Now what?
Elon Musk paid $44 billion for Twitter. Next up: Making Twitter worth (at least) $44 billion.
Here are a few things in Elon Musk’s in-tray after Twitter takeover:
- Trump will probably be returning 🤭. Elon’s biggest concern was free speech. Although, on Monday evening the former president told Fox News he did not even wish to return and would use his own startup. But, who believes that.
- Safer environment. Governments will proceed online safety bill, which requires social media platforms to protect their users from harmful content by end of year. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out with Elon’s free speech focus.
- Subscription to join. This will be a good choice, for those like me, who are sick of ads on Twitter. Musk raised the possibility of removing advertising from the platform’s premium service, Blue, which is available in the US and Australia but not the UK. Twitter makes 90% of its annual revenue from ads, so Musk is broaching a potentially radical move.
- A edit button. Going along with the free speech discussion, Musk wants to make the ‘edit’ button available for everyone.
Other changes suggested by Musk include making Twitter’s algorithm open source, meaning users would be able to view the algorithm that curates what users see. Musk has also said that Twitter users should be able to see if their post has been promoted or demoted, which could help users understand what content works.
