It is a market system: you win some, you lose some. But just make sure that you win most of the time. It is looking like Musk will waste more than 50% of Nigeria’s annual budget on Twitter; he paid $44 billion and the business is now worth $20 billion, as revenue continues to drop. Yet, I posit that Twitter will be a great company in the near future. It has no competitor in its category, and because of that, it will find a way to make money. Indeed, category-king companies always do.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk has put the current value of Twitter at $20 billion, less than half of the $44 billion he paid for the social media platform late last year.
The current value of the social media platform was disclosed by Musk through an internal email seen by American news media.
According to reports, the email to employees addressed issues of Twitter stock compensation program and the attribution to employees of stock in X Holdings, the microblogging app umbrella company since Musk purchased it in late October.
The valuation of the platform in the compensation plan is $20 billion, which is slightly higher than that of publicly traded companies such as Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, valued at $18.2 billion, and the social network and creative website Pinterest, valued at $18.7 billion. Notably, Twitter is not publicly traded unlike these two companies.
The challenge for Musk is this: how to avoid scoring own-goals which may annoy people and advertisers to leave the platform. And part of it comes down to how he treats his people and the ecosystem. In this beautiful America, despite all the free markets and individual liberty which are preached by conservatives, the fact remains that LIBERALS dominate economically.
In the ranking of the top 20 universities in America, more than 15 are possibly in democratic CITIES (I did not say states). In the chronicle of America’s largest cities, more than 70% are democratic cities. In short, when you get into a Republican enclave like Texas, check their highest ranked university, it is possibly in one blue city island (here, Austin Texas). From airports to anything, America’s wealth is in blue cities or islands. Check it: more blue cities host more Fortune 500 than red cities.
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Where am I going? The largest American companies and those who are potential Twitter advertisers are largely headquartered in blue cities, and they share some of their values. In other words, big money America is blue in its DNA. Not understanding that fact will alienate them. Musk must modulate how he annoys those liberals (people and firms) if he wants to keep them and monetize them on Twitter!
The Twitter evolution
There is a big redesign: “In order to fight off “AI bot swarms,” Twitter CEO Elon Musk says that from April 15th, only tweets from verified users will show up in the platform’s “For you” feed. Users will need to subscribe to Twitter Blue, which costs around $11 a month, to be verified by April 1st, when free legacy blue checks end. Musk added that only verified users will be able to vote in polls. Yet, some celebrities and Twitter household names have scoffed at paying: Monica Lewinsky shared a paid verified account impersonating her, while William Shatner pointed out that he’s been providing content on the platform for years for free. The “For you” tab shows recommended tweets based on Twitter’s algorithm, instead of only from those you follow. It’s worth noting that Musk has a history of tweeting changes to the platform that don’t end up happening”.
Read well, this is a request to pay for the checkers. In other words, all posts are not the same: the verified person has an edge.
Comment on Feeds
Comment 1: You are right that Elon Musk faces a significant challenge in avoiding own goals that may alienate people and advertisers on his platforms. As a public figure, Musk’s actions and statements can have a significant impact on public opinion and the perception of his companies.
To avoid scoring own goals, Musk can take several measures: Think before tweeting: Musk is known for his active presence on social media, particularly Twitter. However, he should take the time to think carefully about his tweets and their potential impact before hitting the send button.
Listen to feedback: Musk should be open to feedback from his followers and take their concerns and criticisms seriously. This can help him avoid making mistakes that may offend or alienate people.
Keep a professional tone: Musk should maintain a professional tone in his public statements and interactions. This can help him avoid making off-the-cuff remarks that may be misinterpreted or taken out of context.
Be transparent: Musk should be transparent about his company’s policies and decision-making processes. This can help build trust with users and advertisers and reduce the likelihood of misunderstandings.
Apologize when necessary: If Musk makes a mistake or says something offensive, he should be willing to apologize and take corrective action. This can help to mitigate the damage caused by any missteps.
In conclusion, to avoid scoring own goals that may annoy people and advertisers, Musk should think before tweeting, listen to feedback, maintain a professional tone, be transparent, and apologize when necessary. By taking these measures, he can help build a positive reputation for himself and his companies.
Comment 2: Prof, the places you mentioned were mostly republican cities that later turned blue. For instance, California used to be Republican and even New York. New York almost turned red in the last mid term elections but for the money bags.
Again, some of the Universities were also conservative until recently…
My questions:
From the perspective of policy, whose policy (Republican or Democrat) do you think catalyzed those economic growth?
What role do you think immigration played in turning those cities blue? I suspect a fowl play in this regard..
The economy is not looking good in the hands of the blue guys and the mistakes are obvious. All one needs to understand why the economy is wobbling is high school economics. Do you think the blues are really economic giants or hijackers or giant economies…
Finally, the use of race to emotionally influence voters seems to favor the blue guys. Do you think America is not being blackmailed by the blue guys to stay on to power?
Should Elon Musk do the right things or simply do what they want him to do so as to grow revenue from adverts?
My Response: I only shared data and in the last 30 years, blue has outperformed red on per capita income in the US. Elon moved Tesla HQ to Texas. In a few months, he relocated it back to California. The irony is this: without blue states, especially California, his Tesla business would have done well. California’s tough environmental regulation and emission mandate are the reasons Tesla is viable. And liberals who believe in climate change are the highest buyers of his car.
Then he moved to a space where most people do not believe in EV cars (I said he was not reading perception well). Magically, in the car pack, everyone came with petrol cars because the whole EV car idea is a liberal agenda. It took him months to understand why HQ’ing EV cars in a red city makes no sense.
My point is this: Musk can live his dream but respect is key. When he was leaving CA to TX, he said many things about California and the leaders. Interestingly, he returned back https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/02/22/tesla-engineering-headquarters-will-open-in-california-musk-announces/
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I think the more objective way of looking at the divide is to say Knowledge/Services based economy tends Blue, while Production/Manufacturing based economy tends Red, and giving that the former dominates today’s economic climate, it’s obvious why the blue cities are dominant.
What I think Twitter should do is to build its primary revenue source on subscription construct, while advertising becomes secondary, other services can be incorporated as well.
With this arrangement, it will be able to grow a progressive and predictable revenue model with less drama. If it grows to have 30 million regular paying subscribers, it could become a money spinner.
Twitter still holds a great promise, it’s not broken as often painted, it just needs to focus on its key objectives and continue to power onward from there.