Editor’s Update: Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover is complete. He now owns it and has been actively tweeting about changes that will impact content creators.
This will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022
Billionaire meme lord Elon Musk is in the news again. What did he do this time, you ask?
He bought Twitter. For $44 billion. Yes, that’s a B there.
Don’t worry, our minds are blown just as much as yours.
This takeover got us thinking, though. What does Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover mean for influencers and content creators?
Musk is probably the only person who can answer this with any accuracy, but let’s try and decipher it with what information we have at hand.
How does Elon’s Twitter takeover impact influencers?
In his announcement, Musk said he was buying Twitter to “protect free speech and not make money.” That means there will be a higher tolerance for what anyone might deem as offensive.
Currently, Twitter maintains a strong vigilance against disinformation, harassment, and hate speech. The takeover will mean that any tweets that fall into a grey area will be kept around. The rules will be looser.
Oh, and does it mean Donald Trump will be back on Twitter too? If you really care about an answer, then yes, it’s possible we might see the orange man back!
I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022
Introduction of the edit button
As an influencer who makes money through Twitter, you probably miss the edit feature you get on Facebook, Instagram, and other socials. If you make a mistake in your tweet, it either stays there or you end up deleting the tweet.
Once Musk has the keys to the Twitter office, you will be able to fiddle around with your tweets. Twitter will be getting an ‘edit your tweet’ button, and it will do exactly what it says it will do. Edit your tweet.
Although, we can’t really lay this feat at Elon’s feet. Twitter was already working on releasing an edit button. The takeover just happened at a fortuitous timing.
How exactly that will work, is something we don’t know yet. There might be a small PSA that says (Edited) somewhere near the tweet, so your followers know you changed it.
That’s a win for many people. But concerns around the misuse of the edit feature remain, but we are sure the powers-to-be have thought it through. Right?
Protecting free speech and its impact on influencers
Free speech looks good on paper but is harder to pull off. It’s also difficult to maintain since it can often be used to harass or troll people. And influencers are often at the most risk of getting trolled.
With Elon promising to protect free speech, the threshold in the moderation of content will rise. So while you can choose who can reply to your tweets currently that might change in the future.
Musk is also of the opinion of showing leniency in deleting tweets/accounts. Simply being ‘offensive’ might not warrant deletion as long as the contents of tweets are legal.
Extermination of bots
One of the most frustrating #thngs for a Twitter influencer has to be bot replies and DMs. It has armies of them, and they pose a serious threat to the user experience. Elon plans to double down on eliminating all the bots on the platform.
If he and the team at Twitter succeed, we’ll start seeing more organic engagement on Tweets. An influencer’s reach and interactions will be with real people, and their numbers are going to be legit.
Subscription model for Twitter
Call it a plan or random musings but Elon wants to charge a ‘slight fee’ fromcome Twitter users. Now, keep in mind that a subscription-based model of Twitter already exists, called Twitter Blue.
Twitter will always be free for casual users, but maybe a slight cost for commercial/government users
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 3, 2022
Twitter Blue offers an ad-free experience, an “undo-tweet” option, and other benefits to its users. But this new subscription model could be more than that.
Does it mean influencers and content creators on Twitter will also have to pay a fee? Details remain unclear for now.
Real-person authentication
So far, Twitter verification is open to people in the public domain and of relevance. While you, as an influencer, have a shot at getting verified, what about your followers?
Elon plans to introduce authentication standards that will verify real users. This will also help in cutting down the number of bot accounts, so it’s a good step.
Will the new verified users have the same blue badge as the celebs? Probably not. Only time will tell how the verification will take place and how the accounts will be authenticated. But in theory, the concept is pretty dope. We need a few fake accounts as possible.
Why has Twitter not done anything about bots and fake accounts before?
A key aspect of Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover is that he wants to take the company private. Currently, Twitter is a publicly-traded company. If they took down bot accounts, their number of users would go down. That, in turn, would plummet their stocks.
FYI, in the grand scheme of #thngs, taking the company private will prove good for your influencer journey.
Note: At the time of writing this blog, Elon has put the Twitter deal on hold. According to the primary calculations, Twitter claims that out of their 217+ million users, only 5% are spam/fake/bot accounts. Depending on the official confirmation, the deal will then go through. So, for better or for worse—fingers crossed!
Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of usershttps://t.co/Y2t0QMuuyn
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 13, 2022
