Some less ideal thoughts on twitter acquisition

As a former social media builder, here are some thoughts on what Elon wanted to do with twitter post acquisition.

While he claimed the move is gonna unlock the potential of twitter. Here is why it may not be the case.

So, there are 5 things he mentioned across different channels.
1. open-source algorithms
2. reduce reliance on ads
3. eliminate spams and bots
4. enable longer tweets
5. enable edits

open-source algorithms — ideal case is users know what content they are fed with and why, and make collective improvement.

A more realistic viewpoint is, “scientists” would exploit the mechanism and exploit the transparency, making twitter a worse community. See NFT servers.

reduce reliance on ads — 86% of twitter’s revenue comes from advertising. The rest is from data licensing.

While twitter blue has not recorded strong tractions, will they be going further on data licensing? drill deeper into user behavior? that calls for privacy concerns.

eliminate spams and bots — an overdue task should have been done for so long.

fake accounts should deserve some attention. Many vitalik dm me every day requesting eth.

enable longer tweets — a very interesting yet debatable point. imo, twitter is more of a global conversation network instead of a social media heavily fueled with content.

I am not sure how they would extend the word limits but this may very likely alter the product logic.

precise tweets are a core element that defines the culture here. The alteration may require serious split testing before making it final. But to me, this is more of a feature for twitter than an optimization the team needs to work on.

enable edits — the current non-editable implementation was meant to prevent change of content once it’s widely spread to ensure authenticity.

A middle ground would likely be a change-log to show previous versions or a short edit window for those fat fingers.

all in all, while victory for free speech is well celebrated. The biggest challenge is how we draw the line between upholding free speech and fighting against fake news. How to determine?

When a social media platform grows into global scale, it shares the penetration of radio spectrum. Shutting one out from social media is no different from banishing one to no man land.

Glad to see Elon welcomes his ‘worst critics’ to stay on twitter.