Musk Twitter, how will the trajectory of the blue bird change?

This is certainly the most discussed acquisition of 2022. The Musk Twitter deal has not in fact gone unnoticed due to its volume and "depth"

of the personalities involved.

On the one hand the volcanic, visionary and often "critical" Elon Musk, former founder and owner of Tesla among other things, on the other Twitter , a social network that has been going through a contradictory phase for some years.

Now that the acquisition has been completed and Elon Musk has "freed the bird", how will Twitter 's approach towards its users and the market change?

Let's try to find out based on what we've seen so far.

Musk Twitter, the various steps that led to the acquisition

The topic of the purchase of Twitter by the American millionaire with South African birth Elon Musk has been at the center of market attention throughout 2022. Musk's approach to the blue bird's social network made up of many statements, some changes of mind and an offer that shook the beliefs of Twitter 's previous owners.

On the table, the one who can probably be considered the richest man in the world, already owner among other things of Tesla and SpaceX, has in fact put 44 billion dollars.

The classic proposal that cannot be refused and which in fact risked falling through only due to the hesitations of the Tesla owner.

Doubts quickly disappeared, as made official by Musk directly on the social network he just purchased.

He himself made the announcement directly, using the newly purchased social network.

In fact, he updated his bio indicating: "Chief Twit" and published a tweet in which he wrote that the bird has been freed: "the bird is freed".

Immediate action

In perfect Musk style, the new boss's first decisions were certainly not long in coming and immediately led to a revolution within Twitter .

One of the things that Musk didn't like about Twitter and that made him doubt the purchase was the economic situation of Twitter and its excessively high costs and Elon Musk immediately addressed this "problem", firing him immediately, on the spot. , several members of the company.

The "heads" at the head of Twitter were the first to pay the price for this cost cutting. Musk has in fact fired several company executives with immediate effect: CEO Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal, director of legal affairs Sean Edgett and Vijaya Gadde, a lawyer who was head of Twitter's legal team.

Gadde's dismissal is not only to be seen from an economic point of view but also from the point of view of content moderation, given that in addition to being head of the legal team, Gadde also led the "trust and safety" division, which among other things, it is responsible for making decisions regarding content moderation, misinformation, hate speech and harassment on the platform.

In addition to drastic cuts from the management point of view, Musk announced a drastic cut in staff, with the intention to fire a good part of Twitter 's employees, also with immediate effect and through a simple email communication.

Musk Twitter, what will happen?

It is not yet clear what Elon Musk intends to do with his new purchase. In recent months the Tesla owner's proclamations have indeed been bombastic but often very different, if not conflicting with each other.

Today Twitter starts again with 7,500 employees (significantly decreasing every day), 200 million daily active users and a turnover in 2021 of just over 5 billion dollars. Important numbers but not totally satisfactory, given that the growth hypothesized over time has been disillusioned several times.

The topics debated

There are many issues on Elon Musk's table and to date we can only comment and report those that have emerged in recent months and when the millionaire triumphantly set foot in Twitter 's headquarters.

Let's see them:

Verified profile

The verified profile (the famous blue tick next to the username) was one of the first controversial topics to emerge. In the past it was a status that could only be achieved by requesting it and proving that one was a famous or influential person.

Today, in one of Elon Musk's first attempts at monetization, the millionaire has decided that the long-awaited blue check will be available to everyone, by paying.

Starting from a price of 25 dollars a month and clashing fiercely with many famous personalities (including Stephen King), Elon Musk gradually lowered the price of this certification, reaching the point of setting it at a value of eight dollars a month (variable value based on the purchasing power of the country in which the account owner resides).

A monetization system that could bring a lot of money in the short term but which by losing its exclusivity and quality could also end up being worth nothing. We'll see how Twitter users take this news.

New features

Elon Musk then decided that Twitter will have to have new features in the very short term. Elon Musk's idea is in fact to enrich and transform Twitter into a super application in which writing tweets will be just one of the possible things.

Several times in this area Musk has taken the Chinese messaging application Wechat as an example, a true multifunctional container that aims to incorporate the user's experience and needs, in order to keep him connected and connected to the application itself for longer possible time.

Digital town square

Elon Musk has been talking about this issue for some time, to be precise since one of his first tweets last April, in which the millionaire indicated that "Twitter is the digital town square, where vital questions for the future of humanity are debated" .

In addition to a pre-purchase tweet, Elon Musk returned to the topic again in an official letter to investors published on the day of the millionaire's purchase of the social network: "obviously Twitter cannot become a free hell where you can say anything without consequences! (…) In addition to adhering to national laws, our platform must be welcoming to everyone and allow you to choose the experience you want based on your preferences, in the same way you can choose to watch films or play dedicated video games at different age groups".

A concept of freedom of expression which is another of Musk's strong points and which is creating apprehension among institutional and political bodies.

Content moderation

Musk has reiterated from the beginning that moderation policies will have to change substantially under his direction. Musk claims to be in fact an "absolutist of freedom of expression". All this not only in theory but also in practice, as when he said several times that he wants to rehabilitate the profile of former American President Donald Trump on Twitter , banned from the social network after the attack on Congress by his supporters in January Last year.

This seems to be the most controversial topic of all, only time will tell us whether Musk will proceed indomitable on his path or whether he will decide to make his position more malleable.