Twitter and Elon Musk

[mchepp]

On 11/16/2022 at 1:06 PM, iacas said:

If I got this email I would check with HR that it wasn't spam. I mean we are all taught to avoid clicking stuff like google forms in an email. So I would be hesitant to click it. 

Going hardcore is what has brought Elon success at Tesla. They were able to hire brilliant people and let them tackle hard problems. Thus you have one of the best cars are on the market for wealthy people. I think the model of Tesla could work even better at Twitter. Essentially he brought a software approach to a hardware company at Tesla, there is no reason he can't make that model work at Twitter. It will just likely need to be with different people than work there now. 

For starters, I think, the subscription model is going to work. I think he should have driven it to be connected to the number of followers you had, like charging one of the Kardashians $1,000 a month is probably nothing versus the money they get for being an influencer. They'd pay. Reporters, less followers but still love the platform might get charged $100, and on down to us pee-ons can be charged $8.99. Make the people making money on Twitter pay to use it. Interestingly it is not all that far from Tesla's original business plan. Make a super expensive car, make enough money from it to make a cheaper one, and on and on. 

BTW, I know @iacas said no politics, but I am make a financial argument. Trump makes sense for Twitter. Stock price tracking of Twitter:

Trump drives a ton of traffic to Twitter. It was an easy decision for Elon. 

Elon overpaid for Twitter. It was a bad business deal. But he is so rich, (probably aloof also) that he doesn't care. I think he is going to make it work in the end. 

Disclosures: I don't use Twitter, and I made a nice amount of money when Elon overpaid on my Twitter stock that I had almost given up on.

 

[GolfLug]

15 minutes ago, mchepp said:

If I got this email I would check with HR that it wasn't spam. I mean we are all taught to avoid clicking stuff like google forms in an email. So I would be hesitant to click it. 

Going hardcore is what has brought Elon success at Tesla. They were able to hire brilliant people and let them tackle hard problems. Thus you have one of the best cars are on the market for wealthy people. I think the model of Tesla could work even better at Twitter. Essentially he brought a software approach to a hardware company at Tesla, there is no reason he can't make that model work at Twitter. It will just likely need to be with different people than work there now. 

For starters, I think, the subscription model is going to work. I think he should have driven it to be connected to the number of followers you had, like charging one of the Kardashians $1,000 a month is probably nothing versus the money they get for being an influencer. They'd pay. Reporters, less followers but still love the platform might get charged $100, and on down to us pee-ons can be charged $8.99. Make the people making money on Twitter pay to use it. Interestingly it is not all that far from Tesla's original business plan. Make a super expensive car, make enough money from it to make a cheaper one, and on and on. 

BTW, I know @iacas said no politics, but I am make a financial argument. Trump makes sense for Twitter. Stock price tracking of Twitter:

Trump drives a ton of traffic to Twitter. It was an easy decision for Elon. 

Elon overpaid for Twitter. It was a bad business deal. But he is so rich, (probably aloof also) that he doesn't care. I think he is going to make it work in the end. 

Disclosures: I don't use Twitter, and I made a nice amount of money when Elon overpaid on my Twitter stock that I had almost given up on.

 

Yah, he can make it work. When you have that much money, you can take losses for a very long time till you gain up on it. Still ROI is time sensitive and gets harder and harder to break even, let alone make money. The wrecking ball management is polarizing, but if there is anyone who can make it work, it would be him for sure.

Good point on Trump-Twitter connection. Makes sense.   

[iacas]

I thought I read that Elon was leveraged a fair bit, and if Twitter goes badly banks could end up owning a good chunk of Tesla. The interest alone on $44B is a lot.

[iacas]

A good thread for those following the Elon vs. Apple stuff… while Elon tweets from his iPhone. 😛

[bking]

32 minutes ago, iacas said:

A good thread for those following the Elon vs. Apple stuff… while Elon tweets from his iPhone. 😛

I don't have any current links handy, but I've seen several credible reports that hate speech, radical conspiracy theories and incitement of violence are on the upswing on Twitter since Musk began loosening up on  free speech (well, speech that doesn't cross him)

[iacas]

5 minutes ago, bking said:

I don't have any current links handy, but I've seen several credible reports that hate speech, radical conspiracy theories and incitement of violence are on the upswing on Twitter since Musk began loosening up on  free speech (well, speech that doesn't cross him)

Oh, very much so, yes.

[mchepp]

On 11/22/2022 at 5:11 PM, iacas said:

I thought I read that Elon was leveraged a fair bit, and if Twitter goes badly banks could end up owning a good chunk of Tesla. The interest alone on $44B is a lot.

I heard an intriguing theory that Elon owes roughly $13B and he is making the company look bad on purpose so that we can offer the banks $0.30 on the dollar for the debt. He would then own the debt and the company without having to pay the interest.  There are already offers for $0.60 on the dollar, if he purposely makes things worse that could get closer to his target. Then once he owns the debt he can rebuild the company to be a profitable (or nearly profitable) and go IPO and getting very rich in the process. 

Intriguing idea. 

[iacas]

The thing I don't get about his strategy is that it's so far right… he's just cutting down on the number of people that use or want to use his platform.

I mean… do people still think he's smart? That's such bad, dumb business… I just don't get it.

[Darkfrog]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

The thing I don't get about his strategy is that it's so far right… he's just cutting down on the number of people that use or want to use his platform.

I mean… do people still think he's smart? That's such bad, dumb business… I just don't get it.

I have a twitter account but have not been an active user in many many years (actually I was never actively tweeting much, but I did consume posts on twitter more regularly at one point). I'm not even sure the last time I logged in.

I don't get what is going on at all with this sort of stuff. First, does Fauci actually make policy in any form (I think no, but I could be wrong), and does Fauci's policy/influence on policy have any affect at all on billionaires? Is Musk hoping to appeal to the Parler/Truth Social users to get them to come back to Twitter or simply to piss off the opposite crowd so it can be discussed on Twitter? Is there some motive here beyond what my intelligence can comprehend?

All I know is there is an auction coming up next month for equipment from the SF Twitter offices, and I am hoping to snag some commercial espresso machines and kitchen equipment at a good price.

[iacas]

2 minutes ago, Darkfrog said:

All I know is there is an auction coming up next month for equipment from the SF Twitter offices, and I am hoping to snag some commercial espresso machines and kitchen equipment at a good price.

That's funny. 😄

[Elmer]

11 minutes ago, Darkfrog said:

 

I don't get what is going on at all with this sort of stuff. First, does Fauci actually make policy in any form (I think no, but I could be wrong), and does Fauci's policy/influence on policy have any affect at all on billionaires? Is Musk hoping to appeal to the Parler/Truth Social users to get them to come back to Twitter or simply to piss off the opposite crowd so it can be discussed on Twitter? Is there some motive here beyond what my intelligence can comprehend?

Even if Musk got all the Parler/Truth Social users to come back, he would likely loose a fair amount of advertisers.
Currently neither Parler or Truth Social has the user traffic which would enable either to bring in revenue based on Ads.
I am baffled at how Musk has been running Twitter. He champions free speech, but bans anyone who criticizes him. He parrots talking points which appeal to a minority.
 

My only thought is:
He bought Twitter on a whim and couldn't back out
Thought he could change it, but had already fired all the programmer and departments
Since he lives in a bubble and is unaware of the thoughts of a majority of users (see him getting boo'ed in SF), he is unable to see the harm in his comments or the comments of others.
And if you look at his "free speech" and "twitter files" release they are not the wins he thinks they are.
 

Musk thought he was riding in on a white horse and was going to be the free speech savior of America.  Instead he has brought back the worst people and gave them a mega phone to amplify nasty things on his platform!

[boogielicious]

The only reason I have twitter is for stuff Erik and the PGA Tour post. Musk is a colossal douche. I hope he goes down in flames.

[iacas]

1 hour ago, Elmer said:

And if you look at his "free speech" and "twitter files" release they are not the wins he thinks they are.

They are not, no.

1 hour ago, Elmer said:

Musk thought he was riding in on a white horse and was going to be the free speech savior of America.  Instead he has brought back the worst people and gave them a mega phone to amplify nasty things on his platform!

While deleting tweets and other information he doesn't like, including negative tweets about him.

[Darkfrog]

1 hour ago, boogielicious said:

The only reason I have twitter is for stuff Erik and the PGA Tour post. Musk is a colossal douche. I hope he goes down in flames.

Luckily a lot of Erik's golf instruction tweets are posted on TST.

I also occasionally check in on NLU and The Fried Egg (and other golf related stuff) as well, but since I am not logged in I can't scroll too far without getting hit with a sign-in page.

[iacas]

7 minutes ago, Darkfrog said:

Luckily a lot of Erik's golf instruction tweets are posted on TST.

Definitely a minority, though. None of the ones I've posted today have made it here. You're missing out.

7 minutes ago, Darkfrog said:

I also occasionally check in on NLU and The Fried Egg (and other golf related stuff) as well, but since I am not logged in I can't scroll too far without getting hit with a sign-in page.

So sign in? 🙂

[Darkfrog]

16 minutes ago, iacas said:

So sign in? 🙂

OK, I'll try it.

Major PITA to find my twitter handle, but managed to get myself signed in again after some digging through ancient emails and a password reset.

[iacas]

Twitter Blue at $8/$11 is live now.

About Twitter Blue

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Learn about our monthly subscription service offering exclusive access to premium features.

Also…

Quote

Those who initially subscribed on iOS for $2.99 or $4.99/month will need to upgrade their subscription for $8/month on web or $11/month on iOS, or lose their subscription.

That's me. I may do the web version (it's ridiculous that he's charging more if you buy in-app. I get it, but seriously, f*** off).

For $2.99 (what I pay now), the "undo" and "edit" stuff was nice. The ability to post longer videos, etc… sure.

We'll see. I might try it for a little while. Still annoying how few of the "Blue" features work on the macOS client.

[Elmer]

 

"Until now, Twitter used the blue checkmark to indicate active, notable, and authentic accounts of public interest that Twitter had independently verified based on certain requirements. Now the blue checkmark may mean two different things: either that an account was verified under the previous verification criteria (active and authentic), or that the account has an active subscription to Twitter Blue"

I just don't get this. A blue mark means your authentic, such as POTUS but also that you paid us, such as POTUS67234512746292.