[Electromotive]

^^

Owning or controlling news media seems to be part of the billionaire playbook and Musk's acquisition of Twitter appears to fit right in.

When your net-worth runs into billions, you need better security and there is nothing better than controlling tools that can influence public opinion. Paying off politicians is not enough when you are a walking-talking pile of money, you need to influence policy to keep your empire safe. Call me a conspiracy nut or whatever but it makes sense to me, other examples being - Washington Post, MSN, TV-18, Youtube/fakebook/social media recommendation systems etc.

Twitter is currently the hottest town-square (in elon speak) to indirectly influence policy and fits well into Musk's Tony Stark/Lex Luthor ambitions. This guy now controls too many critical technologies which, if misused, can have serious consequences.

[mxx]

Originally Posted by dragonfire

Musk is celebrating like a kid who finally got to buy his favourite lollipop. What I don't understand is the whining and spewing of hatred from the American radical left. It's his money. If they hate him, which they do, they should be happy that he squandered his wealth. Why the whining?

Musk has right leaning views and is a Republican party supporter. So naturally the other side will be concerned.

[dragonfire]

Originally Posted by mxx

Musk has right leaning views and is a Republican party supporter. So naturally the other side will be concerned.

Except Fox News every other news and social media is controlled by the left - and is fast being infiltrated by the radical left and neo -marxists. Nobody has a problem with that. And when a non-left guy takes over a social media app from them they suddenly lose their minds.

And, no, Musk is not a republican. Even the radical left did not accuse him of being a right winger until he left California and moved his business to Texas.

[mxx]

Originally Posted by dragonfire

Except Fox News every other news and social media is controlled by the left - and is fast being infiltrated by the radical left and neo -marxists. Nobody has a problem with that. And when a non-left guy takes over a social media app from them they suddenly lose their minds.

And, no, Musk is not a republican. Even the radical left did not accuse him of being a right winger until he left California and moved his business to Texas.

We are not here to discuss politics, but the twitter deal.

However, let me correct you with facts : Fox news is a very conservative, Republican supporting (read right leaning) network. I am not sure how you got the idea that it is controlled by the left.

Also Musk has openly stated that he votes for Republicans now (although he used to vote for Democrats before). That is what I stated in my post.

Anyway, some networks favor republicans and other the democrats. I don't see what that has to do with the twitter deal. So, lets get back to discussing twitter deal.

[dragonfire]

Originally Posted by mxx

We are not here to discuss politics, but the twitter deal.

You brought it into the discussion, I was only clarifying.

However, let me correct you with facts : Fox news is a very conservative, Republican supporting (read right leaning) network. I am not sure how you got the idea that it is controlled by the left.

Are you sure you read my post right?

PS: Anyway, no more from me on this topic.

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by dragonfire

Except Fox News every other news and social media is controlled by the left - and is fast being infiltrated by the radical left and neo -marxists. Nobody has a problem with that. And when a non-left guy takes over a social media app from them they suddenly lose their minds.

And, no, Musk is not a republican. Even the radical left did not accuse him of being a right winger until he left California and moved his business to Texas.

What is radical left? How are they "radical"?

Musk became right winger when he saw people asking the billionaires to pay their fair share of taxes.

And Twitter is nothing but a blip on the whole social media front.

[binand]

Originally Posted by amitoj

And Twitter is nothing but a blip on the whole social media front.

Twitter's MAUs might be low, but I think it wields a lot more influence on how people think when compared to its peers listed in the chart. It is the place where world leaders, authors, journalists, scientists, business people, economists, artists... all participate and engage with each other, often resulting in some very high quality conversations and opinion-making.

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by binand

Twitter's MAUs might be low, but I think it wields a lot more influence on how people think when compared to its peers listed in the chart. It is the place where world leaders, authors, journalists, scientists, business people, economists, artists... all participate and engage with each other, often resulting in some very high quality conversations and opinion-making.

Those high quality conversations, if they even exist on Twitter, are usually lost in muck raking and shouting false information and propaganda. It takes only a few minutes for any discussion to turn into a cesspool.

Besides, with this low MAU, it is not reaching anything wide. People hardly talk about Twitter or what's on Twitter in real life at least here in US, except for the media.

MAUs are significant because that's what the advertisers see. Musk is going to have a tough time keeping Twitter afloat and balanced between his "free speech" drama and pandering to the advertisers.

[ajayc123]

I really find the responses to most of the high quality tweets to be quite creative, interesting and entertaining (read deteriorate to a useless political slugfest). If the team bhp moderation standards were to be applied to twitter, most tweets / responses would be deleted and members banned after a couple of infractions. The twitter valuation would nosedive in no time

[digitalnirvana]

Originally Posted by Electromotive

Attachment 2373533

Amen!

How many managers does it take to change a light bulb?

I'm just gonna leave this here. Oh the irony is insane.

[adityadeva]

Originally Posted by varunswnt

Twitter CEO has lost his job, yet he is winner of this fight and not Musk

Source - India Today

It's not about the deal itself, it's power they lost.

The power itself to ban an American president.

They have the money, who knows musk was the one who finally called the shots.

My take is that - Tesla never advertises. It's the tweets of the musk that's the advertisement. SpaceX never needs advertisement, but when Musk mentions it in his Twitter handle, the world sits up and watches and advertises for him.

44 billion is a cheap price for Musk considering that his voice is primarily 'heard' through Twitter.

The toxic Parag and company could have banned Musk on any flimsy pretext. But musk has the last laugh.

And let's see how things fold out for Parag in the rest of his his life. Only time will tell.

If it's power and ensuring to keep his Power of expression safe, then Musk has had his way, if it's money, Parag and company got their way.

[Asish_VK]

Work 12hrs a day x 7 days a week or get fired !!

"Managers at Twitter have instructed some employees to work 12-hour shifts, seven days a week, in order to hit Musk’s aggressive deadlines, according to internal communications,” the report stated.

The cited source also revealed that the employees have been asked to work for extra hours without any discussion about “overtime pay or comp time, or about job security.” The engineers have reportedly been given a deadline of early November and if they fail to meet the requirements, then they might lose their job "

Source

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by varunswnt

Twitter CEO has lost his job, yet he is winner of this fight and not Musk

Source - India Today

People who think Musk lost, haven't understood the game at all.

Musk wanted to control Twitter, and made the offer. The Parag & Co did not want to lose control of Twitter, and yet could not reject the offer. Later Musk wanted to pay less citing bot accounts, but the legal agreement made it impossible. So Musk had pay what he originally offered. Finally Musk got what he wanted, Parag & co got fired. Parag & Co won pennies while losing the dollars, that doesn't make them winners.

This is not about money, but power. Those who haven't experienced executive power over others may not understand this fully. I said this back in April in the same thread.

Originally Posted by Samurai

He is someone that never worries about financial impact when he thinks he is right. His tweets and public behavior (smoking weed on JRE) very often plunged his own net worth. He has moved beyond that long ago, and in a way you have to admire that. It is logical too, between power and money, the former is more useful and can generate the latter. Someone like Elon understands that and tends to focus on power.

[EV NXT]

Originally Posted by Samurai

People who think Musk lost, haven't understood the game at all.

Absolutely. Parag and cronies made one of the most fundamental mistakes - Never start a war you can’t win. Taking a prospective acquirer to court is one of the most stupid things to do. If its a reflection of Parag’s competence, its no wonder he and his team are now where they are.

And now Elon is on round 2:

https://www.news18.com/amp/news/tech...n-6288595.html

Parting shot:

https://youtu.be/gAQggxc_aYw

[ajayc123]

I think that Musk had a clear intent of buying, and the bot story was just a negotiation tactic to reduce the price, which did not work out.

As Samurai said, Exec positions positions are more about power than money. After acquisition, Parag and co would have anyway lost the power, so their next best option was to get the money and move on, which they have achieved by structuring the terms of the deal in their favour.

I sense that charging $8 / month for blue ticks is an interesting move, which should generate a new revenue stream. Moreover, blue tick is another way to wield power, and thats a small price to pay for retaining that power.