It all read like typical corporate back-slapping and boosting to me; the proof will be in the pudding in the coming years now the EV market is getting crowded. Fluctuating reputation can be weathered, but Tesla now has the full attention of the automotive industry to contend with - not an easy competitor, as opposed to when your only rival was the Nissan Leaf or other tentative steps into the market.

    God only knows what the market and industries will make the of the Cybertruck; that's the real big swing IMO that may inform the 2023 Tesla has.

    Post edited by pixelburp on


  • Registered Users Posts: 182 ✭✭prosaic


    The zombie bird continues to roam the world of S&M (social & media)



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  • Registered Users Posts: 4,914 ✭✭✭skimpydoo




  • Registered Users Posts: 4,914 ✭✭✭skimpydoo


    Musk is now stating that legacy verified accounts like mine will no longer retain their blue ticks unless they subscribe to Twitter Blue, which is not available in Ireland. The verified blue tick meant you are who you say you are. When I got verified I had to provide certain information that proved I was who I said I was. What's to stop some clown in the future subscribing to Twitter blue and claiming to be somebody else?

    This is going to be a disaster.



  • Registered Users Posts: 33,667 ✭✭✭✭Penn


    Just be glad you're not a business account. They're going to have to pay $1,000 per month to keep their gold checkmark.



  • Registered Users Posts: 28,975 ✭✭✭✭AndrewJRenko




  • Registered Users Posts: 4,914 ✭✭✭skimpydoo


    None of my work colleagues will be paying for Twitter Blue if it comes to Ireland.



  • Registered Users Posts: 4,914 ✭✭✭skimpydoo




  • Registered Users Posts: 8,422 ✭✭✭AllForIt



    I don't really see what's wrong with that.

    Why should entities such as TV Networks, businesses, state departments etc etc use Twitter for free, when the whole reason they are on it in the first place is to promote themselves. Why should they get that for free. They can well afford it as well.



  • Registered Users Posts: 28,975 ✭✭✭✭AndrewJRenko


    Having the same fee for CNN and the New York Post as the Gorey Observer doesn’t make any sense.



  • Registered Users Posts: 8,422 ✭✭✭AllForIt


    What doesn't make any sense is providing a service and charging according to how 'wealthy' the customer is.

    In that case then rich people should pay more for their electricity than the common man.

    Anyway I'm sure there is some way around the issue you highlight, like for example, a restriction on the number of tweets allowed per day and how the algorithm promotes an account. Want a better service - pay for it.



  • Registered Users Posts: 18,557 ✭✭✭✭Bass Reeves


    He is still only chasing shadows.if he gets 100k businesses to pay it Twitter will bring in 100 milion.

    He failed to protect his revenue sources. He could now have the situation where businesses (especially media businesses) will stop putting content up again effecting his ability to bring in advertising revenue.

    It's hard to know how bad it is because Twitter no longer has to publish accounts you will have to wait for company filings

    Slava Ukrainii



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  • Registered Users Posts: 8,472 ✭✭✭Quantum Erasure


    I don't know, but

    Trust in Twitter has declined among Democrats after Musk took over, but gone up among Republicans. The two sides are now at the same level.

    https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/katienotopoulos/twitter-users-down-democrats-elon-musk


    (notably, trust has risen among independents also)



  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]



    The problem is that taking it private will crystallise what the actual revenue vs overheads and operational costs are. If Twitter can't wash its own face, there isn't any source of income other than Musk topping it up or loans. Otherwise, it will have to go back on the market again and start selling shares.

    He has a lot of money, but this is an incredibly expensive hobby and he's flushing it down the toilet.

    I would still see Twitter ultimately having to face rather harsh realities. I'd predict it will probably be sold off for a fraction of what he paid for it probably sometime before Q3 this year.

    He'll dress it up as 'bring investors on board' or something but in reality it'll have been sold and he'll have burnt billions.



  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 36,474 CMod ✭✭✭✭pixelburp


    Problem with your analogy: everyone needs electricity, no matter the size or wealth of the customer. In some parts of the world it's literally life or death.

    Do any entity need Twitter? Musk needs to make some bank however, but has a product that has already, historically shown itself tricky to monetise. And people are hostile to free things becoming paid; look at our own water marches from years back (to use the Utilities comparison)

    Post edited by pixelburp on


  • Registered Users Posts: 28,975 ✭✭✭✭AndrewJRenko


    An account with a few thousand followers and an account with millions of followers aren’t getting the same service.

    He’s also deterring businesses from providing content for his network. There’s an argument that he should be paying them, not charging them.



  • Moderators, Politics Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 15,481 Mod ✭✭✭✭Quin_Dub


    Exactly - He makes his money from the advertisers - who pay to get screen time from the users who come to twitter to read the content from these companies.

    It's a circular thing - they all need each other but Musk hasn't exactly been extending many olive branches to the people that bring him customers for his advertising.



  • Registered Users Posts: 8,422 ✭✭✭AllForIt


    It's a circular thing - they all need each other but Musk hasn't exactly been extending many olive branches to the people that bring him customers for his advertising.

    In the case of TV networks, say ITV which isn't a state broadcaster like BBC which doesn't have any commercial advertising, ITV are using Twitter to gain revenue off their own advertising themselves.

    So it doesn't seem irrational to me that ITV pay Twitter a grand a month. In fact that seems cheap. Another way of doing it is charging per hit rate or Twitter demands a percentage of ITV's advertising revenue.

    But you are right, it is a circular thing, but if Twitter is in the red I think they are warranted in charging significant bucks for the service they provide to entities that are in the business of advertising themselves and not only.



  • Registered Users Posts: 16,219 ✭✭✭✭Grayson


    the thing is if you asked me a year ago if I'd pay for twitter i might have said yes. If it got rid of adverts and had a feature or two that was handy it might have been an option.

    Not a hope of me paying for it now. last night musk was amplifying fake russian news accounts. Why would i ever want to give that guy my money. And that's besides the fact that twitter blue just isn't worth it.


    But in the case of ITV, if their stuff is driving engagement then it's good for twitter. The way it works on social media platform is that people generate content. Other people visit the site/app to view the content and the social media service makes money from showing adverts to its users.

    Twitter has flipped this by trying to charge the content creators for simply using the site. They could have some sort of paid boost which increases engagement but they're not doing that, they're just charging a flat fee for access. Smaller content creators won't do that.

    The thing is that if Musk is trying to make a quick buck to get twitter out of the red he'll lost the loyalty of creators and advertisers. He wants people to use the place more, not less.



  • Registered Users Posts: 33,667 ✭✭✭✭Penn


    Companies driving engagement on Twitter is absolutely key. Outside of advertising or promotion of tweets/accounts, the very fact they're on Twitter means people can tweet at them, ask questions, customer support, info etc. Those accounts can still do that with an unverified account. The only thing that happens with them not having a checkmark beside their name is that people may set up fake accounts, and people may get tricked by them and give personal info to what they thought was an official account. People aren't always going to check things like follower numbers, date account joined etc. Some people are possibly going to get scammed.

    Whereas Musk wants companies to pay $12k a year (+$600 for each affiliated account)? Some companies will pay it because it's a drop in the bucket, but many won't because all of a sudden they have $12k+ added to their social media bill for the year.

    It's extremely shortsighted, just like most of Musk's decisions, many of which he's had to walk back. I wonder if Executive Senior Advisor catturd2 will talk him out of it.



  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 36,474 CMod ✭✭✭✭pixelburp


    It would be a nice accidental side-effect of Twitter going into that weird subscription funnel, if companies pivoted back to phone centres and Customer Support less driven by social media: it's a rare case where you actually have a phone number & genuine human being to talk to - and by god, sometimes you gotta hunt for it - so if Twitter suddenly became a less attractive proposition for companies, being less reliable or trustworthy? Great!



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  • Registered Users Posts: 33,667 ✭✭✭✭Penn


    If anything, I've found I get more/quicker response from companies on social media than by trying to call them or use webchat, because social media is public and they want to be seen helping people as quickly and efficiently as possible to get positive public feedback. Though oftentimes, they just tell you to contact their call centre or whatever.



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