SOCIAL MEDIA TODAY - In a new SEC filing, Musk reported that he had secured ~$7B in additional funding commitments to solidify his $44B Twitter takeover bid. Musk plans to increase Twitter's user base from the 229M DAU it has now, to 600M by 2025, then to 931M by 2028. The roadmap also outlines a 5x increase in Twitter revenue by 2028, rising from $5B in 2021 to $26.5B. Advertising income, currently amounting to 90% of Twitter's intake, will reduce to ~45% of the company's revenue. Musk plans to cut ~1K staff at Twitter over the next year, before adding ~2.7K new employees by 2025.
579 posts categorized "Twitter"
Musk Plans to Increase Twitter's User Base by ~200% Over the Next 3 Years
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Top Twitter Execs Are out Following Musk Deal
TECH CRUNCH - Twitter GM of Consumer, Kayvon Beykpour, announced that he will be leaving the company after seven years. Bruce Falck, Twitter's Revenue Product Lead, is also departing. The VP of Consumer Products Jay Sullivan will now become the new GM of Bluebird and interim GM of Goldbird. The departure follows Elon Musk's decision to acquire Twitter and take it in a direction that's focused more on "free speech."
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Elon Musk Says His Twitter Plans Align With EU's New Social-Media Rules
WALL STREET JOURNAL - Elon Musk said his plans for Twitter are aligned with new EU rules aimed at compelling social-media companies to do more to police illegal content, after his initial vision for the platform raised concerns among regulators in Europe. Musk has said Twitter should be more cautious about removing content and permanently banning users but hasn't given precise details on how the company's policies could change.
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TikTok Scores High in Advertiser and Consumer Interest
DIGITAL INFORMATION WORLD - A recent study conducted by a leading digital intelligence firm called Similarweb has revealed that TikTok is leading the way while Twitter and Meta's Facebook are struggling at maintaining that strong foothold. From the perspective of the advertiser, TikTok experienced a 199% growth when compared to 2021. While Facebook saw a 22% growth, Twitter witnessed a growth of 3.6% only. The report also delineated how a lot of the advertisers were impressed by the abundance of short videos and the great period that the platform’s users were spending on the app.
by Dr Hura Anwar
See full article at Digital Information World
See the top news on TikTok
See the top news on Meta
See the top news on Twitter
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Andreessen Support for Musk-Twitter Bid May Pose Meta Conflict
BLOOMBERG - Andreessen Horowitz invested $400M in Elon Musk's Twitter bid, backing Facebook's rival even though partner Marc Andreessen is on the social networking giant's board. On Twitter, Andreessen has been publicly supportive of Musk, and against the content-moderation policies that have become stricter at social media companies. Musk has said he plans to loosen the rules if he takes charge of Twitter.
by Sarah Frier, Katie Roof & Maxwell Adler
See full article at Bloomberg
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Twitter's Decentralized, Open-source Offshoot Released Its First Code
THE VERGE - Bluesky, Twitter's open-source offshoot, has released early code for a decentralized social network protocol. The system is dubbed the Authenticated Data Experiment (or ADX) and is available on GitHub for developers to test, although Bluesky emphasizes that it's incomplete. It's one of the most substantive windows into Bluesky's workings since the project was conceived in 2019 and formally incorporated in early 2022.
by Adi Robertson
See full article at The Verge
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Twitter Circle, a 'Close Friends'-like Feature, Is Testing
TECH CRUNCH - Twitter Circle, the app's spin on an Instagram-like "Close Friends" feature, is finally testing. Now, a small number of users can shitpost to their 150 closest friends as the feature enters a live testing phase.
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Twitter Admits to Risk of Losing Advertisers and Staff Due to Musk Takeover
TECH CRUNCH - Twitter acknowledged in a new SEC filing that its core advertising business could now be at risk as a result of the Elon Musk takeover, in addition to employee hiring and retention efforts and other factors. While Musk's vision for Twitter is one of a more free speech-focused platform, he hasn't offered assurances to Twitter's advertiser base that Twitter will remain "brand safe," post-acquisition.
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'Tired' Twitter CEO Admits Regrets During All-hands Meeting: Leaked Audio
NY POST - Workers pressed Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and other top executives at the social media giant to provide answers to lingering questions about Musk's $44B buyout - including the likelihood that Twitter will conduct layoffs once the deal closes, according to leaked audio from the all-hands meeting. An employee described Agrawal - who will reportedly get a $42M payout upon completion of the deal - as appearing "tired and at times annoyed" during the meeting, even as he attempted to assuage workers' fears.
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Elon Musk Wants to 'Authenticate All Real Humans' on Twitter
CNN - Elon Musk's Twitter feed states that he will "authenticate all real humans." Musk could seek to require real names on accounts or require photo id, or integration with 3rd-party services where users are already known. His pet peeve is spam accounts.
Facebook made changes to its names policy in 2015 after critics pointed out that abuse victims and other vulnerable groups had good reasons to use pseudonyms. Users can provide reasons to the company why they avoid using their real names.
by Brian Fung
See full article at CNN
Mark Brooks: Behavior changes considerably when people are anonymous. Online social communities really need to know and assure that real humans are behind each profile, and are 'good actors.' No small task, but at least the ability to check liveness and verify someone is the same person as in their photo is easy with FaceTec. We also have the purpose-built RealMe which provides the ability to verify someone is real, and the state of their reputation and priors. (Full Disclosure: FaceTec and RealMe are clients of Courtland Brooks)
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Elon Musk Proposes Features Exclusive for Twitter Blue Users
MONEY CONTROL - In a series of tweets, Elon Musk has come up with some key suggestions for Twitter Blue, a paid monthly subscription that offers access to premium features and customizations. The Tesla CEO suggested that all users signing up for Twitter Blue should get an authentication checkmark - one that is different from "official account" blue tick and should have no advertisements. He also said that with ads, corporations have a larger say in policy if Twitter is dependent on advertising money.
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Twitter Is Protecting Its Source Code From Disgruntled Employees
TECH CRUNCH - Apr 27 Twitter locked down its source code to prevent unauthorized changes. This change was made to prevent employees from "going rogue" and sabotaging the platform after Elon Musk's $44B purchase of the company. Currently, a vice president must approve any changes.
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Twitter Accepts Elon Musk's $44B Acquisition Offer
TECH CRUNCH - Twitter has announced that it has accepted Musk's offer to acquire the publicly traded company at $54.20/share, valuing the social media platform at $44B.
by Ingrid Lunden & Taylor Hatmaker
See full article at Tech Crunch
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Twitter Is Testing a 'CC' Button for Video Captions
TECH CRUNCH - Twitter is testing test a "CC" button that will let users turn video captions on or off. The feature is rolling out to some iOS users and will be coming to Android users soon. A video posted by the social media shows that the CC button will appear in the top-right corner of a video that has captions available.
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Musk Secures $46.5B in Funding for Twitter Bid
REUTERS - Elon Musk has lined up $46.5B in debt and equity financing to buy Twitter. Banks, including Morgan Stanley, have agreed to provide another $13B in debt secured against Twitter itself. Musk has made several announcements on the platform, including some that have landed him in hot water with US regulators.
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