Behind Musk's acquisition of Twitter

Text/Meng Yonghui

Musk eventually bought Twitter. Although it was earlier reported that Twitter launched the "poison pill plan" for Musk's acquisition, from the real situation, this plan may not have been implemented and failed. There is a lot of analysis about Musk's acquisition of Twitter and its impact. Some people think that Musk's acquisition of Twitter can save Tesla a lot of advertising costs; some people think that Musk is controlling public opinion by acquiring Twitter; others say that Musk's acquisition of Twitter is actually paving the way for future presidential campaigns. No matter which view, we can see that Musk's shot has also triggered heated discussion in the outside world.

It has to be said that these arguments about Musk's acquisition of Twitter are more or less reasonable. However, if we only attribute The reason for Musk's acquisition of Twitter to this, without placing Musk's acquisition of Twitter in the context of a large social market, without placing Musk's acquisition of Twitter in his business landscape, I think we can't get the real internal logic of Musk's acquisition of Twitter anyway.

Therefore, I am more willing to look at Musk's acquisition of Twitter from a new perspective, especially from the perspective of "conspiracy theory" to re-examine Musk's acquisition of Twitter. Perhaps only then can we truly draw the truest and truest intrinsic reason for Musk's acquisition of Twitter.

The social industry needs a change

According to Musk himself, the most fundamental reason why he will acquire Twitter is to create a platform for people to speak freely, and optimize the existing algorithms of social platforms to change the current operating logic of the social industry. Since Musk has this idea, can we draw a conclusion from another side, that is, there are indeed many problems in the current social industry.

Indeed, looking at Facebook's frequent transformations, we can see how tormented Zuckerberg's heart is. This also shows that with the operating logic of the existing social industry, many of those seemingly glamorous social platforms are actually gritting their teeth. Therefore, the social industry needs a change, and such a change is not limited to freedom of speech and algorithms themselves, but more deeply into the inherent operating logic and business model of the company itself.

Therefore, when we look at Musk's acquisition of Twitter, we need to look at it more from the perspective that the social industry needs a change, rather than just focusing on the harvest itself. The author believes that such a change in the social industry is not limited to zuckerberg-style changes that only stay in technology, but more deeply into what functions and roles the social industry should really assume, and what role it should play.

When we look at Musk's acquisition of Twitter, we need to start more from the inside out of the social industry itself, rather than just blindly keeping Musk's acquisition of Twitter just in some aspects. Only then can we truly find the true inner logic of Musk's acquisition of Twitter.

Musk needs a vocal platform

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, many people believe that Musk's acquisition of Twitter is more about saving a large amount of advertising money for the business empire he has built. From this perspective alone, Musk's acquisition of Twitter is a sure-to-lose deal. However, if you just stop at the level of saving advertising costs by Oxford's acquisition of Twitter, in fact, you still only see one of these aspects.

Unlike just saving advertising dollars, I prefer to see Musk's acquisition of Twitter as a process in which he wants to build a complete, controllable business ecosystem. Some people may say that even if Musk does not acquire, he can still rely on the shares of social platforms such as Twitter to control public opinion. However, what we also need to see is that instead of just having a certain voice, it is better to gain control of a social platform.

Once he gains control of a social platform, he can follow his own logic and follow his own plan to transform his business empire and realize the transformation of social platforms. I prefer to see Musk's acquisition of Twitter as a process of building a platform for himself, that is, twitter as part of his own business ecosystem, so as to make the operation of his business empire smoother and more complete.

Looking at Musk's business layout, we can also see such a hint. Musk has Tesla, Mars exploration, and Dogecoin, he really needs a vocal platform to promote such a huge business empire he has laid out, and to connect such a business empire he has laid out. How to achieve this goal, acquiring Twitter and creating a platform for self-voice is undoubtedly the most important step.

Twitter isn't just Twitter itself

Just seeing Twitter as a social platform, just seeing Musk's acquisition of Twitter as an acquisition, is not entirely true. Through the transformation and upgrading of Facebook, we can feel very clearly that the so-called social platform is not just the social platform itself, but has more connotations and meanings.

Now, the Facebook we see is fully embracing the metaverse, in fact, long before the layout of the metaverse, Zuckerberg also laid out the blockchain, laid out the digital currency Libra. This shows that the so-called social platform is not just the social platform itself, it has more external connotations and meanings. Therefore, when we look at Musk's acquisition of Twitter, we can't just focus on Twitter itself, but on Twitter's more extension.

I think that the reason why Musk bought Twitter is more to turn Twitter into a more integrated, more diversified existence, more precisely, he wants to turn Twitter into a facebook presence that is more facebook than Facebook. Simply put, Musk just wants Twitter to follow Facebook's path and develop better than Facebook. Therefore, Musk's acquisition of Twitter is not only about Twitter's social attributes, not just about Twitter's control of public opinion, but more about the more possibilities derived from Twitter itself.

In fact, long before the acquisition of Twitter, Musk had already made statements on Twitter similar to Dogecoin, similar to blockchain, and similar to Bitcoin. One of the important reasons why Musk will make such remarks and achieve certain results is that in his eyes, the so-called Twitter is not just Twitter itself, but more wants to bring Twitter to a more comprehensive and diversified state of development.

So acquisitions, perhaps, are just the beginning. In the future, Musk will also carry out a series of transformations on Twitter. We can't rule out that Twitter will have new explorations in the future in blockchain, metaverse, and even some other areas, because the social platform itself is a existence with which everything can be linked. Jumping out of Twitter is just Twitter itself to look at Musk's acquisition of Twitter, and we may be able to come up with a more perfect and comprehensive answer.

conclusion

Just attributing Musk's acquisition of Twitter to the acquisition itself, or reducing it to saving advertising costs itself, is actually not able to fully grasp the internal logic of Musk's acquisition of Twitter. Jumping out of the fixed thinking that has been formed, looking at Musk's acquisition of Twitter from a new perspective, and placing the acquisition in the context of the social industry and under Musk's business map, we can truly find the connotation and significance of Musk's acquisition of Twitter.

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Author: Meng Yonghui, Senior Contributor, Columnist, Special Commentator, Industry Research Expert, Strategic Consultant. A daily article, long-term focus on industry research, providing deep thinking and hardcore dry goods. Support the sharing of the author's source, please retain the author's copyright information when reprinting, and the offender will be investigated.