The Twitter Apocalypse

Ok, maybe apocalypse is over-dramatic (or is it? ?).

So, Elon Musk has completed his deal to acquire Twitter and over the past week he’s already fired senior executives and half of their 7,500 staff.

It’s complete chaos in Twitter-land.

But, I want to take a step back and share some thoughts & comments on what’s happening with Twitter:

But First…

Let’s get some limiting beliefs out of the way first eh?

You either love Musk or hate him.

Either one is ok.

I believe in his long term vision and he has a proven track record in creating and/or turning a business around.

He acquired Tesla and turned it into one of the most dominant EV players in the world and he’s managed to create a profitable space company, SpaceX, (something few have done before).

But, I don’t agree with everything he says nor does. I don’t fanboy over everything he tweets or does.

Before Elon…

Truth is, Twitter has been languishing near the bottom in terms of performance compared to the likes of Facebook (Meta), TikTok, instagram and LinkedIn.

Twitter is like that friend with so much innate potential but just can’t put it together to succeed only to flutter around aimlessly.

When former Twitter CEO & Founder, Jack Dorsey, was ousted from his role, it was a long-time coming as shareholders were unhappy with his lack of direction and considering he was really only a part-time CEO.

The Positives

There’s no denying, Twitter has been a popular AND effective medium for many creators, writers and journalists.

Getting almost real-time news and coverage of events around the world is an amazing thing to behold.

Creators credit being on Twitter for garnering large AND engaged audiences and building entire businesses solely off the Twitter platform.

Warning Signs

Elon’s tentative idea of charging $8/month for the blue verified check is worrying because anyone on Twitter knows it’s not something that should be a paid feature and would destroy any credibility an account with a blue-check has.

Elon has stated he wants to “free” Twitter in terms of free speech, although he has tempered that with supposedly ensuring it’s not a platform for hate speech. 

I’m not sure where this could go but just those two elements above make me worried about the platform’s future viability.

Wait and See

Right now, I think it’s too early in his acquisition to know where things are going to go.

I see creators and writers already jumping ship simply based on the fact Elon Musk has taken over despite the fact, the majority of their audience and business is heavily reliant on that one platform.

That’s a bit silly and a knee-jerk reaction in my mind, but I hope they are ones who have already moved their audience onto an email list instead of hoping people start following them on Instagram or some other channel.

What Can We Learn From This?

What’s happening at Twitter could happen to any one of the major social media platforms. (Look at what happened to OnlyFans when initially announced cutting off adult-themed creators which accounted for most of their business).

Some lessons I can take away (rather it reinforces what I already know) from this so far:

• Use social platforms as discovery channels, but ALWAYS push your audience to an email list (or some kind of platform you have more control over, I can’t think of anything better than email)
• Don’t “build” an entire business that’s solely reliant on any ONE platform. Look at those who built on Facebook or Instagram only to be decimated by a change in algorithm or having an account suspended with no recourse.
• Learn and use foundational & evergreen strategies that you can apply to ANY platform. Anyone who created a course sharing  platform-specific tactics or those following platform-specific tactics will find all that content to be obsolete overnight.

Ok, I will get off my soapbox now.

This was a longer post than I had planned.