Posted on Oct 7, 2022
Here's what Elon Musk will likely do with Twitter if he buys it
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https://www.npr.org/2022/10/07/ [login to see] /heres-what-elon-musk-will-likely-do-with-twitter-if-he-buys-it
On Thursday, a judge gave Musk and Twitter until Oct. 28 to close their deal, end a bitter months-long legal fight and avoid a high-profile trial. While there's no certainty Musk may not have another change of heart, if he does assume control of Twitter, what would that look like? He has given hints but also left plenty of questions unanswered.
On Thursday, a judge gave Musk and Twitter until Oct. 28 to close their deal, end a bitter months-long legal fight and avoid a high-profile trial. While there's no certainty Musk may not have another change of heart, if he does assume control of Twitter, what would that look like? He has given hints but also left plenty of questions unanswered.
Here's what Elon Musk will likely do with Twitter if he buys it
Posted from npr.org
Posted >1 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."An "everything" app?
Costs and staff cuts are only two pieces of the equation. In the spring, Musk pitched investors that he would quintuple Twitter's annual revenue to $26.4 billion by 2028 and attract 931 million users by that same year, up from 217 million at the end of 2021, according to an investor presentation obtained by The New York Times.
Today, Twitter makes nearly all its money from advertising, but Musk wants to shift away from that business model to making money from charging users subscription fees, licensing data and building out a payments business, according to the presentation.
He may have little choice other than to find alternate sources of revenue besides advertising, given the weak state of the digital ad market and the changes he wants to make to content moderation.
"Advertisers want to know that their ads are not going to appear alongside extremists, that they're not going to be subsidizing or associating with the types of things that would turn off potential customers," Carusone said.
This week, after Musk said he wanted to go ahead with the deal after all, he tweeted, "Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app."
What exactly he meant is, as always, anyone's guess. But this summer, Musk told Twitter staff that the company should emulate WeChat, the Chinese "super-app" that combines social media, messaging, payments, shopping, ride-hailing — basically, anything you might use your phone to do.
"You basically live on WeChat in China," Musk said in June. "If we can re-create that with Twitter, we'll be a great success."
Other American tech companies, including Facebook and Uber, have tried this strategy, but so far Chinese-style super-apps haven't caught on in the United States.
But Musk is optimistic. "Twitter probably accelerates X by 3 to 5 years," he tweeted, "but I could be wrong."
..."An "everything" app?
Costs and staff cuts are only two pieces of the equation. In the spring, Musk pitched investors that he would quintuple Twitter's annual revenue to $26.4 billion by 2028 and attract 931 million users by that same year, up from 217 million at the end of 2021, according to an investor presentation obtained by The New York Times.
Today, Twitter makes nearly all its money from advertising, but Musk wants to shift away from that business model to making money from charging users subscription fees, licensing data and building out a payments business, according to the presentation.
He may have little choice other than to find alternate sources of revenue besides advertising, given the weak state of the digital ad market and the changes he wants to make to content moderation.
"Advertisers want to know that their ads are not going to appear alongside extremists, that they're not going to be subsidizing or associating with the types of things that would turn off potential customers," Carusone said.
This week, after Musk said he wanted to go ahead with the deal after all, he tweeted, "Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app."
What exactly he meant is, as always, anyone's guess. But this summer, Musk told Twitter staff that the company should emulate WeChat, the Chinese "super-app" that combines social media, messaging, payments, shopping, ride-hailing — basically, anything you might use your phone to do.
"You basically live on WeChat in China," Musk said in June. "If we can re-create that with Twitter, we'll be a great success."
Other American tech companies, including Facebook and Uber, have tried this strategy, but so far Chinese-style super-apps haven't caught on in the United States.
But Musk is optimistic. "Twitter probably accelerates X by 3 to 5 years," he tweeted, "but I could be wrong."
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