“He has played with the ‘app’ and almost broke it”: the reason why Elon Musk can stop being the head of Twitter

Elon Musk’s hours as Twitter’s chief executive could be numbered. The tycoon yesterday lost a binding poll on the social network in which he asked users if he should leave office. Should I resign as head of Twitter? I will stick to the results of this survey,” said the executive. After 12 hours of voting, in which 17 and a half million accounts participated, 57% of the voters chose to invite the tycoon to leave the address of the ‘app’, for which he paid 44,000 million dollars just a few days ago. weeks. At the moment, the businessman has not confirmed his resignation from the head of the company, nor who could be his successor. Ownership of the platform, however, would remain in his hands. Musk, who also owns companies such as Tesla or SpaceX, has launched several surveys among users in recent weeks, all of which are decisive for the operation of the social network. That was the procedure chosen by the manager to return his account to former US President Donald Trump. The tycoon also used this system to consult the community about the restoration of the accounts of journalists blocked at the end of last week for reporting on Twitter’s new policies against sharing the real-time location of individuals. The South African businessman has always accepted the results, so it is to be expected that this time he will also comply. The presumed step next to the tycoon comes after a week in which his application has been, as almost always, marked by controversy. Added to the blocking of the accounts of half a dozen journalists was the decision to strike down the Trust and Security Council of the ‘app’, made up of external experts and created in order to advise the platform on content moderation. The finishing touch came on Sunday, when the social network announced that it was prohibiting users from sharing posts with links inviting them to use competing social networks, such as Facebook, Instagram, Truth Social or Mastodon. The wave of criticism caused by this measure, which was eliminated hours later by the platform, led the magnate himself to apologize in a tweet. “In the future, there will be a vote for major policy changes. My apologies. It won’t happen again,” he promised. A calculated change Experts in social networks consulted by ABC point out that the decision of the tycoon to put his position in the hands of the users has not been, in any case, visceral, but has been well calculated. «This is the Time.news of a death foretold. It is difficult for a character of his size to dedicate so much time to a ruinous company that was also causing him problems in terms of reputation, “says Ferrán Lalueza, professor of Communication at the Open University of Catalonia. Lalueza points out that since Musk took control of the social network, he has been making movements, most of them erratic, aimed at improving the operation and economic profitability of the platform. His way of running the social network has had direct effects on his other companies, especially Tesla, whose shares have lost 57% of their value so far in 2022. According to US media, analysts, Musk’s departure from Twitter would benefit the rest of his business. Especially to the car firm. Under Musk’s leadership, Twitter has begun taking steps toward becoming something different than it was in the days of the previous leadership. Musk tried to convince users to pay an $8 monthly subscription by adding new features to the paid Twitter Blue service. New features have also been announced, such as the incorporation of end-to-end encryption in messages or the possibility of sharing longer tweets. Despite the presumably good intentions of the businessman, for the moment, the changes made have only caused the losses of Twitter, a company that had been in the red for almost a decade, to increase. Erratic movements In the opinion of Nacho de Pinedo, co-founder of the ISDI digital business school, the businessman has exercised a “chaotic” direction; In addition, he points out that his business vision and the communication strategy that he has used to promote the tool, through a personal tweet, have completely collided. “From a business standpoint, buying Twitter with the intention of improving the app makes sense. The company has been in deficit for a long time and did nothing to change what it was and improve its situation, “says the expert. This chaos, as he points out, has been produced by the “incendiary communication” of the tycoon, who “has led the discourse of the business model that was wanted to be applied in different ways than those that were due”: “A good example was the opening of Twitter to conflicting accounts, something that has been of great concern to advertisers.” In less than two months that Musk has held the CEO role, major advertisers have turned their backs on the network. “Like a toy” In the event that, finally, it is confirmed that the tycoon leaves the address of the social network, Lalueza expects the social network to make several changes, especially at the communicative level. And it is that, during the last weeks, Elon Musk has become the only authorized spokesman for the company. “Musk has been treating Twitter like a toy, and with so much controversy he has been on the verge of breaking it,” says the professor at the Open University of Catalonia. MORE INFORMATION noticia No Elon Musk loses his survey to continue being the head of Twitter noticia No Elon Musk appears with Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, in the final of the World Cup in Qatar «We are not going to find a return to Twitter prior to Elon Musk; there will continue to be changes, but they will surely respond more to business logic”, concludes the teacher. De Pinedo explains that “the entrepreneur’s mistakes have caused the discontent of many users.”