Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter/X, is floating an idea that he's had before to remedy the problem of social media bots: charging people to use social media.
He wants people to pay for a “service” (lol) that is now FAR WORSE than it was when it was free (in every single way) + one that doesn’t even work correctly.
Initially? Maybe… But a big part of Twitter is just people sharing links of celebrity posters with one another casually. It would have eaten away the base of all the casual users. And then celebrity engagement would sag, which would discourage them from using the platform. It would have been a slower death spiral.
But with competing services ramping up and people already migrating away by degrees, the old networks that made Twitter valuable are breaking down. Why pay to put up with this shit when you can be on Reddit or Threads or WorldStar for free instead?
I maybe click a link to the site every couple of weeks if it’s a source on something I can’t get elsewhere, but then that I can’t see any replies or whatever without logging in just makes me glad I left.
And I was a big user. 10k followers, 100+ likes on most posts I made. Elon hacked it to pieces of course, but it was mortally wounded by the 2018 algo change.
That may have worked at the beginning but if they do that now, X is officially dead.
Someone explain to me why I’m wrong please.
You are correct.
He wants people to pay for a “service” (lol) that is now FAR WORSE than it was when it was free (in every single way) + one that doesn’t even work correctly.
Initially? Maybe… But a big part of Twitter is just people sharing links of celebrity posters with one another casually. It would have eaten away the base of all the casual users. And then celebrity engagement would sag, which would discourage them from using the platform. It would have been a slower death spiral.
But with competing services ramping up and people already migrating away by degrees, the old networks that made Twitter valuable are breaking down. Why pay to put up with this shit when you can be on Reddit or Threads or WorldStar for free instead?
Why are people still there anyway? I hear I can’t leave because of the people. I think this well work for the people still there.
Old habits die hard and the networking effect is strong
I maybe click a link to the site every couple of weeks if it’s a source on something I can’t get elsewhere, but then that I can’t see any replies or whatever without logging in just makes me glad I left.
And I was a big user. 10k followers, 100+ likes on most posts I made. Elon hacked it to pieces of course, but it was mortally wounded by the 2018 algo change.
I hope he does it, I want more people on Bluesky…
Looks interesting, invite only it appears though.