The following is a guest blog by Jason Dominy, who is a Senior Social Media Strategist for Sparkloft Media:

You have most likely seen the recent news that Elon Musk has acquired Twitter and laid off half its staff. After an initial purchase offer, a retraction, and a threatened lawsuit from Twitter, Musk officially took the reins of the platform for $44 billion on October 28th, 2022 (to much avail).

Within days after the takeover, Musk made drastic changes to the company: booted top executives, slashed rank-and-file headcount, pushed engineers to work harder, and began fast-tracking a hodgepodge of potentially revenue-generating features, including charging users to get or keep a verification check mark. And what is driving these haste changes? An opportunity to finally compete against the social network giant Meta and push full steam ahead with his idea for an "everything" app called "X." This app would offer the ability to book flights, hail cabs, and reserve restaurant tables; you name it.

The X app is very similar to the Chinese app WeChat, but it would be the first app of its kind in the United States. Still, morphing a social platform like Twitter, which is already an instrumental part of our social culture, into an everything app, will take extensive revisions and everything not to make it a "hellscape" in the process.

So let's break down what is happening with Twitter right now:

●      One of Musk's priorities is better monetizing the app outside advertising revenue.

He sees doing that primarily now by charging for Twitter's blue checkmark account verification. Many have wanted this feature for years, but the option wasn't available for users who weren't celebrities, business owners, or people with tons of followers or clout. Initially, the checkmark was going to cost $20 per month. However, after a backlash regarding the cost, the Twitter Blue upgrade has been settled at $8 per month. In addition, as a Twitter Blue subscriber, you will benefit from being shown half as many ads, the option to post longer videos and audio, and your tweets will be prioritized in replies, mentions, and searches.

 ●      Content moderation may be in flux.

Despite Mr. Musk's comments to advertisers that he doesn't plan to do away with content moderation, last Friday, it was announced that in keeping with his commitment, he laid off approximately 50% of the workforce, some 3,700 employees. This included 15% of the trust and safety team, employees responsible for preventing the spread of misinformation and harmful content. However, with these layoffs, Twitter's head of safety and integrity, Yoel Roth, mentioned the "core moderation capabilities" are still in place. Given Musk's thoughts on free speech, the dwindling trust and safety team, and election week coming in hot, concerns over racism and hate speech are top of mind, and moderation will be more critical now on the platform than ever.

 ●      There is a prevalent belief that racism and hate speech will be on full and open display on the platform in an entirely free-speech Twitter.

Social media has always been used as a tool for groups to mobilize, and over the past decade, we have seen more and more extremist groups use the networks to spread their messages of hate and garner support from others. These efforts are significantly amplified since Mr. Musk acquired Twitter implementing freedom of expression. According to data from Dataminr, a company that analyzes social media activity, the use of several racist and homophobic slurs increased within hours and days after Musk took control. The data showed that tweets and tweets containing the n-word were being posted more than 2,300 times an hour at the peak of Twitter’s purchase date. The chart below, from the Network Contagion Research Institute, shows how dramatically the racial comments increased in that short time, with one user writing, "Elon now controls Twitter. Unleash the racial slurs.”

 ●      With an entirely free-speech Twitter, does this mean no repercussions for accounts?

Rapper Kanye West returned to Twitter on November 3rd after having his account on probation for antisemitic comments, leading many to believe the platform to be soft on West and others who comment similarly on the platform.

Elon Musk considers himself a “free speech absolutist.” Yet, he has historically retaliated against employees, members of the press, and others who have spoken poorly of him or Tesla. His version of free speech excludes mentions of him, Tesla, SpaceX, and will now seemingly include Twitter. On many occasions, he has stated his plan is to let tweets reside on the platform despite their controversial content. And yet, he deleted one of his tweets written on October 30th, which responded to Hillary Clinton regarding a conspiracy theory that the husband of Nancy Pelosi, Paul Pelosi, had been attacked by a male prostitute while drunk. Mr. Musk wrote, “there is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story.” He faced lots of immediate backlashes and, within hours, deleted the tweet. For someone who has spoken at great length about how tweets should live on the platform and free speech is more important than any censorship, he doesn’t always practice what he preaches. 

Many Americans also are concerned that Mr. Musk will allow former President Donald Trump back on the platform. However, the former President has stated he wouldn’t rejoin the platform if given the opportunity, which he commented as he prepared and promoted his platform, Truth Social, an app that failed to gain massive traction and has had issues since its release. Before the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the former President leveraged Twitter as his communication platform of choice. Many believe he used it to mobilize the insurrection and support of other hate groups to further allegations that Biden stole the 2020 election. Groups like the Proud Boys and other supporters of the former President spread conspiracy theories and hate propaganda on Twitter, making it easy to share on a larger scale with others across the country.

Now that we know what is happening, what should your brand do with your Twitter Media strategy?

Since the purchase, many brands and agencies working for brands have either left Twitter or paused their paid social media efforts. General Motors is just one large brand that stopped all its paid advertising efforts there. Twitter gets 90% of its revenue from advertising, so there are significant implications for both brands and Twitter.

While there are many reasons brands may want to leave, there are some reasons brands may wish to or need to stay on the platform—the most prominent reasons are around the customer service element of Twitter. Consumers have grown accustomed to sending a tweet mentioning a brand and getting a quicker response with tremendous success. Many expect answers from brands on platforms like Twitter. When they’re not responded to, many release angry tirades against the brands to get the resolution they want or need. Brands will continue to need to be on Twitter to uncover customer support issues and opportunities to join conversations around the brand and/or its products/services. 

That said, with all the current changes, we are encouraging our clients to take a break from paid campaigns to see how the revisions will affect the platform. Currently, there are many risks, and based on that, we foresee what will happen with Twitter, and the future is not bright. There is not a lot of value; thus, with a valueless platform, it is not worth investing in, but it could change. We will continue to keep our pulse on the situation and make educated recommendations on both organic and paid content for Twitter. We always want to ensure our clients are in front of their customers/fans in the places they are, as we want to make sure they are as successful as they can be on social media.

About Jason Dominy:

Jason Dominy started in the social media marketing space when it first began and has worked in digital marketing on both the brand and agency sides for more than 15 years. He has managed and written content and social strategies for brands, including Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Wells Fargo, UPS, and Chick-fil-A. Since early 2022, Jason has been serving as a Senior Social Media Strategist and also managing accounts for Sparkloft Media. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, photographing landscapes, and playing with his dog, Kato.