Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover

Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover of Twitter has left users of the platform with a host of questions. Musk has yet to lay out a concrete plan and has mostly relied on vague ideas for the future. He has publicly pushed for the platform to offer freer speech, although users are left to wonder what and how he will implement these changes. Twitter’s recent attempts to limit certain types of information and ban suspicious accounts seem to be at odds with his philosophy. Will users leave over these changes, or will the billionaire reinvigorate the platform?

Past comments could give an indication as to the kind of changes he will make to the platform. In addition to a focus on free speech, he has expressed interest in making Twitter’s complex algorithm open source through GitHub. This has long been an of interest to influencers and advertisers who are attempting to expand their reach. Access to this information could change how marketing content is created and distributed across Twitter.

Part of his focus on free speech could see the implementation of an edit button for tweets. The long-requested feature would be a boon for advertisers who need to correct errors in tweets they have already placed money behind. He will likely look to add even more features to Twitter and possibly bring it closer in line to something like Facebook/Meta. These additions combined with less content moderation would make the platform easier to use for existing businesses and could even attract new companies to the site.

Not all of his potential changes could end up being beneficial in the long term. He has expressed that he has little interest in making Twitter monetarily successful through advertising revenue. Even if new features make the platform easier to use, it could become a difficult place to advertise successfully. There is also a growing contingent of people who are displeased with Musk taking the helm and they are leaving the platform. Some influencers and celebrities that have left could cause their followers to follow suit and eventually force some businesses to abandon the site as well. Concerns over the emphasis on free speech and his proposed removal of moderation tools have left some users feeling that the platform could become a more toxic experience. We could see small and large businesses engage less on Twitter and look to other social media for their needs.

The purchase of Twitter will likely close later this year and that is when we could see the most significant changes begin to take shape. Elon Musk has proven to be an innovator over the years and the billionaire will make significant changes to Twitter. There have been some knee jerk reactions to the acquisition, though businesses will have to wait and see how the social media platform will transform.