Elon Musk intends to create an app that will provide premium memberships to lessen dependency on advertisements, allow content producers to earn money, and facilitate payments.
The simple part was overspending on Twitter for $44 billion (approximately Rs. 3,37,465 crore). Now, Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk must demonstrate why he feels Twitter is worth ten times that much, as well as turn around a social media network that he has spent months mocking. “Myself and the other investors are obviously overpaying for Twitter right now,” Musk said earlier this month, adding that “the long-term potential for Twitter in my view is an order of magnitude greater than its current value.” Musk has provided few concrete details about his plans, and what he has shared appears far-fetched or contradictory.
According to current and former Twitter workers, analysts, and investors who contemplated financing the transaction, this is what Musk, the self-proclaimed “Chief Twit,” has ahead of him.
X is a fantastic app.
Musk’s largest gamble is based on one of China’s biggest blockbusters from the 2010s. “Buying Twitter accelerates the development of X, the everything app,” Musk tweeted earlier this month.
The concept of an all-in-one app, sometimes known as a super app, began in Asia with firms such as WeChat, which allows users to not only exchange messages but also make payments, buy online, and hail a cab. The all-in-one service drew consumers who had few options in a location where Google, Facebook, and other services were restricted.
According to a person knowledgeable on the topic, Musk has told investors that he aims to construct one that would offer premium memberships to lessen dependency on adverts, allow content producers to earn money, and enable payments.
There are no super-apps in the United States since the cost to entry is high and there are lots other app options, according to Scott Galloway, co-host of the tech podcast Pivot and a professor of marketing at New York University.
Galloway believes that Apple and Alphabet’s Google, who dominate the app stores on iPhones and Android phones, see themselves as super apps and would be unlikely to allow additional super apps to flourish. As one illustration of a barrier to entry, consider Apple’s recent rejection of Spotify’s intention to offer audiobooks.
“At this stage in the growth of the mobile internet,” said Jason Goldman, a former Twitter board member.
Moderation of content cutting
According to current and former workers who talked with Reuters, Musk’s ambitions to reduce the guard rails that are prevalent on all social media platforms would result in a flood of vile, damaging, and possibly illegal information on Twitter. It has already struggled to detect and remove child porn.
Employees believe that members of Twitter’s trust and safety team, which includes content moderators, will be among Musk’s largest job cutbacks.
“Imagine a world without all those people,” one employee stated. “This is going to be hellscape.”
Stop advertising from fleeing*
Musk tweeted in 2019: “I despise advertising.”
On the day of the deal’s anticipated closure, he said in an open letter to advertisers, “Twitter definitely cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything may be spoken with no repercussions!”
Advertisers are not interested.
They cite Musk’s promise to reactivate former US President Donald Trump’s account as a big hurdle to spending money on Twitter. After the January 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol, Twitter suspended Trump indefinitely due to the possibility of additional instigation of violence.
Welcoming Trump back might alienate moderate and liberal-leaning users, driving away large household brands that try to promote goods and appeal to people across the political spectrum, according to Mark DiMassimo, CEO of ad firm DiMassimo Goldstein.
Following the rules
Musk has committed to protect all forms of free expression, but he has also taken a more conciliatory tone with world governments seeking to reign in Big Tech.
Musk said in a Twitter video in May that he agreed with the European Union’s new digital media policy, which would require Big Tech to do more to combat illicit material or face penalties of up to 6% of worldwide turnover, in one of the world’s most stringent ways to controlling content online.
Regulators around Asia are likewise toughening legal postures against social media networks, mandating the removal of anything they consider unlawful, including political dissidents’ speech.
In India, Twitter has fought a “complex struggle” with the government to safeguard free expression online, something Goldman believes would be jeopardized with Musk in control.
Tesla’s booming business in China, where it earned $14 billion (approximately Rs. 1,15,280 crore) last year, might put Twitter in jeopardy, according to Goldman, a former Twitter board member.
“It’s quite frightening that he’ll be the one interacting with the Chinese government and possibly passing over information on users,” Goldman added.
Twitter has professionals who assess government data demands, but Musk has displayed disrespect for these experts, he claims.
“Whether or if Trump returns, I believe that’s a parlor game,” Goldman remarked. “What will really happen is that a dissident’s IP address will be dumped on the floor.”
© Thomson Reuters 2022
This week, Apple introduced the iPad Pro (2022) and the iPad (2022), as well as the new Apple TV. On Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast, we examine the company’s newest goods, as well as our evaluation of the iPhone 14 Pro. Orbital may be found on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music as well as wherever you receive your podcasts.
pic by – Twitter