Elon & Twitter

[Bet TSLA]

Presumably because of Elon's crazy tweet repeating to his 113M followers, a dangerous completely false story about the attempted murder of the husband of the 3rd in line for presidency of our democracy.

Well, maybe. But you've got it wrong in so many ways. He didn't repeat the story, he referenced it. His tweet said "There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye".

And he was right, there sure is more to the story. Not, of course, the crazy conspiracy crap he mentioned, but it was actually an attempted political assassination of Nancy Pelosi, second in the line of succession. Her husband just happened to be there and she wasn't, very unfortunate for him.

Why Elon decided to be an ass remains unknown. So far he's deleted the tweet but not issued any sort of apology. Nor has he explained how that sort of tweet is in any way a part of the sort of town square he says he wants Twitter to become.

 

[Bouba]

Well, maybe. But you've got it wrong in so many ways. He didn't repeat the story, he referenced it. His tweet said "There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye".

And he was right, there sure is more to the story. Not, of course, the crazy conspiracy crap he mentioned, but it was actually an attempted political assassination of Nancy Pelosi, second in the line of succession. Her husband just happened to be there and she wasn't, very unfortunate for him.

Why Elon decided to be an ass remains unknown. So far he's deleted the tweet but not issued any sort of apology. Nor has he explained how that sort of tweet is in any way a part of the sort of town square he says he wants Twitter to become.

Perhaps Elon is just demonstrating the need for the blue tick

 

[aubreymcfato]

With this new “Context” feature, Elon is setting up Twitter as a tool to fight FUD on all topics globally. Huge benefit to Tesla is implied.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1587266665485856768

Edit: [ @JRP3 corrected me that this was used prior to the buyout.]

It will be very interesting when this feature will show Reuters FUD articles regarding Tesla...

 

[aubreymcfato]

Come on now. Easy retort. How can you live with yourself driving a (fill in the VW, BMW, Porsche, Audi, Mercedes et al vehicle of choice) after they experimented on humans and THEN emissions cheated knowing their cars don’t just pollute the planet but prematurely kill people? How can you drive a GM after they knew their cars killed people just by having too many bobbles on the key chain and they had to be legally forced to recall them for a $300 repair? How could you drive - it’s literally endless.

The idea that someone thinks it’s a good idea/productive action or that they’re somehow above you and need to approach you at a charger to point a finger because the CEO, who btw is trying to save them and their children from themselves, is the biggest pile of hypocrisy and crock of . That right there is reason 83 why people suck. Righteous, sanctimonious, gullible, judgemental, unaware cesspools of walking destruction.

You can buy my set of Throw-It-Right-Back-At-Them Cat Cue Cards for just 5 TSLA shares. That’s a screaming bargain.

I feel you, but I think you miss an important piece of the puzzle: VW did everything they could to make people forget about their origins, or about the emission scandal. Probably billions spent in PR, communication, marketing.
Musk tweets like a edgy teenager who just discovered 4chan every day, multiple times a day.
He constantly reminds people how edgy he is at 111 millions accounts. Media are happy to pile in.

So yes, he's "perceived" as more evil than BMW.
People have never been rational - like, never in the history of mankind -: in this is "attention economy" this behavior of Musk simply has consequences.
Musk knows this very well, apparently he doesn't really care how he's perceived, for better or for worse.

 

[Matias]

Yep, he is running Tesla all on his own, together with SpaceX, Neuralink, The Boring Company and Twitter. At Tesla he still has to find time to code for FSD, design the interior of the Cybertruck and Roadster and negotiate a deal with a lithium company. I suggest he hires some people and delegates tasks. How about 110,000 employees? Would that suffice?

There must be some reason for companies to have CEO? No?

 

[Matias]

Actually there's a report today that Elon is transferring key staff out of TSLA and Boring Co to work on TWTR...

Elon Musk enlists more than 50 Tesla workers, 2 Boring Company staff, and one Neuralink employee to work at Twitter post-takeover, report says

The majority of Tesla employees enlisted to work at Twitter were software engineers from the Autopilot team, CNBC reported, citing documents.

www.businessinsider.com

Yep, it's a distraction.

I wonder, what TSLA's shareholders think about this?

 

[Matias]

What I'd like is for him to be more focused on Tesla and working on engineering problems. If things are going so well at Tesla that he doesn't need to be there much then I'd like him to no longer be CEO so whatever nutty thing he does next doesn't affect the company as much. I can also think of probably 100 other issues he could be working on besides Twitter if he's bored with Tesla now. Seems a total waste of his engineering mind.

Funny thing, that TSLA pays Musk tens of billions with stock options, if TSLA does not need him? I personally believe, that TSLA needs Musk (or some other CEO) and he should not spent so much time with his hobbies.

 

[voyager]

When DJT returns, will we see more of this?
Btw, not sure whether people can stay on twitter for free
if they don't opt for the blue approval check mark...

 

[Spacep0d]

And he is putting that in harms way. When Tesla going after a small addressable market opportunity (based on prices of vehicles) it doesn't matter as much. When Tesla is going for 20M cars per year it will have a bigger impact. Being thought of as a crazy right wing troll who posts anything from nutjob conspiracy sites hurts that growth as the addressable market grows. Supporters that support Elon no matter what he does/says hurts not helps the stock and the company. Elon should learn to apologize for things, not just delete them. Deleting a post isn't an apology it is hiding guilt.

Do I need to remind people of ESA's Matt Taylor and the 'sexist' pin-up girl shirt made for him by his female friend? This was shown widely after the ESA announced a successful landing of a probe on an asteroid. Taylor's groveling apology saw no path to redemption—only humiliation for Matt and what was construed as a tacit admission of guilt. The mob does not forgive.

Deleting the tweet was appropriate as Elon had clearly reconsidered his prior brain state. Apologizing is the last thing Elon should do.

Elon is an unusual person with an unusual brain, and admits to being on the spectrum. When I see SpaceX landing boosters on their struts, or consider Tesla's spearheading of EVs (and charging network), or consider the progress made in real-world AI, Starlink, solar, power storage, or even auto insurance—I'm somehow able to find plenty of tolerance for Elon's neurodivergent and occasionally quirky genius.

Put another way, if Elon weren't Elon he wouldn't be Elon.

 

[Bouba]

When DJT returns, will we see more of this?
Btw, not sure whether people can stay on twitter for free
if they don't opt for the blue approval check mark...

No blue tick
I think that just paying for the tick is a great idea…only celebs and wannabes care about it so they can pay for the rest of us…it’s like paying for an entry in Who’s Who..just another money spinner

 

[OrthoSurg]

Correction, Elon says $8 a month for you peasants

https://twitter.com/x/status/1587498907336118274

Sadly, like I said before. People will pay into this.

People pay more than that for Netflix, Dysney channel, HBO+. Of course they will pay $8 to have a blue chip in what they spend 4hours per day

 

[OrthoSurg]

Well, maybe. But you've got it wrong in so many ways. He didn't repeat the story, he referenced it. His tweet said "There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye".

And he was right, there sure is more to the story. Not, of course, the crazy conspiracy crap he mentioned, but it was actually an attempted political assassination of Nancy Pelosi, second in the line of succession. Her husband just happened to be there and she wasn't, very unfortunate for him.

Why Elon decided to be an ass remains unknown. So far he's deleted the tweet but not issued any sort of apology. Nor has he explained how that sort of tweet is in any way a part of the sort of town square he says he wants Twitter to become.

Oh ok that explain Sunday evening the host if the talk show Tout le Monde en Parle said Elon Musk the owner of Twitter shared fake news during the day. I logged in Twitter to see what he was alluding to and never found the tweet

 

[Boomer19]

I think the mood might be brighter if some people could imagine that we're actually fans of Elon's work on cars and spaceships, and are simply worried that exactly what we said would happen is going on - demonstrations of his worst twitter posting urges, and literal bleeding of talent and attention away from Tesla to his pet free-speech project.

i get it - especially on a longer term
so i don’t strongly disagree with your arguments.
- and those disagrees don’t put me in the he can do no wrong camp
- but it’s only been a couple of days
- and i generally reject the mainstream bullshit media narrative.
- and elon has earned enough goodwill with me to see where it goes

and there may be some substance to the theory that they (govt, policy makers, and their media friends) have their panties in a bunch because they don’t want an anti-establishment figure as successful and popular as elon to be at the helm of a major platform (twitter is still like 10th to 15th largest user base globally) and they fear they will no longer be able to easily manipulate it at will.

i say this because i tend to believe frontline’s (and many others over the years) coverage about govts splitting into telco’s/isps and more recent coverage of govts open door policies w some of the media platforms for information…maybe not all of it was accurate but where there’s smoke there’s fire - i don’t think it’s all conspiracy fodder, and it clearly isn’t all about the war on terror.

maybe the fear is elon doesn’t play ball. or maybe he really won’t have a choice. but twitter is now under attack just like tesla and spacex were. the media is reporting that advertisers are lining up to leave, etc etc. starving twitter and elons 44b to nothing.

what i don’t understand is why with all this going on, he clearly is living in the gravity of the situation, yet he does some cavalier (or just plain dumb) things. even if i wanted to flick the tigers balls, id be too scared to post the nonsense hillary reply.

for this, i’m not disagreeing. i fear the fame problem, rockstar complex, whatever you want to call it. seems grounded enough most times, but definitely seems to get caught up at others.
i don’t want to see him take that trajectory we have all seen before…for him, his family, his projects, the employees, for the fans, for us, our investments, for anything.

but i’m rooting for him. i think social media needs an overhaul and it’s not a waste of time…more a worthy cause.

it’s worth having some engineering crossover and technology sharing that’s happened in the past.

but no, i don’t want it to blow up his other missions.

if this makes me a hypocrite to some here, than so be it

 

[DarkandStormy]

Actually there's a report today that Elon is transferring key staff out of TSLA and Boring Co to work on TWTR...

Elon Musk enlists more than 50 Tesla workers, 2 Boring Company staff, and one Neuralink employee to work at Twitter post-takeover, report says

The majority of Tesla employees enlisted to work at Twitter were software engineers from the Autopilot team, CNBC reported, citing documents.

www.businessinsider.com

Yep, it's a distraction.

Unclear if it's true, but if it is...seems like a dereliction of duty from Elon, CEO of a public company, to be directing employees of said company to work for a private company which he happens to own.

His duty as CEO of Tesla is to the shareholders not himself. If it's true (stressing the IF) I sure hope he thought through the legal ramifications of such a move and has a clear accounting of separating those ~50 or so employees and if or why Tesla is paying them to do work for a private company (which the CEO of Tesla happens to own).

 

[JRP3]

Apologizing is the last thing Elon should do.

A rational person will of course apologize when they do something wrong.

 

[Bouba]

Unclear if it's true, but if it is...seems like a dereliction of duty from Elon, CEO of a public company, to be directing employees of said company to work for a private company which he happens to own.

His duty as CEO of Tesla is to the shareholders not himself. If it's true (stressing the IF) I sure hope he thought through the legal ramifications of such a move and has a clear accounting of separating those ~50 or so employees and if or why Tesla is paying them to do work for a private company (which the CEO of Tesla happens to own).

You have to think that some day all the different parts of Elon’s empire will merge functionality

 

[ohmman]

People pay more than that for Netflix, Dysney channel, HBO+. Of course they will pay $8 to have a blue chip in what they spend 4hours per day

Netflix, Disney, HBO+ are all creators of rich content. They don't share content created by others. Twitter is more like YouTube, but with significantly less content. And participating on Twitter doesn't require the blue chip. $8/month seems as if it would have to get you something of stronger value, like YouTube Premium does.

 

[thx1139]

Well, maybe. But you've got it wrong in so many ways. He didn't repeat the story, he referenced it. His tweet said "There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye".

And he was right, there sure is more to the story. Not, of course, the crazy conspiracy crap he mentioned, but it was actually an attempted political assassination of Nancy Pelosi, second in the line of succession. Her husband just happened to be there and she wasn't, very unfortunate for him.

Why Elon decided to be an ass remains unknown. So far he's deleted the tweet but not issued any sort of apology. Nor has he explained how that sort of tweet is in any way a part of the sort of town square he says he wants Twitter to become.

He shouldnt even be paying attention to that nut job conspiracy site let alone sharing content from it. Sure the site appreciated it because it likely got a massive amount of clicks because of Elon followers that believe is is infallible visited. I support Elon and the green energy mission of Tesla and increasing our our use if Space with SpaceX. He is far from infallible and he holds to many grudges.

 

[thx1139]

Hey on a different note can someone explain to me how Blue Checkmarks helps bots? I dont get how Elon believes making Blue Checkmarks pay for the checkmark will reduce harmful bots.

 

[ohmman]

Hey on a different note can someone explain to me how Blue Checkmarks helps bots? I dont get how Elon believes making Blue Checkmarks pay for the checkmark will reduce harmful bots.

My guess is two angles on that - first, they can ensure that nobody using the API gets a blue check (this may already be done, for all I know). You'd have to use Twitter app or Twitter through a browser in order to get one. That should cover the vast majority of bots. Secondarily, I suspect people running bots have many of them going at the same time, and it's possible that just $8/month for each of them would be enough to turn the value proposition upside down for whatever they're gaining for free right now.