So what’s Elon Musk’s long run imaginative and prescient for Twitter, and the way does he plan to transform the app right into a billion-user, money-making machine, as he’s repeatedly said in interviews?
Immediately, we received a have a look at Elon’s broader strategic considering across the app, together with some new updates on how Twitter 2.0 is progressing on varied parts.
Musk made a brand new presentation on Twitter, and his different companies, to the Morgan Stanley Tech, Media and Telecommunications Convention in San Francisco, the place Musk provided perception into a number of key features, together with their work on mitigating hate speech, the expansion in utilization of the app, and the grander imaginative and prescient to transform Twitter right into a key funds and commerce app.
First off, Musk outlined his normal imaginative and prescient for Twitter, and making it the ‘world city sq.’ as soon as once more.
Twitter has at all times had this as a defining purpose, of kinds, although it moved away from the ‘city sq.’ framing within the latter years below former CEO Jack Dorsey, who turned disillusioned with the inevitable calls that needed to be made by Twitter administration on what may and couldn’t be shared within the app.
That’s been a defining aspect of Musk’s push to reform Twitter’s method, by permitting extra free and open speech, and ideally, letting the customers determine what ought to be allowed, with Neighborhood Notes set to play a much bigger function in enabling Twitter customers themselves to police misinformation and untruths by including contextual explainers to particular person tweets.
Musk additionally laid out Twitter 2.0’s core rules, which he hopes will ultimately make Twitter a supply of fact, by empowering enter from all individuals.
As per Musk:
“So the purpose is to have Twitter be the very best supply of fact, probably the most well timed and correct supply of fact, even when the reality is one thing we do not need to hear or disagreeable or no matter, however have or not it’s well timed and correct and the place you possibly can actually perceive what is going on on.”
Musk additional defined that the media is at present in a position to management key narratives by selecting what to cowl, and what will get high precedence. However Twitter permits all individuals to determine what’s related quicker, by facilitating extra inputs. Which is why, in Musk’s view, it’s vital that Twitter permits free and open speech, as a lot as doable.
“The bedrock of a functioning democracy needs to be free speech and a degree taking part in area. That is why it is the primary modification. It was the very first thing they did, like we have got to make sure freedom of speech. And why did they do this? As a result of the place they got here from there wasn’t freedom of speech, and when you lose freedom of speech, you aren’t getting it again. In order that’s why we should shield it in any respect prices.”
This has been a key aspect of Musk’s broader push on the app, which he’s bolstered along with his personal tweets on varied controversial matters.
Which then results in issues round what individuals would possibly really say within the app, and the way that would result in hurt and unfavorable behaviors. On this entrance, Musk additionally outlined Twitter’s progress in addressing hate speech, which Musk says is now down 50% from when he took over on the app.
Some specialists have questioned Twitter’s metrics on this, and we don’t have entry to precisely what this information means – however primarily based on the important thing parts that the Twitter 2.0 staff is measuring, it’s working to handle probably dangerous parts, which ought to result in an improved consumer expertise.
After all, letting tens of 1000’s of beforehand banned customers again on the app appears to work counter to this purpose, however once more, primarily based on the metrics that Musk and his staff are monitoring, it’s seemingly seeing enchancment.
The identical can be stated for baby exploitation content material.
Musk has repeatedly claimed, as this graph exhibits, that Twitter is doing extra to handle CSE content material than Twitter has ever finished prior to now. Specialists have refuted these figures as properly, however Twitter is seemingly, by no less than some measures, taking extra motion to handle this aspect, which Musk says will at all times be precedence primary on the app.
Although bigger adjustments stay problematic. As we noticed earlier this week, Twitter does appear to be turning into more and more unstable, resulting in bigger outages and impacts, seemingly as a result of lowered oversight on account of employees cuts.
Musk admitted that it is a drawback, noting that the present code base is vulnerable to failure when making even the slightest change.
However nonetheless, even with elevated error charges, Musk says that Twitter utilization is at an all-time excessive, with greater than 250 million every day energetic customers.
It’s value noting that this chart measures as much as This autumn, and stories have advised that Twitter utilization has declined considerably since then. Besides, Twitter’s recognition has elevated below Musk – to not the degrees that Musk would clearly like (with reference to that billion-user goal), however it’s on monitor to see enchancment, if it may possibly get all of its parts into line.
On that entrance, Musk briefly mentioned his plans to enhance Twitter’s advert relevance, and drive higher efficiency via varied concentrating on measures.
A few of this revolved round easy measures, like key phrase concentrating on, which Twitter has beforehand moved away from as a result of lowered advertiser efficiency. Elon is now trying to implement extra direct concentrating on choices like this, with advertisers in a position to spotlight their content material inside associated discussions within the app.
Lastly, Musk mentioned his longer-term imaginative and prescient for Twitter, and making it into the ‘every part app’, which largely revolves round integrating funds.
“I think it is doable to create a really highly effective finance expertise. Principally, PayPal is sort of like a midway model of what I believe might be finished in funds and finance. So, for instance you need to have the ability to ship cash simply from one account on Twitter to a different account effortlessly, with one click on, you need to have the ability to earn curiosity on that cash, you need to have the ability to have debt, so you possibly can let your curiosity can go unfavorable. Principally, I believe it is doable to change into the largest monetary establishment on the earth, simply by offering individuals with handy fee choices. We do not have the time to enter it intimately right here, but when we simply make the app an increasing number of helpful, individuals will use it extra and it will be nice.”
The imaginative and prescient is that, ultimately, by enabling funds by way of tweet, Twitter will have the ability to facilitate extra sorts of transactions, which can make it a extra helpful app, for all completely different functions, just like how Chinese language messaging apps like WeChat have change into important utilities in that area.
After all, Meta’s additionally making an attempt to facilitate the identical factor, and only in the near past received approval to broaden WhatsApp funds utilization in Brazil, whereas it’s additionally gaining traction with WhatsApp funds in India, seemingly the important thing marketplace for such a shift.
However success on this space won’t come straightforward, particularly amid ongoing regulatory scrutiny, and given Musk’s defiant perspective to different regulatory teams, just like the SEC, it’s onerous to see Twitter ever gaining the approval required to facilitate such.
Nonetheless, that’s the longer-term imaginative and prescient, that Twitter will change into a key supply of fact in journalism, and a key utility in facilitating extra sorts of funds, which can then make it a vital app for a lot of extra individuals. It’s an optimistic technique, which requires many issues to go proper, however Musk says that, after large cost-cutting, the app is, probably, on monitor to be money constructive by the top of this 12 months.
That, at least, offers him firmer footing to construct from, and possibly, Elon’s imaginative and prescient is past what others can but see for the app.
You possibly can take a look at Elon’s full presentation to the Morgan Stanley TMT Convention right here.
