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Twitter’s personal publication system goes down
Per week or so in the past, Elon Musk said on Twitter (opens in new tab) that he was open to the thought of shopping for Substack, the self-publishing/publication platform that has attracted a few of the high journalists on the planet. Some, together with this reporter, famous that Musk appeared to overlook that he already owned a publication platform, Revue.
Or possibly he did not overlook. Revue knowledgeable content material creators on Wednesday (Dec. 14) that it will be shutting down on January 18, 2023. From the e-mail:
“We’ll minimize to the chase: from January 18, 2023, it is going to not be potential to entry your Revue account. On that date, Revue will shut down and all knowledge will probably be deleted. This has been a tough choice as a result of we all know Revue has a passionate consumer base, made up of individuals such as you.”
No motive for the shutdown is given, although we will assume that its struggling mother or father firm was on the lookout for extra folks and expense cuts. We have additionally contacted Musk on Twitter to see if he can clarify his reasoning, and can replace this put up if he responds.
Twitter bought Revue, which was based in 2015 by a small group of Netherlands builders, in 2021 after which rapidly built-in it, together with publication signups, into Twitter profiles.
Revue was scrappy and buggy within the early days, however grew fairly sturdy and helpful, particularly beneath Twitter. It even launched paid subscriptions. Nonetheless, it was by no means as buzzy as Substack and it may very well be argued that many individuals by no means heard of it.
The excellent news for Revue creators is that Revue offered directions for the way they will obtain previous points and subscriber lists. You may wish to act quick, although. All knowledge is about to be deleted on January 18.
The clock is ticking
A couple of months, that is on a regular basis you need to resolve if you wish to pay to carry onto the little blue verified mark on Twitter.
That little image of identification and, for some, social media validity will not be free or everlasting.
Elon Musk tweeted Monday afternoon that, “In a couple of months, we are going to take away all legacy blue checks. The way in which by which they got out was corrupt and nonsensical.”
This implies we now know precisely what Twitter plans to do in regards to the hundreds of thousands of Twitter verifications that had been handed out to corporations, officers, celebrities, social media managers journalists, and different notables over the past 16 years. If Twitter customers don’t pay $8 a month ($11 on iOS) the checks disappear.
Musk’s insistence that the system was nonsensical shouldn’t be with out advantage. Twitter’s verification course of received so unhealthy that nobody understood the best way to get verified or why Twitter selected one particular person’s account for verification over one other. The corporate sought to wash it up however not earlier than pausing all verifications for months.
Musk’s perception that the system was corrupt appears extra in step with his perception that there was widespread bias and corruption inside Twitter. In current days, he is assisted within the launch of troves of inner Twitter paperwork and communications that he believes present bias in opposition to some Twitter customers.
The deserves of these accusations are debatable.
The excellent news, although, is that we now know what is going to occur to folks, like this creator, who has been verified for a decade, when they don’t pay the Twitter Blue payment. They may lose the blue verify. Will another person have the ability to confirm of their identify? Not clear, although the brand new Twitter Blue Test system apparently now asks for phone-based two-factor authentication.
Going for the gold
In the event you see one thing completely different round Twitter, you are not imagining issues. The beleaguered social media platform, which continues to see an engagement drain over CEO Elon Musk’s antics (see Elton John’s exit) relaunched the Twitter Blue subscription program on Monday (Dec. 12). Concurrently, it launched the promised multi-colored verify program.
Official enterprise accounts, like these for ABCNews and the New York Instances, at the moment are verified with new gold checks. Official accounts, like these for presidency entities comparable to The White Home, are nonetheless blue.
Although the Blue Test is tied to Musk’s new subscription system – one that can cost $3 extra a month if you happen to enroll by iOS – it is now unclear if Twitter will strip accounts of legacy verifications if they don’t enroll.
Language on the Twitter Verification necessities web page leaves that open to interpretation. From the web page:
“A blue checkmark could imply two various things:
-the account has an lively subscription to the brand new Twitter Blue subscription service and has met our eligibility standards or
-the account was beforehand verified beneath the legacy verification standards (active, notable, and authentic).“
That will point out that if you happen to had a blue verify and match these standards, you may maintain it. Nevertheless it might additionally imply which you could lose it however reacquire it extra simply by paying.
For now, although, the re-launch of Twitter Blue is continuing quietly and with out incident. We’ll see if that continues.
All my life I’ve tried to make use of music to convey folks collectively. But it saddens me to see how misinformation is now getting used to divide our world. I’ve determined to not use Twitter, given their current change in coverage which is able to permit misinformation to flourish unchecked.December 9, 2022
Goodbye yellow brick street – singer and performer Elton John introduced earlier that he is quitting Twitter because of the ‘change in coverage which is able to permit misinformation to flourish unchecked.’
John is the newest in a protracted line of celebrities leaving the platform since Musk took over, however the brand new proprietor hasn’t commented as to what he will attempt to do to maintain every other celebrities from staying on the service to ally any fears.
Elon Musk has lengthy contended that Twitter is stuffed with bots and that they account for a good portion of the exercise on the platform. Now, nevertheless, he is focusing on a distinct class of Twitter accounts: dormant ones. In a pair of Tweets, Musk introduced that Twitter will probably be purging the accounts to unencumber house.
Whereas this motion is not stunning, the variety of accounts is. Twitter has roughly 450 million month-to-month lively customers. It is unclear how Musk can filter 1.5 billion outdated accounts with out impacting that quantity (Musk has claimed present utilization is at an all-time excessive).
Musk added, although, that these accounts have not logged in or tweeted in years.
We’re already seeing some folks hurridly logging on to Twitter and ensuring their accounts are lively to make sure they do not get swept up on this purge.
Will these account names be listed as obtainable or will folks merely have to find that their long-sought-after Twitter deal with is lastly obtainable? We’ll see. Within the meantime, you may wish to lastly verify again into Twitter.
Twitter will quickly begin releasing the identify house of 1.5 billion accountsDecember 9, 2022
Let’s take a stroll
Head Tweeter Elon Musk and Apple CEO Tim Cook dinner apparently took an off-the-cuff however essential stroll round a pond at Apple Park in Cupertino, California, to work out some brewing variations.
Apple has but to remark (we have contacted them and can report again in the event that they do), however Musk despatched a pair of tweets memorializing the meet-up.
Within the first one on Wednesday, Musk thanked Cook dinner for “taking me round Apple’s lovely HQ.” He included a quick video of a reflecting pond that they apparently strolled previous.
Having been to Apple Park a couple of instances, we will concur that it’s, in truth, beautiful. The issue with the tweeted video, although, was that nobody was positive of it was actual. We did spot the Apple Park building in the background (opens in new tab), however this video might’ve been from any go to and brought by anybody.
Nonetheless, hours later, Musk tweeted some context:
“Good dialog. Amongst different issues, we resolved the misunderstanding about Twitter probably being faraway from the App Retailer. Tim was clear that Apple by no means thought-about doing so.”
Musk had just lately tweeted this concern, which promoted him to go to Twitter warfare with Apple, which, he famous, had apparently pulled a lot of its promoting from the social media platform.
So, in the intervening time, and in line with Musk, Twitter shouldn’t be about to be faraway from the App Retailer. Nonetheless, if Musk desires to maneuver ahead along with his Twitter Blue plans and handle funds by the App Retailer, he’ll nonetheless need to pay that 30% fee. If Twitter would not, it might run afoul of Apple’s retailer insurance policies and, sure, get kicked off Twitter.
We have not heard the final of Twitter vs. Apple fairly but.
Good dialog. Amongst different issues, we resolved the misunderstanding about Twitter probably being faraway from the App Retailer. Tim was clear that Apple by no means thought-about doing so.November 30, 2022
Elon Musk will quickly be Twitter’s most-followed consumer
Elon Musk is on monitor to develop into probably the most {followed} particular person on Twitter by January 17, 2023. He at present sits at round 120 million followers – nearly double the quantity he had this time final yr in line with Social Blade (opens in new tab) – and it appears like his development upwards received’t be slowing down anytime quickly.
Based mostly on present predictions Musk will quickly eclipse the present Twitter follower champion Barak Obama (opens in new tab), the forty fourth US President, who at present has 133.2 million followers. Twitter apparently has 450 million month-to-month lively customers (opens in new tab) which means that when Musk takes the highest spot his followers would account for 30% of all Twitter customers which is totally wild.
Having a CEO that repeatedly makes use of and is thinking about their firm’s product actually has its advantages, nevertheless, there are potential points that may come from Musk being each the Chief Twit and Chief Tweeter.
For one it makes the platform and its CEO develop into much more like one single entity. In the event you purchase into Musk’s cult of persona that in all probability looks like no unhealthy factor, however for individuals who desire a extra impartial – much less Muskian – Twitter then the probabilities of that occuring look rather a lot much less possible.
Moreover, Musk’s Twitter expertise will probably be very completely different from most different folks’s. In line with an nameless former Twitter supervisor who spoke with the BBC, Twitter limits adverts to its high 1,000 or so customers; which can be why Musk reportedly had no thought what they seemed like on the platform – suggesting they need to “appear like Tweets” after they already did. He additionally solely follows 130 different accounts (most of which relate to science and tech) which suggests the content material he’s uncovered to comes from a reasonably restricted pool of ideas and concepts.
As quickly as Musk passes the milestone of being Twitter’s largest consumer we anticipate he’ll make a giant track and dance of it, however we’ll have to attend and see what affect it has on the platform he’s now answerable for.
Musk versus Apple
Within the battle to avoid wasting Twitter, Elon Musk’s newest goal is Apple.
Musk began on Monday afternoon by claiming that Apple “has largely stopped promoting on Twitter,” including, “Do they hate free speech in America?” Many advertisers have reportedly pulled again on promoting after a few of Musk’s early strikes, together with verifying quite a few accounts with out ID verification after which inviting again, amongst others, Former President Donald J. Trump.
Later, Musk tweeted, “Apple has additionally threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Retailer, however received’t inform us why.”
For Musk, he sees Apple’s potential motion as an act of censorship. Earlier than lengthy, he was claiming that Apple had taken a number of “censorship actions that affect its customers (opens in new tab).” Musk provided no proof, however quickly it turned clear that the actual concern right here is perhaps what occurs to Twitter if it actually does efficiently ramp up its Twitter Blue Verification program. Beneath it, each verified consumer can be paying $8 a month for the courtesy of getting a blue (or another shade) verify mark.
The way in which Apple’s App Retailer works, Apple takes a fee minimize of as much as 30%. That may very well be some huge cash. Musk tried to characterize this well-known and often-debated App Store feature (opens in new tab) as a “secret 30% tax.” After all, it is not even remotely secret and it is also not 30% for everybody. Smaller devs with a lot decrease income pay much less.
Musk then posted a picture of a driver deciding on the final minute to take a freeway exit. Above the principle street had been the phrases, “Pay 30%.” The turn-off, which a automotive labeled “Elon” was clearly taking, had the phrases “Go to warfare” on high of it.
If Musk does refuse to pay, Twitter might very nicely be faraway from the App retailer. That will don’t have anything to do with free speech and every part to do with how a lot Musk is keen to pay Apple.
Apple, for its half, has but to remark.
Calling Elon
Twitter has lengthy been certainly one of Apple’s App Retailer’s high free apps. It is even been amongst its beneficial choices however there is a small (possibly rising) likelihood that Twitter might get booted from the App Retailer and possibly even Android-friendly Google Play. Why? A number of the content material and account moderation modifications Musk is making or proposing may trigger the app to run afoul of Apple and Google’s app retailer insurance policies.
That would show disastrous for Twitter and would depart Musk and not using a platform for the app that he, willingly or not, owns. Perhaps.
Seems Musk has thought at the very least a bit bit about this and when pressed on Twitter – the place all main firm selections happen – Musk had a prepared reply for what he’d do in the event that they received kicked out.
Okay, possibly it wasn’t precisely a plan. Somebody requested if he would construct a cellphone if Apple and Google booted Twitter and Musk answered, “actually hope it doesn’t come to that, however, sure, if there isn’t a different selection, I’ll make another cellphone.”
Will Twitter get booted? Would Musk actually construct a cellphone? It isn’t that onerous to construct a cellphone (the {hardware}) however Musk is in no place to construct a brand new platform. Almost definitely he’d need to go along with an Android variant after which, like Huawei construct his personal off-brand app retailer.
I am positive that can all go nicely.
I actually hope it doesn’t come to that, however, sure, if there isn’t a different selection, I’ll make another cellphoneNovember 25, 2022
Sorry for the delay, we’re tentatively launching Verified on Friday subsequent week. Gold verify for corporations, gray verify for presidency, blue for people (superstar or not) and all verified accounts will probably be manually authenticated earlier than verify prompts. Painful, however needed.November 25, 2022
Appears like verification is coming again in a giant (and helpful) manner on December 2. In a reply to a different tweet, Musk confirmed that there will probably be different-colored checkmarks for verified ticks, so you can inform which account is a authorities, a celeb, or an organization.
Whereas this can be a helpful addition, that is one thing that ought to have appeared weeks in the past when customers had been subscribing to Twitter Blue only for the blue tick.
The Ballot says, ‘Ugh’
Twitter chief Elon Musk’s latest manner of constructing selections is through a ballot. He did it with Former President Donald Trump’s account, asking if he ought to reinstate the banned President on Twitter (Musk ultimately did) and now Musk has a brand new query for his 118M followers.
On Wednesday afternoon, simply hours earlier than Thanksgiving within the US, Musk served up this turkey of a ballot:
“Ought to Twitter provide a normal amnesty to suspended accounts, offered that they haven’t damaged the legislation or engaged in egregious spam?”
Okay, the caveat of lawbreakers and spammers being excluded helps, some. However making these selections was, we thought, purported to be the job of the Content material Moderation Council. “What’s that?” you ask. It is a council that Musk promised however has but to type. It must be an unbiased physique that decides what Tweets and accounts get eliminated. We might assume it may additionally weigh in right here.
The issue with mass reinstatement is that it might convey again tens of hundreds of accounts. After the January sixth riots, Twitter suspended 70,000 accounts. Sure, some had been spammers, however not all. The variety of unhealthy actors that would flood again onto the platform is tough to evaluate, but it surely may very well be very excessive and the affect on the platform may very well be very unhealthy.
This amnesty is not going to encourage higher habits, however it is going to make Twitter’s Month-to-month Lively Customers (MAUs) look higher. Then again, advertisers, which can nonetheless be fleeing the beleaguered platform, may go away if Musk follows the votes. As of this writing, 73% of Musk’s followers like the thought. Musk’s newest ballot closes tomorrow round midday ET.
The enjoyable by no means ends, until, in fact, Twitter collapses.
Ought to Twitter provide a normal amnesty to suspended accounts, offered that they haven’t damaged the legislation or engaged in egregious spam?November 23, 2022
Urgent a Blue pause button
Amidst of flurry of tweets masking subjects as wide-ranging as saving the world (sure, he responded (opens in new tab) to certainly one of our tweets), hall monitors (opens in new tab) and different social platforms, fanaticism (opens in new tab), admitting he gets little sleep (opens in new tab), and whether or not his tweeting counts as work (opens in new tab), Twitter head Elon Musk made some information.
Musk has determined to pause his much-criticized Blue Verified system till “there’s excessive confidence of stopping impersonation.” He is additionally seeking to give organizations and folks completely different coloured checks.
That is massive information as a result of Musk is lastly addressing the most important downside with the pay-for Blue Test system he launched this month. All it requested was that you just pay $8 a month for a Blue Verification verify. Beforehand, the verify was given out at no cost, however not earlier than Twitter verified the identification of the particular person, group, or firm it was verifying.
As quickly as Musk launched his personal plan, Twitter was flooded with blue-checked accounts impersonating different people. It was a catastrophe.
Musk beforehand stated he would relaunch the Blue Verified program on November 29, however that clearly wasn’t sufficient time to provide you with a viable verification system. Plus, Twitter is perhaps a bit low on the requisite engineers after Musk laid off half the employees after which a whole lot extra walked out after Musk insisted on a extra aggressive work tradition.
May this be the second the place Musk stops listening to his echo chamber and begins addressing a few of Twitter’s structural and basic points?
We’ll see.
-Lance Ulanoff
Holding off relaunch of Blue Verified till there’s excessive confidence of stopping impersonation. Will in all probability use completely different shade verify for organizations than people.November 22, 2022
I have been trying out Hive (opens in new tab) as we speak after a bunch of buddies and my spouse determined to affix it over the previous 24 hours.
After utilizing the app, it struck me how Mastodon must rapidly discover its footing as an alternative choice to Twitter, quick.
Welcome again?
Over the weekend, Twitter proprietor Elon Musk ran a poll (opens in new tab) of his followers asking if he ought to reinstate former President Donald Trump whose account was suspended following the Jan sixth riots.
A day later, Musk reinstate the account with all of its tweets intact. To date, Trump has stated he is not coming again. He does have his personal platform, Reality Social, in any case.
Whereas Trump took a wait-and-see strategy, rapper Kayne West formally rejoined the platform on Sunday. His account was suspended after anti-Semitic tweets, and reinstated shortly earlier than Musk took over, however this was the primary time he’d tweeted. Naturally, Musk welcomed him back (opens in new tab) to the platform.
On the identical time that Musk was inviting again Ye and the previous president (and posting memes (opens in new tab) about whether or not or not Trump would return), he was busy selling The World Cup, promising better coverage (opens in new tab) of the Qatar-based, world soccer occasion than anyplace else.
From the look of issues, Musk is all however residing at Twitter HQ as he assesses the affect of his personal modifications and pulls in engineers (those who stay) for all-nighters. Musk shared images on Saturday (opens in new tab) from a late-night code evaluate along with his engineers. Whereas we had been fascinated by the whiteboard, some took observe of the entire lack of feminine illustration, at the very least within the pictures.
Appears like we’re in for an additional attention-grabbing week in Twitterville.
Reversals and massive selections
Like just about each different little bit of technique Twitter proprietor Elon Musk has launched to the beleaguered social media platform, all of them – even the most important ones – play out on Twitter.
After booting comic Kathy Griffin and different parody and humor accounts, Musk said he was reinstating (opens in new tab) Griffin, Jorden Peterson, and the satirical on-line newspaper, The Babylon Bee.
Musk additionally made it clear that he’s contemplating bringing Former President Donald Trump again, although the “choice has not but been made.
Maybe the even larger information is the disclosing of a brand new Twitter coverage, which Musk initially teased with a tweet that stated “Freedom Fridays…” (opens in new tab)
The brand new coverage rapidly {followed} in one other tweet.
“New Twitter coverage is freedom of speech, however not freedom of attain.
Destructive/hate tweets will probably be max deboosted & demonetized, so no adverts or different income to Twitter. You received’t discover the tweet until you particularly search it out, which isn’t any completely different from remainder of Web.”
A part of this seems to be permitting “hate” speech on the platform however hiding it. That also means folks might see it (although possibly provided that they conduct a Twitter or Google search). Whereas this transfer will certainly concern some and freak out advertisers, Musk’s plan is to not monetize any of those tweets.
A bigger query stays. How will Musk and his staff determine “Destructive/hate tweets”? These particulars weren’t included. Nor did Musk clarify how and when a tweet is perhaps so incendiary that it will be, say, too hateful and be faraway from the platform, or get its creator banned.
The flurry of tweets got here shortly after stories that Musk had reversed his choice (opens in new tab) to lock Twitter’s doorways on Friday and, apparently, ordered some folks again to work.
-Lance Ulanoff
New Twitter coverage is freedom of speech, however not freedom of attain.Destructive/hate tweets will probably be max deboosted & demonetized, so no adverts or different income to Twitter. You received’t discover the tweet until you particularly search it out, which isn’t any completely different from remainder of Web.November 18, 2022
Memes apart, nevertheless, Elon Musk isn’t as seemingly blasé in regards to the scenario in personal. There are stories that Twitter has as soon as once more suspended employees’s badge entry and that its places of work are briefly closed. Twitter’s employees have been advised that places of work will reopen on Monday, November 21, although they haven’t been advised why entry is at present restricted.
NEW: Twitter simply alerted workers that efficient instantly, all workplace buildings are briefly closed and badge entry is suspended. No particulars given as to why.November 17, 2022
The present idea is that Elon Musk and senior employees at Twitter are frightened that workers who haven’t dedicated to Twitter 2.0 will sabotage the platform on their manner out. On high of that, it appears like they’re additionally attempting to work out who’s leaving (and desires their workplace entry revoked) and who’s staying.
In line with a Twitter post (opens in new tab) made at 9:42pm ET on November 17 (02:43am GMT / 12:43pm AEST on November 18) by Zoë Schiffer (opens in new tab) – the managing editor of Platformer – as a result of solely the names of people that stated “Sure” to Twitter 2.0 have been collected it’s not instantly clear who has really left.
We think about Elon Musk and his cronies may also be attempting to persuade employees leaving crucial groups to remain – particularly the groups that may then have zero members with out them. If discussions are ongoing this is able to possible add much more confusion to the scenario as Musk wouldn’t wish to revoke entry for Twitter employees who find yourself staying with the corporate.
Properly, it seems many individuals at Twitter weren’t enthusiastic in regards to the prospect of working even tougher than they’re now on Musk’s “Twitter 2.0”. Reportedly a whole lot of employees have been posting farewell messages on Twitter’s inner Slack channels after the 5pm ET deadline handed.
In line with nameless sources who spoke to The Verge (opens in new tab) this new batch of resignations implies that a number of “crucial” groups at Twitter have misplaced all or almost all of their members. This apparently consists of Twitter’s visitors and frontend groups that guarantee engineering requests are despatched to the right backend providers, in addition to everything of Twitter’s core system libraries staff – with one worker admitting in regards to the latter that “you can’t run Twitter with out [them].”
However based mostly on his Twitter timeline, Elon Musk is outwardly fairly relaxed about the entire scenario. In a tweet following this new employee exodus (opens in new tab), he stated that “One of the best individuals are staying, so I’m not tremendous frightened.”
He later {followed} up with a number of memes, together with one exhibiting Twitter posing in entrance of its personal grave.
Morning of us, we’re again with the newest Twitter information, and boy have fairly a couple of issues occurred.
Following the mass layoffs that occurred at Twitter two weeks in the past – when Elon Musk fired an estimated half of the platform’s workforce – he issued a requirement to people who remained on Wednesday (November 16): decide to the brand new “extraordinarily hardcore” work tradition or go away.
Scoop: Elon Musk simply despatched an e mail to all employees outlining “Twitter 2.0″, writing it is going to”must be extraordinarily hardcore”. Lengthy hours, excessive depth. Individuals must click on “sure” to substantiate being a part of this by 5pm ET tomorrow, else they get 3 months severance. Extra particulars:November 16, 2022
Twitter employees had been requested to substantiate they’re dedicated to working longer hours and settle for that “solely distinctive efficiency will represent a passing grade” by 5pm ET on November 17 (10pm GMT, November 17 / 8am AEST, November 18), or get three months severance and go away the corporate.
Is that mild on the finish of the tunnel or will the tunnel collapse earlier than we get there? https://t.co/CEIL9mcE1ENovember 16, 2022
An attention-grabbing apart to Musk’s look at a trial earlier as we speak, the place he is discussing (opens in new tab) a $56 billion pay bundle involving Tesla.
Musk has revealed that when the ‘restructuring’ is full at Twitter, he’ll be handing it off to a brand new CEO.
As our Managing Editor for Leisure, Matt Bolton quipped earlier: “He’s going to salt the earth, then ask why the subsequent particular person didn’t develop something.”
Free speech = Agree with Musk speech
Elon Musk is a “champion” of free speech and sometimes tweets about how he desires Twitter to be a digital public sq. the place folks can overtly specific their views.
Nonetheless, Musk has proven little persistence for comedy and, it appears nearly zero tolerance for Twitter workers who disagree with him on the platform and even inside Twitter, the place Twitter has its personal firm chat board.
In line with a brand new report in The New York Instances (opens in new tab), Musk fired a Twitter developer, Eric Frohnhoefer, who disagreed with him on Twitter (opens in new tab) about Android app efficiency. Musk additionally, the report claims, requested his staff to scan the staff chat board for “insubordinate employees” after which fired them, a few of whom had been commiserating about Frohnhoefer’s firing.
As a substitute of denying the report, Musk sarcastically tweeted, “I want to apologize for firing these geniuses. Their immense expertise will little question be of nice use elsewhere.”
We’re fairly positive nobody would imagine any of this if it weren’t all taking place earlier than our eyes and on one of the vital widespread social media platforms on the planet.
–Lance Ulanoff
Punting relaunch of Blue Verified to November twenty ninth to ensure that it’s rock strongNovember 15, 2022
In the event you missed out on Twitter Blue and its verification ‘characteristic’, Musk confirmed earlier that it is coming again on Tuesday, November 29, across the time when Black Friday weekend is winding down.
Elon Musk invited faux Twitter workers “Rahul Ligma” and “Daniel Johnson” to the corporate’s HQ and pretends that he rehired them. pic.twitter.com/gC97GvvmQ3November 15, 2022
In a wierd transfer by Musk, this was posted the place two actors, beforehand making out that that they had been fired final month, had been pictured to be with them, exhibiting that that they had been ‘rehired’.
The place’s the humorous right here?
In line with the Washington Submit (opens in new tab), Musk has despatched one other e mail to all Twitter workers, asking them to decide to a ‘Twitter 2.0’ with a ‘hardcore’ work ethic.
The message additionally stated that those that didn’t signal the pledge by 5PM Japanese time Thursday, or 10PM UK time, had been advised that they might obtain three months of severance pay.
It is one more demand from its employees after a turbulent 5 weeks, and there is nonetheless an opportunity that this may very well be reversed by the point we head into Christmas.
Unhealthy information, not-necessarily unhealthy information
It in all probability comes as no shock to most of you who’ve been monitoring the Elon Musk Twitter saga for a while that Musk is not a lot of a listener.
In line with a brand new Casey Newton Platformer publication (opens in new tab), Musk was warned in a prolonged memo earlier than the November 9 rollout of the paid verification plan that there can be bother.
The doc, which Platform obtained, reads extra like a historic doc than a “what if.” It spells out how the plan would result in the “Impersonation of world leaders, advertisers, model companions, election officers, and different high-profile people.”
That’s precisely what occurred earlier than Musk hit the brakes and now seems to haven’t any follow-up plan for Twitter Blue and paid Blue Test verifications.
Additionally they warned how the brand new plan would drive away present verified customers. Some have left as a result of they’re not protected against impersonation.
Nonetheless, we’ve got some excellent news. In line with Newton, Twitter at present has no straightforward manner of eradicating verified checks from those that select to not pay. In different phrases, when you’ve got a verified account proper now (the one you bought earlier than the cost system was applied), you might need it for some time longer, particularly as a result of Musk laid off most of the individuals who may assist program such a change.
Included among the many Twitter departed is Sachee MacCaw, a Twitter Software program engineer who ruthlessly trolled Musk on Twitter, particularly after he criticized how the system works on Android until he fired her (opens in new tab). —Lance Ulanoff
i spent 2 hours curating a twitter blue screenshot storyline for my dad and mom so right here u go, on your personal offline buddies that wish to have enjoyable:DAY 1 – ARRIVAL pic.twitter.com/aQbbSPG9JBNovember 15, 2022
Because of Twitter consumer @Christapeterso (opens in new tab), a timeline of Elon Musk proudly owning Twitter up till the current day is right here for all to see, and it is solely while you learn by this thread, that you just notice a lot has occurred in such a brief house of time.
I *assume* it would now be turned again on.Nonetheless, not precisely an excellent few hours for Twitter…November 14, 2022
We have began to identify some tweets of two-factor authentication not working. In the event you’ve put an e mail or a cellular quantity in to assist confirm your account while you sign up, it appears prefer it’s not working appropriately.
The code wanted that can assist you sign up is not being despatched, but it surely appears as if it really works for e mail for some, and never a cellphone quantity.
In any case, it is regarding {that a} characteristic to assist safe your account is beginning to present bugs and refuse to work for some customers.
In the event you’re frightened, it could be greatest to verify that e mail verification is switched on on your account as quickly as you’ll be able to.
And we are going to lastly cease including what machine a tweet was written on (waste of display house & compute) beneath each tweet. Actually nobody even is aware of why we did that …November 14, 2022
After a mildly-quiet Friday, Musk has been replying to a bunch of customers as we speak, with affirmation that the ‘Despatched from iPhone’ message goes away.
In the event you’re unaware, as you’d ship a tweet from an iPhone or an Android machine, the tweet would state this. It is resulted in some embarrassing moments for manufacturers, the place it will ship a tweet promoting an Android machine, however it will be despatched from an iPhone.
So this removing may very well be to do with ads but once more, not simply because Musk and his staff is not positive why that characteristic has been round for years.
It is a lie. I ran this program up till per week in the past once I resigned as a result of I didn’t wish to work for @elonmusk For breakfast & lunch we spent $20-$25 a day per particular person. This enabled workers to work via lunchtime & mtgs. Attendance was something from 20-50% within the places of work. https://t.co/0OjbeComkaNovember 13, 2022
Ex-Twitter workers are subtweeting Musk with corrections to his tweets, however this time, Musk replied to Tracy Hawkins right here, arguing that this tweet is allegedly false.
Anticipate to see extra of those tweets within the close to future – we’re in a interval the place workers are feeling not sure in regards to the firm’s roadmap, and their very own future at Twitter.
Scoop: Twitter went right into a stricter-than-ever-before change freeze beginning a couple of hours in the past. Not solely are deploys not allowed, however Git is now readonly by default (!)The mandate is coming from the infra staff, “till additional discover.” Here is why that is an odd one:November 14, 2022
In the event you’ve been experiencing some points when utilizing Twitter as some on the TechRadar staff have, you are not alone.
It additionally appears as if you may be struggling with these points for a bit longer, as a ‘change freeze’ has been enforce. This primarily implies that any modifications to the code of Twitter, from the way it works to any options in growth, have been paused.
SpaceX simply purchased a giant advert marketing campaign on Twitter for Starlink – my newest for @cnbc https://t.co/UqQpLgmwAL It is a “takeover,” media planners. These issues often price within the ballpark of $250k per day.November 14, 2022
As day by day passes there appears to be one thing that causes an eyebrow to be raised. Elon Musk’s different firm, SpaceX, has seemingly purchased an advert marketing campaign to run on Twitter for the foreseeable.
As Lora Kolodny tweets above, these often price within the area of $250,000 a day, but it surely would not be a far cry to suspect that SpaceX has obtained a little bit of a reduction in comparison with different corporations’ advert takeovers up to now.
As the previous Head of Information for Twitter in India/SEAsia can say with some authority that has by no means been the case. And it’s not even Twitter’s USP. Twitter serves because the heartbeat of the information cycle & offers information orgs useful entry to public conversations round these cycles. https://t.co/ivDy86Nk8XNovember 13, 2022
Elon Musk tweeted his ideas about Twitter engagement late final evening, and it has been a debatable put up to say the least.
A subtweet from Raheel Khursheed caught our eye, as he explains how the social platform barely made a footprint when it got here to linking to different websites.
Twitter Blues
Whereas Twitter Blue signups are at present on pause, we would lastly have some perception into how nicely (or not) the brand new program is continuing.
In line with a report in Mashable (opens in new tab), which received some Twitter Blue signup numbers from app-tracking agency Sensor Tower (opens in new tab), Twitter Blue signups generated $488,000, which is, at $8 a pop, 61,000 subscribers.
Let’s simply say that is not fairly a blue wave. It isn’t horrible, however Twitter has a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of every day lively customers and solely a fraction of them are legacy verified. We must always have seen hundreds of thousands of individuals signing up for Twitter Blue, proper?
If 91% of Twitter’s income is generated from adverts (roughly $5 billion in 2021), Twitter Blue has an extremely lengthy technique to go earlier than it will probably help 50% of Twitter’s general income.
As of this second, although, there isn’t a Twitter Blue signup, and there in all probability will not be till Musk and Twitter can determine the best way to get folks to enroll with out inflicting vital verification and identification points.
This method is a joke
Over at The Washington Submit, tech journalist Geoffrey Fowler (opens in new tab), with the permission of a sitting Senator and a comic, created two faux “verified” Blue Test Twitter accounts in minutes.
Massachusetts Senator Edward J. Markey and comic Blaire Erskine each conform to let Fowler create the faux accounts of their names.
As Fowler writes:
“Twitter has stated accounts that impersonate individuals are not allowed and face suspension after they’re found. It booted comic Kathy Griffin after she modified her Twitter display identify to Elon Musk. However there’s little or no about Twitter’s new paid service that stops you from verifying a faux account. As of the time I printed this column, its programs hadn’t detected these weren’t genuine accounts they usually remained on-line.”
What does this show? That there isn’t a verification on this “verification.” Elon Musk has created a damaged system (one since hidden) and that has already been gamed by others to extra devastating impact.
Somebody created a faux Ely Lilly And Co “verified” Twitter account after which tweeted that insulin was now free (opens in new tab). Whereas it could have been coincidental. the real drug company’s stock did take a dive.
Yeah, it is not nice when @geoffreyfowler can arrange a faux Twitter account for a U.S. Senator in minutes. (Geoff had permission from Sen. Markey.) https://t.co/YMBA9cEsUI pic.twitter.com/PE7bS6BJSqNovember 11, 2022
Unchecking
Regardless of the controversy surrounding the brand new Blue Test course of and the flexibility to develop into a Twitter Blue member immediately disappearing from the platform, many individuals have already opted to pay $8 for their very own Blue Test.
If, nevertheless, you are not happy, you’ll be able to, in line with Twitter consumer @Sprint, get a fast refund in your $8 subscription cost by Apple.
This is not stunning since it is easy to unsubscribe to nearly any service you’ve got paid for by Apple’s App Retailer.
What @Sprint claims, although, is that after your refund, you continue to get to maintain the “tick” (Blue Test) for 30 days. Which will or is probably not so, although. Whereas it would take a while for Apple to course of the cancellation and hand it off to Twitter, it appears unlikely that the Blue Test would dangle round for lengthy.
If there’s anybody on the market who did have Blue Test purchaser’s regret, canceled, and nonetheless has the tick, tell us.
So, enjoyable reality! You possibly can declare a refund for Twitter Blue by Apple, obtain your whole a reimbursement in sooner or later after which maintain the tick for 30 days.Very cool, I am positive that no potential unhealthy actors will exploit this!!! pic.twitter.com/JGg6S4gnpLNovember 10, 2022
What’s a journalist?
Lance Ulanoff hopping in right here:
For Chief Twit Elon Musk, a lot of the Blue Test verification mess boils all the way down to Citizen Journalism.
Musk desires everybody on Twitter to ship the information (nothing has stopped them to date). Nonetheless, the unlevel enjoying area of Blue Test haves and have-nots has created, as Musk sees it, an imbalance. With the which means and worth of Blue checks decreased to the value of an costly cup of espresso (one monthly), it means anybody might be verified and, in the event that they report information on Twitter, have the identical visibility.
Musk Tweeted Friday afternoon, “As Twitter pursues the purpose of elevating citizen journalism, media elite will attempt every part to cease that from taking place.”
In Musk’s eyes, skilled journalists are the “media elite” and we’re blocking his everyone seems to be a journalist dream.
As this tech reporter advised Musk on Twitter, although, the difficulty shouldn’t be citizen journalists, it is that the complete Blue Test system is not tied to identification, high quality, or any semblance of fact. With out that, nobody, together with his citizen journalists, might be trusted.
As Twitter pursues the purpose of elevating citizen journalism, media elite will attempt every part to cease that from taking placeNovember 11, 2022
Here is a reply from Musk an hour in the past, the place he is enthusiastic of how Twitter Blue goes up to now.
Which makes us marvel – has he gotten the memo?
Individuals overlook that pull-to-refresh was invented by Loren Brichter, and first deployed in his Tweetie app, which Twitter acquired way back. Twitter owns a patent for it, but it surely’s now so generally used that it is inconceivable to think about cellular UI with out it. https://t.co/rqy5VUrnq1November 17, 2020
I used to be pondering again to once I first used Twitter on my iPhone, and it was certainly Tweetie, which was purchased by the corporate, after which was the app you utilize as we speak.
The pull-to-refresh gesture is now a regular on many apps, comparable to Apple’s Safari and Mail apps.
Simply so as to add to the chaos, Musk has now tweeted this from the Twitter HQ. Whereas we do not ever recommend studying an excessive amount of into tweets, particularly from somebody as mercurial as Musk, it does maybe give us a glimpse into the present mindset of the remaining Twitter workers…
Twitter HQ is nice (this can be a actual pic) pic.twitter.com/qjfOQCr533November 11, 2022
By tweeting and highlighting this, it appears that evidently Musk is conscious, although what he thinks of it’s a thriller, as all the time.
In the event you’ve heard of Mastodon this week, you are not alone. Fortunately, I have been attempting it out recently and it is an ideal various. There are a few apps you should use proper now on iOS and Android if you happen to’ve already signed as much as Mastodon as nicely.
Our US Editor-In-Chief Lance Ulanoff despatched us this which reads as if he is saying farewell to Twitter:
“I’ve met a few of the coolest folks on Twitter. I’ve interacted with my idols and icons and made true buddies. Twitter has all the time labored the way in which my mind works – in bite-sized items. Actually undecided how I’ll preserve sure friendships and connections or the place I’ll put up random ideas that make me completely happy with out it. Please, Microsoft, purchase Twitter.”
NEW: Twitter has suspended the launch of Twitter Blue and is actively attempting to cease folks from subscribing “to assist handle impersonation points,” per an inner observe. 1/November 11, 2022
Zoë Schiffer (opens in new tab), author at Platformer, tweeted the above {that a} message was posted within the Twitter Slack, that confirmed the top of Twitter Blue and paid blue ticks in an effort to cease the impersonations, however any current subscriptions to the service will stick with it as traditional.
First account is the verified official one. Second is a $8 faux due to the Musk subscription. Simple to inform while you take a look at the follower depend, very, very arduous to inform when shared into your feed. Inconceivable really with out clicking by. HT @meemalee for recognizing. pic.twitter.com/uKumOYRTeINovember 10, 2022
One other one which was despatched to me from Muskaan, this tweet exhibits how damaged the verification system beneath Twitter Blue was. One is the real Apple TV Plus account, one other is a faux one.
Hopefully we’ll see a reversal of this, because it’s already complicated to inform which one is actual or faux for a lot of customers.
being on Twitter proper now’s like enjoying the violin on the titanic besides we’re additionally making enjoyable of the iceberg and the iceberg is getting genuinely madNovember 6, 2022
Our (improbable) Computing author Muskaan Saxena despatched me this tweet, and it is an ideal analogy for the way customers are feeling on Twitter.
A mad iceberg within the form of the Twitter hen is kind of the picture.
So the place can we stand up to now?
Musk has but to react to any growth to Twitter as we speak, which is stunning. The above is, on the time of posting this, his newest tweet.
Nonetheless, we have seen a small change with the ticks, the place it is also blue while you’re in darkish mode on the positioning.
An attention-grabbing learn by Hamish Hector right here – there is a Chrome extension the place it is going to let you know if a consumer has been verified with a blue tick, or in the event that they’ve gained one by signing as much as Twitter Blue when it was stay.
Let’s be clear – there’s not going to be a substitute for Twitter. Nothing actually might be, however there are potential alternate options.
With this in thoughts, we have got three so that you can take into account.
This was my first Tweet. I’m wondering what will probably be my final. https://t.co/pfruo5mqtUNovember 11, 2022
Here is our US Editor-in-Chief Lance Ulanoff exhibiting his very first tweet again in 2007.
Because it features a bagel, it is already an ideal tweet in my ebook. The following query for me is, might his ultimate tweet embrace a bagel to spherical it off?
Let’s recap:
On October 30, Elon Musk, CEO and Founding father of Area X, CEO of Tesla, lastly took cost of Twitter after a long-winded buyout of the platform.
In beneath a month, we have seen the verification course of develop into irrelevant and complicated because of the subscription service, Twitter Blue with the ability to grant any consumer a blue tick, and there is additionally been an enormous firing of employees.
On November 11, Twitter Blue was eliminated fully, and there is been silence from Musk since.
So, nearly inevitably, it appears the Blue Tick verification course of has been canned.
The chaos continues. Twitter pulls the plug on Twitter Blue, subscriptions and paid-for verification blue checkmark not obtainable.November 11, 2022
Because the tweet above states, the chaos continues – therefore why we have began this stay weblog. What is occurring?
Here is an instance of how arduous a few of these faux accounts are to identify:
First account is the verified official one. Second is a $8 faux due to the Musk subscription. Simple to inform while you take a look at the follower depend, very, very arduous to inform when shared into your feed. Inconceivable really with out clicking by. HT @meemalee for recognizing. pic.twitter.com/uKumOYRTeINovember 10, 2022
Musk himself fell sufferer to this, with numerous faux accounts popping up claiming to be him – and with a Blue Tick to show it. This gave the impression to be the ultimate straw, as Musk then backtracked on a few of the extra lax components of the brand new verification course of.
Going ahead, accounts engaged in parody should embrace “parody” of their identify, not simply in bioNovember 11, 2022
Nonetheless, as folks predicted, verified accounts began popping up on Twitter, and whereas lots of them had been clearly parodies, as a result of that they had the ‘Blue Tick’, it turned tough to inform, particularly with the extra delicate accounts.
Unsurprisingly, the people and corporations that had been being parodied weren’t too completely happy about this.
A model new parody Twitter account that paid for verification and selected the show identify of ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweeted Josh McDaniels was fired. The credible-looking tweet obtained almost 10,000 engagements. Twitter suspended the account after two hours. https://t.co/diegQfkpA1November 9, 2022
Worryingly for Twitter, many manufacturers began to announce that they might not promote on the platform.
Regardless of the issues and complaints, Musk was initially dismissive.
To all complainers, please proceed complaining, however it is going to price $8November 2, 2022
By posting memes about folks’s complaints, it left many individuals feeling that he wasn’t precisely taking the difficulty severely.
Maybe probably the most controversial factor to return from Musk’s Twitter takeover has been the modifications to how accounts are verified.
Beforehand, if the verified account of a media outlet (comparable to TechRadar (opens in new tab)) or different group printed one thing, you’ll at the very least know that it got here from an official supply. The Blue Test additionally enabled Twitter customers to inform the distinction between the numerous celebrities on Twitter and customers who had been imitating them.
Nonetheless, Musk applied a change that may permit anybody to get verified for $8 a month.
Twitter’s present lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bullshit. Energy to the folks! Blue for $8/month.November 1, 2022
This led to some folks worrying that customers might faux to be official accounts and get simply verified, making it arduous for folks to inform which accounts had been actual – and which weren’t. And that is precisely what occurred.
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