Ad-free Twitter? – Elon Musk to own portal!
For the past few weeks, we've been seeing market chess regarding the social media platform with a distinctive chirp. The game is over. Twitter was just purchased by Elon Musk for approx. $44 billion, which is a higher price tag than anticipated. Win-Win situation for both sides, especially since the platform may be facing some big changes that will destroy the hitherto chirpy order. What Elon Musk can do with the service?
Reuters reports that Elon Musk bought the service with a bird in its logo on April 25, 2022. The CEO of The Boring Company, Tesla, Neuralink, and SpaceX bought the service for about $44 billion in cash, or as indicated by marketingpoccasion.pl, a billion dollars more than expected. SpaceX owner said it was the best offer he could make after all, at $54.20 per share. Twitter accepted the businessman's final offer after being under pressure from him for several weeks.
Billionaires should be outlawed, greetings https://t.co/LN20mi0nGX
– Maja Ebony (@HebanMaja) April 25, 2022
Not everyone is thrilled with this deal. The Washington Post reports that the complete acquisition will take place within the next three to six months.
Twitter-news
Freedom of speech is the basis of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is a digital town square, where the key issues for the future of humanity are debated; Musk says. Those words certainly still ring in the ears of Twitter's former management. To get to the beginning, we need to go back to March/April this year, when Elon Musk bought 9.2 percent. Twitter shares. The move made him the platform's largest shareholder. The billionaire inserted a tweet asking internet users if they thought Twitter respected free speech.
Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy.
Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 25, 2022
He then added that the choice on this poll will have serious consequences, asking for caution when answering this question.
The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully.
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 25, 2022
While more than 70 percent of. survey participants admitted that they do not consider Twitter a freedom platform. Executives seem to have felt the writing with their noses. Forsal website.pl reported on the possible course of Musk's actions, given that Elon had long thought about starting his own medium. The company's owners wanted to limit his influence by offering him a seat on the board of directors, so that he could not own more than 15 percent. shares. The Drum writes that on April 11, former Twitter CEO Parag Agarwal announced that he had rejected a management offer, despite previously agreeing to it. Musk, in response, made a takeover bid for the company on April 14. As a result of Elon's conflicting messages and storm of tweets, the network speculated about misunderstandings, hostile takeovers, and even management's use of the poisoned pill. As we now know, 11 days later, Musk already owned the platform.
Consequences for Twitter
Back to thedrum article.com, it presents the perspective of a board frightened by Musk's potential impact on the platform. – This will be worrisome for Twitter and everyone who sees Elon Musk's moves as a threat rather than an opportunity – reads.
Matt Navarra, a media analyst industry consultant sees that Twitter has introduced many moderation mechanisms in recent years to protect user privacy and security.
The service also worked to prevent the spread of misinformation and harassment online. All of these actions would have gone to waste if Musk had gotten his way, which ultimately happened anyway, but to the benefit of the owners. As we know, Elon declares complete freedom of speech, so his influence would introduce disharmony in company management.
Neuralink's CEO also believes that companies investing in advertising on social networks are becoming a major driver of the sites' profits, making them dependent on them. Advertisers have reacted happily to the transformation Twitter has undergone over the past few years.To no avail were newsletters from Revue and tools from TapCommerce. Tipping, mobile ad targeting, direct messages and several other features pleasing to the marketer's eye are expected to go away in favor of a subscription model, worth $2 or so but paid for a full year up front as Musk said.
Anthony Macro, head of display, video and social at Croud, said the subscription model would be limited by resource availability, which increases the cost of engagement by increasing CPM, which is how ads are billed per thousand displayed. Compared to CPC, which is a fee per click, or CPA, which is a fee per action, a fee every thousandth display can be an effective deterrent for potential advertisers.Macro hopes that the resulting losses will be compensated by a smart pricing model with features that encourage active users to convert.
The actions of the current owners may relate to improving the UX of users as indicated by Elon's post about introducing the ability to edit posts.
The big comeback!
After being banned by social media and going through the failed Truth Social launch, it's possible that it will get a second chance at fate. Tvn24.pl cites statements from CNN journalists who recall that Twitter's new situation and declaration of free speech will aid Donald Trump's return to the chirping community. Knowing the specifics of the platform, which, although not as large as its industry peers, brings together personae from the world of big politics, journalism and business and has a real impact on reality. There is speculation that Donald Trump will want to return due to his personal relationship with Twitter and the period before the election. It could be a huge force in the electoral arsenal ahead of the next US presidential election.
Truth Social is currently beating Twitter & TikTok on the Apple Store pic.twitter.com/RxawVUAYKH
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 27, 2022
To our surprise, Truth Social has just overtaken Twitter in terms of downloads in the AppStore, which Musk highlighted when criticizing existing employees. Who knows, maybe Trump won't need chirping support, though common sense dictates diversifying sources of political influence.
What comes next?
Unknown .Twitter's future is uncertain, and its transition under Musk's wing may not necessarily mean a change in the terms of service. According to Navarra, there have been multiple attempts in the past to introduce subscriptions to Facebook or Twitter itself, with significant complications. Of course Elon's resources and determination can work wonders, but we can't be sure of his actions. Business pragmatism, in the event of a major setback may cool the idea, but won't image and sunk costs push him further into the project? What if this was just a management play to take over the company? At the end of the day, we don't know what's in the heads of the Elon conglomerate's investment team.
By "free speech", I simply mean that which matches the law.
I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law.
If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect.
Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 26, 2022
It seems that the investment will grow, and Elon would not have orchestrated this action without a clear purpose, but which way he wants to go, we will see. Now the media is reporting that Twitter's new CEO is working to get rid of the speech ban on the service, which he received as a result of a 2020 lawsuit involving the American Stock Exchange. The result of this hearing was a court injunction prohibiting the businessman from tweeting about certain topics related to the activities of his companies, which paradoxically may be the reason for his limited communication related to the acquisition of the portal. The new owner also assures that by free speech he does not mean anything illegal, while opposing censorship.