How long will it take for Elon Musk to ruin Twitter?

Well if he’s working off of the Cybertruck timeline, Twitter probably has at least a couple of decades…

9, ½ months after he starts screwing around the traditions and
culture of Twitter, and lays off 75% of Twitter employees.

Isn’t Twitter already garbage? I don’t use it, but I did briefly make an account and it took me about 5 seconds to conclude that the site was horrible and destroying humanity. It has no direction to go but up. People expecting Twitter to become a “free for all”, though, will be disappointed. I just find this to be an interesting saga to follow and I’m eager to see what happens next.

I looked at it a while back and decided I had no use for it ,and that was that.

Twitter is most useful if you’re interested in a niche and you want to stay current on new stuff. For example, my sister is a Ph.D. in ecology, focusing on marine biology. She follows other Marine biologists and when they publish new papers or lectures, they’ll post. Also if they’re looking to hire they may share that as well. So Twitter is a nice way for them to communicate publicly about what they’re researching. I follow software developers in the Apple world, and also some data science and behavioral economics stuff.

If I want to debate fringe lunatics, I’ll just go to the comments section of YouTube.

I’m with @Demosthenes on this on.
It’s a sewer, in my opinion.
Whenever I let myself get persuaded to click a link that directs me to it I get so disappointed and bitter, from the hate and barbarianism.

One of my friends just posted on Facebook that she feels good about cancelling her Twitter account. I have a Twitter account, but I log in about 3 times a year, I never could get into it. I think some Republicans who previously didn’t use it might try it out.

I don’t think Twitter will go completely defunct. I’m curious to see if he changes it.

Twitter is garbage already. It’s the worst social media platform (and that’s saying something). Musk claims he’s going to be more speech permissive and I think that’s a good thing. I have no knowledge or opinion on other plans he might have.

1 He has overpaid for it
2 He doesn’t understand what it is or what its limitations are. (Digital town square? I don’t think so.)
3 Six months

He’s already improved it.

Twitter is something that can’t be “fixed” because it’s very nature is built on being ephemeral.

Musk spent way too much on a wasting asset.

It is already a right wing cesspool, but at least until now, all the degenerates had to hide behind dogwhistles and codewords.
Now they will be able to switch to overt racism, misogyni, slurs, and outright death threats.
It is going to be so much worse than it already is.

I don’t see the point in making Twitter another Parler/Gab/Truth Social. Don’t we already have, well, three of those? And aren’t they all not doing so well financially? Unless Musk’s stated goal is to run Twitter into the ground (which I wouldn’t mind, honestly), why make this another right-wing circle jerk site, since several of those already exist?

@Demosthenes I agree with you. And if he veers towards the right wing, he’ll lose what few customers and advertisers he has kept.

I look at this way – he blew $44 billion on an expensive fiasco. His money, his mistakes.

The sewage is already seeping out:

From the San Francisco Chronicle:
An emboldened cast of anonymous trolls spewed racist slurs and Nazi memes onto Twitter in the hours after billionaire industrialist Elon Musk took over the social network Thursday, raising fears of how his pledge of unrestricted free speech could fuel a new wave of online hate.

Well, Kanye’s back on Twitter. Is Trump next?

Ye probably won’t be back on Twitter as he’s buying Parler. Ye will be attacking E with a vengeance…It might turn in to a race to the finish!!!

I do have a Twitter account, but I only open it up about once a year…if that often. Twitter could close & I wouldn’t miss it!!!

What’s the definition of “ruin” as in how long will it take to “ruin” Twitter?

He will lose a majority of the companies putting ads on Twitter; shortly after opening Twitter to all the alt-right posters and maybe one day after letting Trump back on Twitter !

Having people posting toxic things about the Democracy of the USA will cut the value of his vision of Twitter.

Of course if he wants to put up cash to trash the country – - he is just another Putin agent.

I couldn’t less about Twitter. Or Elon “Space is My Hobby” Musk.

The return of free speech cannot be a bad thing.

^^Musk wrote that he does not want the site to become a free-for-all hellscape where anything can be said with no consequences.

So, he will be taking posts down where he sees fit.

Use of the N word has already increased by 500%.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/10/28/musk-twitter-racist-posts/
Because face it, throwing out racist slurs and abuse, is what it is really about for those self proclaimed “free speech advocates”.

I think a bigger question is, is Twitter relevant as far as all the social media platforms go? I don’t think of it when I think of the big ones (FB, TikTok, Instagram). Maybe I’m mistaken. I have friends that may follow things on Twitter, but I never hear it discussed as far as content or things they post.

@jca2 I tend to agree. It once was a great new thing, but the previous management turned it into a place of censorship and political bias. It had almost as many robot accounts as it did real accounts at one point. So it has lost its luster and its usage. But if Musk can turn it around to a place that isn’t politically biased, he may gain users again and make Twitter useful and relevant again.

This is one of the most entertaining threads I’ve read.

If Trump is allowed back you might see him use it a bit but that is all, he has to much money wrapped up in truth social and wouldn’t want to see his loyal followers abandon that platform.

@SQUEEKY2 Truth Social is in the process of going under…so, who knows what he might deem entertaining??? There’s a LOT of controversy surrounding the buyout, so the twit might find the other Twit as an excellent place to create chaos!!!

Twitter maybe worth half of Musk’s buying price !