Twitter fallout

[Aimless]

At the moment, it looks like Twitter is going to crash and burn. What'll be the fallout?

I don't know enough about the deal to understand possible implications for Musk's other ventures, but obv. tsla stock has taken a hit.

Given the recent announcements about dubious terminations and forced return to office for remaining employees, we're probably looking at protracted lawsuits.

The layoffs combined with asinine feature rollouts have probably greatly increased the risk of a massive security breach, with unforeseeable consequences (leaks of sensitive personal info from both Twitter and other sites, identity theft, etc). Several very senior employees have reportedly resigned and lawyered up in anticipation of such breaches.

Dissidents in totalitarian countries—and their collaborators abroad—are probably at greater risk of being identified and retaliated against.

Academics in my network seem to have migrated en masse to Mastodon, which means I'm not being exposed to as many interesting papers and ideas, and I expect it'll be a long while before young academics are able to rebuild a comparable global academic forum.

Biden has indicated that there may be reason for the govt to look into this mess.

[Steely Glint]

We might have to go back to linking news articles, like cavemen.

[Aimless]

Don't worry wraith can code a Mastodon plugin now that he's retired

[Lewkowski]

At the moment, it looks like Twitter is going to crash and burn. What'll be the fallout?

I don't know enough about the deal to understand possible implications for Musk's other ventures, but obv. tsla stock has taken a hit.

Given the recent announcements about dubious terminations and forced return to office for remaining employees, we're probably looking at protracted lawsuits.

The layoffs combined with asinine feature rollouts have probably greatly increased the risk of a massive security breach, with unforeseeable consequences (leaks of sensitive personal info from both Twitter and other sites, identity theft, etc). Several very senior employees have reportedly resigned and lawyered up in anticipation of such breaches.

Dissidents in totalitarian countries—and their collaborators abroad—are probably at greater risk of being identified and retaliated against.

Academics in my network seem to have migrated en masse to Mastodon, which means I'm not being exposed to as many interesting papers and ideas, and I expect it'll be a long while before young academics are able to rebuild a comparable global academic forum.

Biden has indicated that there may be reason for the govt to look into this mess.

According to Elon twitter usage is up, TSLA stock is down due to Elon unloading a shit ton of shares.

[LittleFuzzy]

Lewk, has it occurred to you that Musk might not be an entirely reliable narrator?

I really don't know if usage is up or down, or if profitability is up or down or anything else. I do know that a brand new owner, CEO, etc. is not a good source for accurate data. They're a source for data they think will support their bottom-line/stock-price. Do you think I pay attention to the CEO of my company when she's talking about how great we're doing? I do not.

[Steely Glint]

If Twitter just ends up hermoaging so much money becomes financially unviable then probably just get brought out by Microsoft or Google or someone, it's a platform with 400m users, it's not just going to disappear into the ether while it still has an audience and some kind of functional product.

OTOH if Ol' Musky ends up damaging the user experience to such an extent that people move to another platform, then we might be looking at the end of Twitter. I'm not convinced Mastadon is a viable successor, it looks like it's too much of a PTA to set up to reach mass adoption in the way Twitter did.

[Loki]

According to Elon twitter usage is up, TSLA stock is down due to Elon unloading a shit ton of shares.

The number of users is down. Look at just about anyone's follower counts. Engagement might be up, but that's because of an influx of trolls and the midterms.

[Hazir]

Social Media platforms die. No reason why Twitter couldn't be one of them. I struggle to understand why people think Musk is such a business genius. The string of bad decisions seems to have no end.

The man seems to think people appreciate being talked down to like village idiots. I think it's telling even with the massive lay-off, there are still people resigning.

[Flixy]

To be fair, in my experience, it's pretty normal that people resign alongside layoffs, happened each time I was in a reorganisation as well. Workplace atmosphere is bad, company future doesn't look great, so not a bad time to look for greener pastures. Add to that Musk actively making the working conditions shittier..

But yeah, do agree that Musk seems to be just doing a string of bad decisions and doubling down on them. I wouldn't be surprised if he runs Twitter into the ground, although at this point it can still be salvaged. But I'm not a Twitter user anyway, so hard for me to judge what makes people leave.

[Ominous Gamer]

The whole blue check mark thing has driven harassment way up, and Elon admitted yesterday that bankruptcy is on the table.

Honestly doesn't matter how big the site is, once the hemorrhaging begins that's it. Just look at Digg, what used to be the front page of the internet collapsed overnight due to poor management.

[Aimless]

my favorite part of this:

Twitter Link

[Aimless]

This incredible development is for Fuzzy:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...for-ftc-lapses

[Ominous Gamer]

So Twitter axed it's entire communications department.

[Ominous Gamer]

So Twitter axed it's entire communications department.

This apparently also means their official gaming account is now dark. A million+ followers and gaming accounts for something like 10% of all Twitter activity.

[LittleFuzzy]

This apparently also means their official gaming account is now dark. A million+ followers and gaming accounts for something like 10% of all Twitter activity.

But how much revenue had it brought in in the five days between Musk taking over and it getting removed, huh? If you're not a high performer, you don't make the cut!

[Hazir]

To be fair, in my experience, it's pretty normal that people resign alongside layoffs, happened each time I was in a reorganisation as well. Workplace atmosphere is bad, company future doesn't look great, so not a bad time to look for greener pastures. Add to that Musk actively making the working conditions shittier..

But yeah, do agree that Musk seems to be just doing a string of bad decisions and doubling down on them. I wouldn't be surprised if he runs Twitter into the ground, although at this point it can still be salvaged. But I'm not a Twitter user anyway, so hard for me to judge what makes people leave.

Some resignations appear to be connected with people in high places not being willing to be caught holding the buckets of shit 'the man who sends rockets into space' is creating.

[wiggin]

My understanding is that Musk has very little to do with the day to day operations of SpaceX, which is probably why it appears to function.

[Flixy]

So it seems like offering employees a choice between 3 months of severance vs working 'hardcore' and massive overtime is not such a great business idea, who would've guessed.

My understanding is that Musk has very little to do with the day to day operations of SpaceX, which is probably why it appears to function.

Probably also helps that working on rockets is inherently more motivating to engineers than Twitter. It's pretty cool to be a rocket scientist.

[Aimless]

Plenty motivating to work on a system like Twitter, but those engineers can also get jobs at any number of other companies that aren't undergoing a spectacular catastrophe that has made productive work impossible. Many of them have no choice but to find another job b/c of the sudden revocation of WFH privileges. People on worker visas are a bit stuck for the time being, but I pretty much every other engineer, designer, etc to jump ship. Will be interesting to see the legal fallout. Has been fascinating to see how gracefully the site's functionality has degraded—testament to good engineering.

It's a slightly melancholy time. Around 10% of my network has tentatively begun to use Mastodon, and it's definitely much worse wrt not only enjoyment but also wrt networking, organization, and exposure to new ideas. Don't really see that changing, both due to its structure & philosophy as well as the weird-ass culture on many instances. So I'm hoping Twitter engineers will launch a functional competitor soon

Hope someone rescues the basilisk in the basement before Musk kills it.

[Steely Glint]

I hope the silver lining of all this is that it finally puts to bed the myth of the special big brained genius-billionaire-founder-investor.

[Ominous Gamer]

It won't, people have been blowing the horn on musk for years.

[Lewkowski]

Babylon Bee and Jordan Peterson are back!

[GGT]

Funniest analogy I've seen -- It's like a car running at full speed with the lights off and the driver jumps out, letting it coast until it crashes and burns. Tesla-adjacent. lol

Between this mess and FTX it's disgusting to see billionaire 'tech bros' blow thru so much money. Plus how they managed to get bank loans and Venture Capital funds and advertising/marketing money based on greed or FOMO. Something is wrong with how these platforms are valuated when risk analysis and due diligence flies out the window in favor of *move fast & break things*.

[Flixy]

So Musk has banned the account tracking his private plane after saying he wouldn't one month ago (so much for being a 'champion of free speech'), is not paying rent for his office, and doesn't want to pay severance packages. He truly seems to be one of the most incompetent CEOs.

[Aimless]

So Musk has banned the account tracking his private plane after saying he wouldn't one month ago (so much for being a 'champion of free speech'), is not paying rent for his office, and doesn't want to pay severance packages. He truly seems to be one of the most incompetent CEOs.

Just gonna sit there reading his exes' & kids' DMs, getting madder and weirder

[Being]

And you all are just fine with the US government allowing him to get personally involved in a war that could lead to nuclear consequences. Idiots.

[Aimless]

And you all are just fine with the US government allowing him to get personally involved in a war that could lead to nuclear consequences. Idiots.

[Being]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...o-ukraine-plea

Nice

I hope he got permission from the US government. Talk about possible international repercussions because of one individual citizen making decisions to interfere with a war that is not even on his soil. Dangerous is a more appropriate description if it is not sanctioned by our government.

edit: Lewk, if Musk pisses off Putin to the point he launches nukes, do you think he will try to single out Musk with those nukes?

Starts middle of page 4 in this thread...

http://theworldforgotten.com/showthr...?t=7955&page=4

[Steely Glint]

Why would you remind people of the time you posted that? If I'd posted that, it would become one of those memories of embarrassing moments that pop in your brain at like 2am when you're trying to sleep.

[Steely Glint]

is not paying rent for his office, and doesn't want to pay severance packages

I work for a small company that does a lot of B2B stuff and so I've seen a few few companies come and go, fail and succeed, over the years, and I have to say based on my experience, this is an absolutely fantastic sign. Bullish on Elon's Twitter.