Tomorrow will almost certainly mark the beginning of a new era on Twitter. But if you follow Elon Musk, it looks like we’ve already started off unofficially.
The key moment was when Musk appeared at Twitter headquarters in San Francisco with a smile, a porcelain bathroom sink (of all things), and ready to post.
Which he did with seven short words just before noon local time: “While entering Twitter HQ, let it sink in!
Before continuing to define Musk and ‘heavy Twitterer,’ I should mention that I am largely agnostic about Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, which is expected to be completed tomorrow based on funding terms and Delaware court schedules. hopefully. Highly likely, where Twitter sought to compel Musk. Complete the given deal at $54.20 per share.
As such, I am not taking a position about whether Musk’s leadership will be good or bad: for the company, or for society at large. how could I know?
Besides, I probably spend too much time on Twitter anyway. Apparently enough by Twitter’s own research staff to be considered a heavy tweeter, as we’ll see whether the Musk-owned version of Twitter is MySpace or Tumblr que sera sera. leads the way.
Yet Musk faces strong headwinds in trying to impose his vision on Twitter, especially with Tesla, SpaceX and whatever else is going on simultaneously.
Thus I think it would be instructive to see how Musk’s symbolic acts, such as making a dramatic but kind of silly gesture and asking the staff to take it out that he is now in charge, could be so powerful.
Elon Musk’s Plan for Twitter Let’s take a brief moment to set the context of what we know about Musk’s plans. First, as he said at Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting in August, he’s all set to launch the app. Let’s hope Twitter will be used as the basis for what most people think will become the Western version of the WeChat app widespread in China.
There are reports that Musk plans to reduce Twitter’s payroll by about 75 percent: While meeting with some Twitter employees at a coffee shop within Twitter headquarters on Wednesday, from 7,500 employees to about 2,000 now, Musk reportedly said. As stated. That they don’t know where that number came from.
According to reports, Twitter says that it is bleeding its most engaged users. As CNBC reports, Twitter said in an internal document that heavy tweeters, which account for barely 10 percent of the total but who generate 90 percent of tweets and half of global revenue, are in absolute decline since the pandemic.
Well heavy tweeters are defined as people who log into Twitter almost every day and who tweet 3 to 4 times per week, which is less engaged than I think. This almost makes Musk’s challenge even more difficult.
In the end, there’s just the fact that Twitter is nowhere near as big a business as other things that take Musk’s time. Prime example: Tesla still at $703 billion this year after the dive; Twitter is worth less than $41 billion even outside the Musk deal.
Put it all together, and we have Musk with big plans, a penchant for bold moves like Twitter buy offers, almost on a whim and perhaps in a hurry, a gesture that says: ‘This is Elon Musk’s Twitter. . , Now he’
Whatever insight I have about business and entrepreneurship over the years.
The most enduring among them is that after a certain size of the organization, an important tool that leaders possess is the ability to create culture. Whether by design or by instinct, I think Musk did it powerfully with his entrance at Twitter HQ.
It may be as serious as Musk landing on a per-share bid to buy the company that ended up at $420, but it sets a tone. And it is important that this is now Musk’s company with no intention of being an absentee owner.
If you’re an employee and you don’t like that, you can be among the 75 percent of people who will reportedly disappear. This is culture-making. Otherwise maybe they are just trolling; I think we’re going to find out.