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?
As we speak, we received a have a look at Elon’s broader strategic pondering across the app, together with some new updates on how Twitter 2.0 is progressing on varied components.
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 supplied 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 common imaginative and prescient for Twitter, and making it the ‘international city sq.’ as soon as once more.
Twitter has all the time had this as a defining purpose, of types, although it moved away from the ‘city sq.’ framing within the latter years below former CEO Jack Dorsey, who grew to become disillusioned with the inevitable calls that needed to be made by Twitter administration on what might and couldn’t be shared within the app.
That’s been a defining component of Musk’s push to reform Twitter’s strategy, by permitting extra free and open speech, and ideally, letting the customers resolve what needs to be allowed, with Group 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 ideas, which he hopes will finally make Twitter a supply of reality, by empowering enter from all individuals.
As per Musk:
“So the purpose is to have Twitter be the most effective supply of reality, probably the most well timed and correct supply of reality, even when the reality is one thing we do not need to hear or disagreeable or no matter, however have 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 the moment capable of management key narratives by selecting what to cowl, and what will get high precedence. However Twitter allows all individuals to resolve what’s related quicker, by facilitating extra inputs. Which is why, in Musk’s view, it’s important that Twitter permits free and open speech, as a lot as potential.
“The bedrock of a functioning democracy must be free speech and a stage enjoying area. That is why it is the primary modification. It was the very first thing they did, like we have 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 do not get it again. In order that’s why we should defend it in any respect prices.”
This has been a key component of Musk’s broader push on the app, which he’s bolstered along with his personal tweets on varied controversial subjects.
Which then results in issues round what individuals may really say within the app, and the way that might result in hurt and detrimental 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 knowledge means – however based mostly on the important thing components that the Twitter 2.0 crew is measuring, it’s working to deal with doubtlessly dangerous components, which ought to result in an improved person expertise.
In fact, letting tens of 1000’s of beforehand banned customers again on the app appears to work counter to this purpose, however once more, based mostly on the metrics that Musk and his crew are monitoring, it’s seemingly seeing enchancment.
The identical may also be stated for baby exploitation content material.
Musk has repeatedly claimed, as this graph reveals, that Twitter is doing extra to deal with CSE content material than Twitter has ever carried out up to now. Specialists have refuted these figures as properly, however Twitter is seemingly, by a minimum of some measures, taking extra motion to deal with this component, which Musk says will all the time be precedence primary on the app.
Although bigger modifications stay problematic. As we noticed earlier this week, Twitter does appear to be changing into more and more unstable, resulting in bigger outages and impacts, seemingly as a consequence of diminished oversight on account of employees cuts.
Musk admitted that this can be a downside, 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 each day lively customers.
It’s value noting that this chart measures as much as This autumn, and studies have instructed that Twitter utilization has declined considerably since then. Besides, Twitter’s reputation has elevated below Musk – to not the degrees that Musk would clearly like (with regard to that billion-user goal), however it’s on monitor to see enchancment, if it will probably get all of its components into line.
On that entrance, Musk briefly mentioned his plans to enhance Twitter’s advert relevance, and drive higher efficiency by way of varied focusing on measures.
A few of this revolved round easy measures, like key phrase focusing on, which Twitter has beforehand moved away from as a consequence of diminished advertiser efficiency. Elon is now seeking to implement extra direct focusing on choices like this, with advertisers capable of 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 little thing app’, which principally revolves round integrating funds.
“I think it is potential to create a really highly effective finance expertise. Principally, PayPal is sort of like a midway model of what I believe could possibly be carried out in funds and finance. So, for example 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 detrimental. Principally, I believe it is potential to turn 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, finally, by enabling funds through tweet, Twitter will have the ability to facilitate extra forms of transactions, which can make it a extra helpful app, for all totally different functions, just like how Chinese language messaging apps like WeChat have turn into important utilities in that area.
In fact, Meta’s additionally making an attempt to facilitate the identical factor, and only recently received approval to increase 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 is not going to 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 turn into a key supply of reality in journalism, and a key utility in facilitating extra forms of funds, which can then make it a important app for a lot of extra individuals. It’s an optimistic technique, which requires many issues to go proper, however Musk says that, after huge cost-cutting, the app is, doubtlessly, on monitor to be money optimistic by the tip of this yr.
That, at least, provides him firmer footing to construct from, and possibly, Elon’s imaginative and prescient is past what others can but see for the app.
You’ll be able to try Elon’s full presentation to the Morgan Stanley TMT Convention right here.
