What We’ve Learned From Elon Musk’s Tweets

Though it feels reductionist to check Elon Musk and Donald Trump, the Musk period at Twitter has some eerie parallels to the Trump White House. There’s a ton of confusion; a lot of firings; folks shredding paperwork; outlandish, impossible-to-execute concepts being floated; sycophantic advisers; nervous workers making an attempt to appease a mercurial man; and tweets—so many tweets. It is an exhausting, enraging, and generally grimly hilarious spectacle that modifications by the hour. Once you’ve familiarized your self with the prolonged universe, tearing your consideration away could be laborious.

Over the previous few weeks, tech observers and Twitter obsessives like myself have been following each twist and switch that can in the end resolve the destiny of the platform. Musk’s Twitter takeover is like so many issues in American life in 2022: It is each dumb and consequential. Twitter, regardless of its comparatively small measurement, has disproportionate significance in our politics and tradition. It’s utilized by activists and dissidents, and what occurs on Twitter doesn’t keep contained to the web. Moreover, Twitter’s destiny is wrapped up within the identification of the world’s richest man, whose lack of know-how on how social platforms work may collapse the entire enterprise.

I hope, on your sake, that you simply lead a richer, extra spiritually fulfilling life than I do and that the hour-by-hour machinations of Elon Musk’s Twitter account are merely a obscure curiosity. But for many who need to make amends for this unusual web drama, right here’s a tweet sheet to rise up to hurry.

October 27: The Bird Is Freed

On October 27, Musk finalized his Twitter buy. Though that wasn’t even two weeks in the past, we have been all spiritually 47 years youthful when the billionaire implied that he was going to liberate the service from censorship and let free speech reign.

October 28: Time to Form an Independent Committee

Every opinion author is aware of that if you don’t have a superb reply, however you should make content material, you type a committee. Musk did simply that in his first few hours as Twitter’s proprietor, saying that, on moderation choices, he wouldn’t name the photographs.

Except for 3 hours later, when Musk would make this moderation determination himself. Consistency is tough!

October 28 and 29: Rejoice! Comedy Is Now Legal!

Musk loves a superb snicker. He hosted Saturday Night Live, ! Comedy is why he introduced a sink into Twitter headquarters the day earlier than he accomplished the deal. Anyhow, a part of Musk’s objective at Twitter is to guard free expression, even when it’s subversive and offensive, as some Truly Important comedy could be. You may not prefer it, however rattling it, you’ve obtained to respect it.

This, in case you have been questioning, is Musk’s idea of comedy:

I stated you may not prefer it. This edgy stuff shouldn’t be for everybody.

October 30: Conspiracy Theory Sunday

You’ve most likely heard about this one. Man affords to purchase web site, man tells advertisers he needs to maintain it from devolving right into a “hellscape,” man buys web site, man tweets a hyperlink to a homophobic conspiracy concept at former first girl from an internet site that famously claimed she died on the marketing campaign path in 2016. An promoting veteran steered to me that Musk’s now-deleted Paul Pelosi tweet was maybe the most costly tweet ever and should have price Twitter billions in promoting income. And nonetheless we tweet on!

October 30 (continued): Never Apologize

This might be pretty much as good a view into the best way Musk offers with being unsuitable as we’re going to get on Twitter. When you screw up, don’t say so. Just make a joke that, if you happen to’re fortunate, will solely make your haters angrier. In this case, the butt of the joke is The New York Times. It’s Trolling 101, actually. Remember, comedy is authorized once more.

Wow, Still October 30: Brainstorming

This is only a quick reply, nevertheless it’s a superb instance of Elon Musk and his Twitter advisers (just like the investor Jason Calacanis) conducting market analysis by way of the web’s least scientific software: Twitter polls. In this case, 81.5 % of the greater than 2 million respondents stated they might not pay for Twitter verification. Musk noticed this info and two days later introduced that Twitter would cost folks $8 a month to be verified.

Brief Interlude: “Halloween with my Mom”

Work-life stability is wholesome.

November 1: Power to the Peasants

Nothing strikes product like a bit of class warfare. Musk framing his determination to cost for Twitter verification as a populist effort is a savvy enterprise step.

Unfortunately, Musk is conflating the standing parts of Twitter verification (blue-check elites) with the logistical parts of Twitter verification (curbing scammers and imposters). Reports steered that Twitter will take away verification from customers who don’t shell out $8 a month for it. It solely actually is sensible if you notice that Musk simply paid $44 billion for the social community and wishes income ASAP.

Lots of people (myself included) thought this was a foul concept. Others simply obtained mad. Musk responded as all good businessmen do, bringing to thoughts the age-old phrase: The buyer is at all times … complaining; cost them anyhow.

November 2: More Twitter-Poll Market Research

You are the world’s richest man and a titan of business with tens of 1000’s of workers. You want cash for the corporate you simply bought. That firm is a social community that runs off model promoting. Your tweet with a homophobic faux information story has led some folks on the web to counsel to advertisers that they need to pull their enterprise. What do you do? If you guessed passive-aggressive Twitter ballot, you might be appropriate.

Around this era, Musk is mulling the choice to put off half of Twitter’s workers. He is beneath a substantial amount of monetary stress and appears to be battling the fundamentals of his new job.

November 3: The Very Big Idea

This could be very traditional Idea Guy habits. Twitter as a pulsing digital mind of the commons is a pleasant concept and properly in step with Musk’s dabbling in neuroscience. He is, as specialists on Twitter identified, very incorrect. Twitter shouldn’t be, not less than not in any present type, a collective mind.

Things begin to decide up right here.

November 6: Beyond Parody

Kathy Griffin, a identified media persona and comic, modified her Twitter show title and profile image to appear to be Elon Musk in what turned out to be a final act of Twitter satire. Musk and Twitter suspended her account. Musk, a famous lover of comedy, instituted a brand new rule banning unlabeled parody accounts. Speech and comedy—each tough issues!

Surround Yourself With Yes-Men

To perceive Musk’s Twitter expertise, you should keep in mind that—with roughly 115 million followers—Musk is consistently being concurrently yelled at and complimented. Many celebrities with big followings take care of this. But few appear to learn their mentions like Musk. Anyhow, right here is the world’s richest man, proprietor and operator of three giant corporations, replying on a Sunday night to a Musk fan account calling itself “Pope of Muskanity” and arguing that journalists are unhealthy at their job.

Yesterday started the second workweek of Musk’s tenure. He celebrated it within the conventional approach, by tweeting a picture of a Nazi soldier in a meme about birds.

Followed by two separate masturbation jokes.

Remember, this web site is (nonetheless, for now, not less than) free!

Those have been adopted by an endorsement of the Republican Party on the eve of the U.S. midterm elections.

What recent hell will tomorrow carry? Beyond extra chaos, who can say?