Running Twitter 'painful', says Musk

So the AI newsflow has taken a back seat for a hot second to…you guessed it…Elon Musk and Twitter. There’s actually a wealth of news about the company, and it’s owner - who is apparently no longer it’s CEO, as that’s now Elon’s dog “Floki” who so happens to be a Shiba Inu, the dogecoin meme mascot. Apart from some of the more jovial parts of Elon Musk’s 90-minute “twitter spaces” with the BBC, it got heated at times. Particularly around the prevalence of misinformation and hate speech on the platform, which Musk refuted. The real news from a financial perspective was a declaration that advertisers are returning to Twitter , as well as hopes it could become cash-flow positive as soon as this quarter. Although it may be luring back advertisers, it’s still losing some key accounts, like all 52 official feeds belonging to NPR , that is suspending activity after it was inaccurately labeled “US state-affiliated media” and “government-funded media”. There’s also a key piece of news around Twitter’s very existence…as it’s just been merged with X Corp, a newly formed shell firm. Remember, Elon Musk has previously suggested that buying Twitter would be some sort of fast-track for creating “X” - his “everything app”. Think China’s WeChat or Careem in the Middle East, where you can book cars, buy food deliveries or access financial services and message. So lmk your thoughts? Want an Elon super-app in your life? Want NPR back on Twitter? Want a dog as CEO? #media #twitter #socialmedia

NPR is quitting Twitter. A week after CEO Elon Musk branded the organization with a “state-affiliated media” tag, the type which is typically applied to propaganda outlets controlled by governments, the media nonprofit says it is taking its leave indefinitely. "NPR's organizational accounts will no longer be active on Twitter because the platform is taking actions that undermine our credibility by falsely implying that we are not editorially independent," NPR said in a statement today. "We are not putting our journalism on platforms that have demonstrated an interest in undermining our credibility and the public's understanding of our editorial independence." In what's apparently a final series of tweets, NPR posted a thread listing the various non-Twitter methods of accessing NPR content. "We are turning away from Twitter but not from our audiences and communities. There are plenty of ways to stay connected and keep up with NPR's news, music, and cultural content," NPR's statement said. The state-affiliated label was heavily criticized, with many people and groups pointing out that NPR is editorially independent. Musk also eventually admitted NPR isn't state-affiliated after asking questions that he could have answered himself with a Google search. On whether NPR will ever return to the platform, CEO John Lansing seems uncertain: "I would need some time to understand whether Twitter can be trusted again." Read more via Ars Technica.

A new forecast from Jasmine Enberg and the team at Insider Intelligence found that Elon Musk is personally soiling Twitter's advertising business. The firm now expects Twitter ad revenue to drop 28% year-over-year in 2023. Plus, additional commentary from Eric Perko on the not-so-difficult decision to cut Twitter spending. My latest in Quartz:

The BBC wasn't the only news outlet to get a response from Elon Musk on Tuesday. I emailed the billionaire about Twitter Inc merging with the Nevada-based X Corp, and how it fit into his X "everything app" plans. He replied with just the letter "X" which is admittedly a small step up from the press email that's set to auto-reply with 💩 Since Twitter no longer exists as a Delaware entity, we talked to legal experts who said the differences in court systems could be a major factor for Musk to pick Nevada. https://lnkd.in/en-V3a95

Is Twitter valuable for your business anymore? According to NPR's Steve Inskeep, NPR says it will de-emphasize Twitter. Aside from the misleading label, NPR says Twitter isn’t used by most Americans; drives little traffic to NPR; and “no longer has the public service relevance that it once had.” CEO John Lansing is advising employees they may still use personal accounts. Recently Twitter marked NPR as "State-Affiliated Media," then later changed it to "Government-funded Media" despite only 1% of NPR's budget coming from government. More and more people are realizing Twitter has lost its value for business - especially with young people, which DRIVES success in social. I perform for college students. 10 years ago, there would always be tweets about the show. None of my audience is even ON Twitter anymore. #business #twitter #socialmedia #socialemediamarketing #npr #media #success

NPR’s organizational accounts will no longer be active on Twitter because the platform is taking actions that undermine our credibility by falsely implying that we are not editorially independent. We are not putting our journalism on platforms that have demonstrated an interest in undermining our credibility and the public’s understanding of our editorial independence. We are turning away from Twitter but not from our audiences and communities. There are plenty of ways to stay connected and keep up with NPR's news, music, and cultural content.

Maybe Elon was right - maybe Twitter had too many employees - maybe they needed to reduce their headcount. But there is no maybe - Elon was wrong - he was wrong in how he has gone about it. There is a clear and well understood process for how you remove costs from any business - whether it's closing a facility or cutting headcount or changing a product. 1. You validate your business's value proposition - what are the set of benefits that your consumption target values and pays for? 2. What are the company inputs that contribute to delivering that value proposition? 3. Which costs are not contributing and how can we remove them? 4. When removed, what will be the impact on the business? The people? You can't just chop and hack - you have to have a plan - Strategy drives Structure drives Staffing. You need to understand what everything does in order to understand whether or not that "does" is critical to the value proposition. And, when you fire people, it has a real impact on the survivors - many times they have new or expanded roles and responsibilities - sometimes they feel mad or even guilty - you need to have a change management and employee support program. I don't think Elon thinks this way - sometimes, he doesn't think at all. https://lnkd.in/gTitMSXn

Musk's BBC interview this morning: - Admits he only bought the company as he was unable to back out - Mass layoffs have reduced headcount from 8,000 to 1,500 There's always room for honesty in leadership positions, but how would you feel if your CEO was expressing buyer's remorse after a few months? #leadership #employerbrand

Latest for Reuters - Elon Musk said on Wednesday that Twitter is "roughly breaking even," as most of its advertisers have returned and its aggressive cost-cutting efforts have started bearing fruit after massive layoffs. Musk, in an interview with BBC broadcast live on Twitter Spaces, said Twitter has about 1,500 employees now, a sharp decline from "just under 8,000 staff members" it had before he took it over in October. "We could be cash-flow positive this quarter if things go well," he said in the interview that attracted more than 3 million listeners, adding the company currently has all-time high user numbers. https://lnkd.in/gyRbazMh #musk #twitter