Elon & Twitter

[JRP3]

Patently false. Many MANY on the right left twitter after Elon's ban. There is roundabout data to support this, because after Elon announced he was buying Twitter, the number of followers for many GOP politicians increased on a daily basis 20-30X more per day than their normal daily gain.

GOP politicians attribute it to Twitter turning off shadow bans, but I think it is more likely that people on the right decided to give the platform a re-look.

Not sure anecdotal accounts make my claim patently false since there is obviously some question as to what is really happening. I never said no conservatives left the platform. Can you show me on this chart where they all left?

X/Twitter global mDAU 2022 | Statista

In the second quarter of 2022, the number of global monetizable daily active users (mDAU) on Twitter amounted to just under 240 million users.

www.statista.com

 

[jabloomf1230]

98 percent of the people who read his stuff wouldn’t bother to check who he was. do you do that with people you skim on Twitter?

Although you are probably correct, what's your point? That social media users are mindless sheep? If that's true, then nothing Elon will implement will make any difference at Twitter. All you are saying is that if the extreme elements are blocked, then the drooling minions will only be influenced by middle of the road opinions. Is that better than having a wide range of ideas presented?

I only follow 8 accounts presently on Twitter and 6 of them are verified. The other two are Chuck Cook and greentheonly. I follow no politicians, athletes or celebrities.

 

[ohmman]

That social media users are mindless sheep?

Human beings, not social media users specifically. And not mindless sheep, but easily guided. That's why advertising is a $800B industry. It's why economists like Richard Thaler have been able to find ways to "nudge" humans into doing what we wouldn't have chosen otherwise. Read Danny Kahneman's work, among others, and it's clear that unfettered free will is about as mythological as unfettered free speech.

 

[mtndrew1]

I have yet to see any evidence that Elon buying Twitter is anything but a huge distraction with little to no benefit for Tesla, SpaceX, or Boring.

What a waste of bandwidth.

 

[Big Dog]

Biden doesn't think it's a problem, in fact he's counting on Elon Musk to bring Trump back on twitter, in order to help democrats win midterm:

Bidenworld wants to make the midterms more about Trump and hopes Elon Musk helps

The election will be either a referendum or a contrast. The president’s team prefers the latter.

www.politico.com

IMO, it's unlikely this deal gets the necessary approvals by November (see all the regulatory challenges underway), so unless the current managers want to change the ban rules, Trump will be off until after the mid-terms.

 

[goin2drt]

IMO, it's unlikely this deal gets the necessary approvals by November (see all the regulatory challenges underway), so unless the current managers want to change the ban rules, Trump will be off until after the mid-terms.

Perfect and that is what the right wants. Without him on Twitter the left will get destroyed and will be crying in their soup as the saying goes.

 

[ZenRockGarden]

Perfect and that is what the right wants. Without him on Twitter the left will get destroyed and will be crying in their soup as the saying goes.

I have the opposite perspective. With Trump off twitter, only the far right is even listening to him. This means he will largely influence the republican primaries - bringing more extreme candidates to the full election and if anything hurting overall GOP success.

Trump is a counter-puncher. Isolating him to the far right echo-chamber means he's mostly throwing blows at more moderate, reasonable, competent republicans.

 

[advocate8]

Although you are probably correct, what's your point? That social media users are mindless sheep? If that's true, then nothing Elon will implement will make any difference at Twitter. All you are saying is that if the extreme elements are blocked, then the drooling minions will only be influenced by middle of the road opinions. Is that better than having a wide range of ideas presented?

I only follow 8 accounts presently on Twitter and 6 of them are verified. The other two are Chuck Cook and greentheonly. I follow no politicians, athletes or celebrities.

Every day I read tweets by people weighing in on discussions ... people I dont follow. This apparent shill for Russia is essentially a live bot for Putin and doesn’t need to be allowed to participate in discussions. He’s not sharing ideas, he’s engaged in manipulation. The difference between those things is of course nigh on impossible to discern and Elon is not going to be able to do a better job than the current crowd.

 

[Dave EV]

Elon addressed the "permanent banning" of Trump and anyone else VERY clearly yesterday in his FT interview. If you haven't watched it, you should watch it.

Basically, he stated that permanent bans should not exist, except for bots and spammers. Trump's ban should not have happened because all it did was "give Trump a larger voice" after the ban, and energize and polarize further his base.

Those here that think Elon doesn't understand the nuances of social media I guess haven't seen that interview and realized Elon appears to have put a LOT of thought into this.


My only question to Elon remains: "How can I invest?"

I have yet to find any half-way decent social media site that does not eventually permanently ban people for repeatedly violating the TOU of the platform.

I don't see any reason why Twitter should be any different. How many strikes should a person get? Perhaps you just get longer and longer timeouts for each violation?

I don't care much either way whether or not Trump is allowed back on the platform - I do think that bringing him back will hurt his brand more than help among the general public.

I do care that rules are enforced for ALL users equally. That said - I also think that there is a big difference between someone with 100M followers saying something and someone with 1000 followers saying something. The volume at which things are said have a big effect and so far, I haven't seen Elon acknowledge this.

Someone yelling fire in a jam-packed, crowded theater is a LOT different than someone yelling fire in an empty theater.

Patently false. Many MANY on the right left twitter after Elon's ban. There is roundabout data to support this, because after Elon announced he was buying Twitter, the number of followers for many GOP politicians increased on a daily basis 20-30X more per day than their normal daily gain.

GOP politicians attribute it to Twitter turning off shadow bans, but I think it is more likely that people on the right decided to give the platform a re-look.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1520852480762028033

I think your latter assumption is probably more accurate (just more interest), but I would also be interested to see how politicians on the left saw their follower account change. Was it just growth in the platform as a whole, or was it biased to one side or the other. I'm sure the data is out there.

Also - how many of those followers are actually real people and not just bots jumping on the bandwagon?

 

[FlatSix911]

It may be tough sledding for some Twitter employees going forward... the slacker holiday is over.

Elon will bring the same hyper focus and discipline expected of employees at Tesla and SpaceX.

Elon Musk Says “Expectations” Of Twitter Employees Will Be “Extreme” Following Takeover

Elon Musk took to Twitter on Friday to warn that his expectations of Twitter employees will be "extreme" when the acquisition is complete.

deadline.com

 

[Big Dog]

Perfect and that is what the right wants. Without him on Twitter the left will get destroyed and will be crying in their soup as the saying goes.

And the irony is that it will be the leftist regulators in DC who will cause most of the delays. All kinds of demands for FTC, FCC and other regulatory agencies to weigh in.

 

[goin2drt]

And the irony is that it will be the leftist regulators in DC who will cause most of the delays. All kinds of demands for FTC, FCC and other regulatory agencies to weigh in.

Well that is because the corruption that is hiding behind the left media censorship will soon be free to fly like a blue bird and they are in fear of the “truth”.

 

[goin2drt]

I just wanted to make another post that @9837264723849 can disagree with

He/she (maybe it) hates all my posts but hides behind a number without actually sharing his/her vast wisdom that they have I am sure.

 

[JRP3]

I just wanted to make another post that @9837264723849 can disagree with

He/she (maybe it) hates all my posts but hides behind a number, limited account without actually sharing his/her vast wisdom that they have I am sure.

Maybe if you posted something of substance instead of partisan nonsense. And somehow I don't think goin2drt is your legal name...

 

[JRP3]

Musk's delay in disclosing Twitter stake triggers SEC probe - WSJ

Musk disclosed a 9.2% stake in Twitter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 4, a delay of at least 10 days since surpassing the 5% threshold for revealing a shareholding, the report said. An investor who crosses a 5% stake must file a form with the SEC within 10 days.

finance.yahoo.com

 

[mspohr]

This is why I don't read Twitter.... And why Twitter can't be "improved"

Hate mail and death threats: how the right wrecked one man’s life for its culture war | Aditya Chakrabortty

Matthew Katzman was forced out of the UK after he was accused of ‘cancelling the Queen’. For pundits and politicians, it was all just lucrative fun, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

www.theguardian.com

It is often said that the challenge for progressive politicians and activists in this country is to play the media game. To eat that bacon sandwich more elegantly, or ditch that donkey jacket. To sound reasonable and put on a shirt and tie. But the moral of Katzman’s tale is that one can be blameless – and if the right want to find blame, they will. A computing whiz-kid at a top university – how much better does it get? A top student looking after others amid the trauma of lockdown. None of it counts in your favour, if the press don’t favour you.

Katzman still thinks about what happened most days, and it fills him with rage. The dishonesty with which the press and ministers presented him; their disinterest in finding out what actually happened. All that hot air about English fair play counted for nothing and all those venerable institutions failed him.

 

[FlatSix911]

Don't mess with the Queen!

 

[_Redshift_]

Actually, he didn’t ‘mess with the Queen’, it was a canard cooked up by the right.

Even if he did, why were those shouting their support for ‘free speech’ not coming to this poor man’s help?

Guess we will only hear crickets from the free speech folks now.

 

[FlatSix911]

He just keeps getting better... the truth will set you free!

 

[ohmman]

He just keeps getting better... the truth will set you free!

View attachment 803392

Which is why unmoderated twitter will be comprised entirely of the bottom group. AKA 4chan.

The meme is a graphical version of what I said a few days ago:

Humans are moved more by storytelling than they are by facts. We are moved more by outrage than we are by simple information. The idea of humans as rational actors in economics and psychology has long been abandoned, so the concept that we'd pick only the most accurate news to "tip" seems very unlikely. Humans would pick the most compelling and emotion-inducing articles and those would rise to the top. The incentives for journalists would be to create more of these. People like Alex Jones have been able to profit off of this particular combination for years. A platform without guardrails would result in a lot of Alex Jones types across all subsets of political and ideological views. I seriously doubt it would incentivize long form, multi-reporter investigative journalism that may or may not pay off. The financial model would certainly be much more lucrative for spewers of emotion-inducing nonsense.