Elon & Twitter

[Beltsbear]

Some Twitter insight from Elon on the Ted interview:

This area (highlighted by the timestamp) is one of the areas that Elon is right about. Shadowbanning, throttling and other controls should be disclosed to the account being controlled. The logic behind some algorithms should be at least explained. Now bots screw all of this up. Because if you describe exactly how everything works, bots will get around these controls more. So Twitter has to walk a fine line. Now personally, I think their algorithms are terrible right now, I am constantly told anything political is 'sensitive'. Especially anything that is a picture and pro-Ukraine (without any gore or violence), for example just a picture of a sunflower growing with a flag background is 'sensitive'.

I have seen many pro-Tesla accounts shadowbanned or severely throttled, probably by mass TSLAQ reporting. So Twitter is not using machine learning or AI very well at all.

I still don't think that if all of these things were completely fixed (they won't ever be) that twitter would be worth $54 or make a positive effect on social discourse. It would be more enjoyable for me though.

 

[chinney]

Would an Elon Musk takeover of Twitter lead him to give up control of Tesla as he concentrates on something else? As a Tesla owner and fan, I can only hope so. I give Musk considerable credit for helping advance the EV project, but I think at this point it would be better moving forward without him as he dabbles on his latest preoccupations.

 

[Artful Dodger]

OT Public Service Message on how to use Twitter without descending into rage by your political affiliations:

Excerpts from 'Zvi Mowshowitz'; "How to Best Use Twitter" :

How To Best Use Twitter

[Note: While I do intend to write more about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, this post is intended to address this only indirectly rather than directly, by helping illustrate how to find other sources of information, and you are once again implored to rely on other news sources. I need to get...

thezvi.substack.com

Twitter by default will present posts using an algorithm. Things it thinks you will be more interested in, or that will generate more engagement, or that otherwise it decides on a whim to show you, will be shown to you. Things it disfavors will be dropped on the floor. This is no good. The biggest issues are: ​ It makes it impossible to follow things in real time. It makes it impossible to reliably see things you decide you want to see. It makes it impossible to know when you’re ‘done’ with new content. It makes it impossible to avoid seeing things more than once. It inserts random stuff you never asked for. Twitter’s website is fine for sending direct messages and chatting. It’s acceptable for checking individual profiles to see what they have to say and whether you want to include such a person in your information diet. It’s also fine for viewing an individual list. That’s another reason to emphasize lists over following people. However, for the purpose of following the people you follow, Twitter’s website is useless. You want to use something else. My choice has been Tweetdeck. Tweetdeck allows you to have lots of columns, one for people you follow, one for notifications and then any number of additional lists. Also it’s free. It is definitely not perfect. When I want to explore a particular Tweet or screenshot it, I still open a default Twitter window for that. So there is probably something out there that works better, and hopefully people will let me know about it in the comments. But Tweetdeck is easy to set up, easy to use, free and has served me well.​

Replying to your comment here, so that if this important contribution is deleted from the main forum as "off-topic" the discussion can continue.

Thank-you.

 

[Artful Dodger]

My position is that a build up from the metal/chip would be a best of class and revolutionary approach. Tesla builds their own systems and SW.

Twitter is someone’s else’s dog food. Dump it and start from fresh. The rough spots are clear.

Build in cyber defenses, build in StarLink support and authentication, build in currency transaction support and citizenship/voting authentication.

Eliminate as much deception as possible. Separate data and use probabilities rather than rhetoric to build community consensus building blocks.

The world needs a form of multi-factor authentication from orbit. Twitter hardly scratches the surface of the possible utility. This will be the model for Mars.

Go first principles and fix it in a durable fashion. Fixing Twitter is like fixing GM, better to just go straight to a vastly better solution than to try to drag the past into the future. YMMV

Replying to your comment here, so that if this important contribution is deleted from the main forum as "off-topic" the discussion can continue.

Thank-you.

x 2.

 

[Buckminster]

Not a fan of zerohedge as they are usually BS but this is funny

View attachment 793714

Goldman Sachs with their usual behavior.

Screen shot just for the record, just in case that unfortunate (for the Saudi bigwig) Tweet is deleted ..

View attachment 793719

And in case some aren't aware how tough (dangerous, too - remember the gruesome murder/ dismemberment probably while alive, of the journalist they didn't like... not counting more horrors they perpetrate in their own country w/ complete impunity) that response of Elon was .. from the BBC and elsewhere on YouTube

Not really relevant for HODLERs but next week fireworks promise to be wild, the Saudis will add their weight to the FUD over the weekend, and what else can be cooked for next week ??? Tesla's saga has to be the most entertaining show of all, real life, 24x7 tho in exact proportion to what the audience knows.

Edit: after market close, Elon going ballistic with a Twitter poll ( 85% YES) Note also the choice of the Twitter algos, Cowards - referrring to theTwitter board maybe? or reverse psych of Elon's approach, ballsy

View attachment 793732

Like some said .. ballsy indeed

View attachment 793733


View attachment 793726

If you are sincerely interested in how social media shapes society in profound ways, and how screwed up it currently is, then I recommend you read this recent essay on the subject:

Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid

It’s not just a phase.

www.theatlantic.com

It starts out a little slow but it's worth sticking to it. I'm not going to approve every single perspective presented but, for the most part it's on point and will help make sense of Elon's bid for Twitter and why this is so important for humanity. If you are the type of person who thinks anything longer than 280 characters is too long and deals with too many useless nuances, then this article will not be to your liking. If you want to understand the things shaping our world in profound ways, this is a very good read.

From a dollars and sense perspective, Elon's bid for Twitter is a no-brainer. He can see how they are floundering when they should be flourishing, how it has impacted the value of the company, and how easy it will be to fix it (relative to building a global world-class automotive manufacturing empire). I'm sure Elon sees a way to unlock tremendous value that has been blindly cast aside by current management in a misguided attempt to be politically correct and do what they believe is "the right thing".

Elon understands that not every action has the consequences one might expect because the world is a complex, nuanced place. The near certainty of financial success is not what's driving Elon, but it's what gives him the confidence to take bold moves with huge amounts of capital. The driving force is something deeper and more noble. Assuming this goes through, it will benefit humanity for decades at a minimum, probably centuries, by reforming social media as we know it. Social media is in its infancy, so now is a ripe time for reform.

edit: I see @betstarship and @Nocturnal have beat me to it!

 

[Chunky Jr.]

Apparently Twitter's board has unanimously passed a poison pill that prevents any shareholder from owning more than 15% of the company

 

[MikeC]

Apparently Twitter's board has unanimously passed a poison pill that prevents any shareholder from owning more than 15% of the company

Twitter Adopts Limited Duration Shareholder Rights Plan, Enabling All Shareholders to Realize Full Value of Company

/PRNewswire/ -- Twitter, Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) today announced that its Board of Directors has unanimously adopted a limited duration shareholder rights plan (the...

www.prnewswire.com

https://twitter.com/x/status/1515012173436637184

 

[drschwartz]

Twitter can run their company however they want. If they want to ban certain people, that's up to them. They do not have a duty to let anyone say anything they want. I am not supportive of Elon trying to open the floodgates to let that happen.

I tweeted him yesterday letting him know that, should he work to enable Trump to spew his lies and undermine US democracy, I will have bought my last Tesla. I'd encourage similarly-minded folks to do the same.

 

[azred]

I tweeted him yesterday letting him know that, should he work to enable Trump to spew his lies and undermine US democracy, I will have bought my last Tesla. I'd encourage similarly-minded folks to do the same.

Makes no sense.

I love my two Teslas and I certainly didn’t buy either one because I think Elon Musk is a swell guy personally nor a guy with moderate to liberal, political beliefs. I don’t like Trump either but seriously doubt he converts many people to his views by tweeting. It’s just another echo chamber like Fox News and other right wing media outlets.

As for future car purchases from companies that don’t help Trump, do you have any reason to believe most auto manufacturer CEO’s and board members don’t support Trump?

 

[Artful Dodger]

Apparently Twitter's board has unanimously passed a poison pill that prevents any shareholder from owning more than 15% of the company

Never Give Up, Twitter.

 

[advocate8]

Makes no sense.

I love my two Teslas and I certainly didn’t buy either one because I think Elon Musk is a swell guy personally nor a guy with moderate to liberal, political beliefs. I don’t like Trump either but seriously doubt he converts many people to his views by tweeting. It’s just another echo chamber like Fox News and other right wing media outlets.

As for future car purchases from companies that don’t help Trump, do you have any reason to believe most auto manufacturer CEO’s and board members don’t support Trump?

You say it’s just an echo chamber. So … it just isn’t important at all, right?
The other auto company execs may well be supporters of one specific politician ….but they don’t run around braying it’s because they have a fiduciary adult responsibility to shareholders and there is zero for them or the world to gain from it.
The world would be a lot better off if more people didn’t shout their politics from rooftops.

And his responsibility to grow up and drop this distracting childish Twitter BS is even greater than theirs because he’s one of a handful of people getting the right things done.

The point is he would be loudly identifying with something at least half of his potential customer base funds repugnant and Teslas would then become more identified with a certain tribe, and members of the other tribe wouldn’t be caught dead in one any more than they would wear a red ball cap.
You and I may not like it but that is fact and that is how the world works now.

In other words this Twitter BS is corrosive to the mission of reducing the world’s carbon output.

He needs to decide what is more important, saving the planet or posting a bunch of junior high school 420 and 69 jokes, Doge references and photos of rockets lit to look especially phallic.

 

[3Volts2aTes]

I tweeted him yesterday letting him know that, should he work to enable Trump to spew his lies and undermine US democracy, I will have bought my last Tesla. I'd encourage similarly-minded folks to do the same.

Yeah…I’m sure Elon is concerned, and Ford will happily sell you a car.

 

[father_of_6]

I tweeted him yesterday letting him know that, should he work to enable Trump to spew his lies and undermine US democracy, I will have bought my last Tesla. I'd encourage similarly-minded folks to do the same.

I'm in favor of Trump getting his account back. Twitter shouldn't go around banning comedians just because they don't like his jokes.

"Woke" is exhausting, makes me wanna go back to sleep.

 

[Artful Dodger]

Attention:

• Elon doesn't want a sustainable energy future; he just started Tesla to get attention.
• Elon doesn't want a civilization on Mars; he just started SpaceX to get attention.
• Elon doesn't want Democracy; he just sent Starlink to Ukraine to get attention.
• Elon doesn't want to cure paralysis; he just started Neuralink to get attention.
• Elon doesn't want to end traffic jams; he just started Boring to get attention.
• Elon doesn't want Free Speech; he's just buying Twitter to get attention.

Or 50 other selfless acts. Pick your favorite.

/Attention

 

[Buckminster]

We can all agree that human nature has limitations. But I'm willing to consider the possibility that smart rules and engineering can handle those limitations better than Twitter currently does.

Traffic lights prevent a lot of accidents from selfish humans trying to drive home fast.


Elon already mentioned in his TED talk several fixes to make Twitter more trusted and effective:
1) an Edit button that deletes all Likes and Retweets of the edited tweet
2) open-sourcing the algorithm, such as posting it on GitHub

But I don't "expect him to come up with fixes" all by himself. Elon recruits the finest minds in the world to work for him.

 

[Buckminster]

All TWTR related:

 

[father_of_6]

Couldn't Elon already have more than 50% of the shares? And if so, would the "poison pill" still apply? (retroactively?)

It's interesting to watch, regardless of what happens.

 

[mongo]

I think most of us here are very grateful that Elon's plan to take Tesla private at $420/share never materialized. There must be many Twitter shareholders who feel similarly. My feelings won't be hurt in the slightest if this Twitter obsession of Elon's is simply a passing fad.

Yah, but $420 was also above the all time high.
Versus says an $1,100 offer for Tesla today.

 

[SmokyPeat]

Yah, but $420 was also above the all time high.
Versus says an $1,100 offer for Tesla today.

Exactly. Many Tesla (and I assume Twitter) shareholders are more interested in the long term investment than making a quick buck in the short term. I guess a Twitter shareholder vote in which Elon abstained from voting would be illuminating.

 

[3Volts2aTes]

And his responsibility to grow up and drop this distracting childish Twitter BS is even greater than theirs because he’s one of a handful of people getting the right things done.

Hmmm….I am not sure Elon needs to act responsibly - your view of it - or stop acting as you see childish. He seems to be quite successful without bending to the whims of the type people that feel tweeting him they won’t buy a product is a productive thing. Good grief…do we really want to talk about childish?