Star at the new list and stay up-to-date with everything about new media
Editor's note: On April 25, Twitter announced that it was accepting Elon Musk's $44 billion privatization deal. It will also be one of the largest acquisitions in the history of the tech industry. What ups and downs have gone through before and after this transaction? What will happen next on Twitter?
This article is reprinted with permission from Aifaner (ID: ifanr), and the author is Leng Sizhen. The views expressed in the article do not represent the position of the new list, please contact the original author for reprinting.
Even the most seasoned fans of American dramas will be shocked by the ultra-fast pace of Musk and Twitter's acquisition story.
In less than half a month, this story has experienced friendly meetings, public opinion wars, public insults, robbery, and finally the dust has settled. If you look back at this story with a series of news headlines, everything should be:
1. Musk, Twitter's largest new shareholder, who holds 9.2% of the shares, is about to join the board
2. Musk declined to join the board, saying he would buy Twitter for $43 billion
3. "Poison Pill Project" to issue a large number of new shares? Twitter wants to block Musk's acquisition
4. Twitter accepts Musk's $44 billion acquisition proposal, where will Musk's money come from?
5. Twitter founders respond to acquisitions: Elon Musk is the only solution I trust
Rob Musk
Refuse to return to the old Trump
Whether you want to or not, willing or unwilling, Musk's acquisition of Twitter is basically a foregone conclusion. As for the series of suggestions, votes, and visions he previously posted on Twitter, he may already be on the way.
This is blue star earth's most sensational tech news in recent times, not one of them. Musk's different acquisition stories than before also satisfy the curiosity of the audience - without so many negotiations and agreements that most people do not understand, a few tweets, a war of public opinion, a vote that everyone can participate in, and the floating stock price at the speed of light, a buyout war ended without bloodshed.
Before you understand how twitter's "poison pill plan" can block Musk's acquisition, Musk has developed a package short selling plan. Twitter almost can't wait to surrender, things are going so smoothly, viewers will even be a little surprised that Twitter is vulnerable, and gave up so quickly?
The war between Twitter and Musk ended quickly
In fact, the two are not a phenomenal player at all. Everybody's scolding Twitter, but a lot of people love Musk.
Twitter users are scolding Twitter — you never do the features we want; you can't do anything in the face of online violence; you have to pull a fight; don't seal the water army and seal the real people. It can be said that users live on this platform, and users cannot do without this platform, but users also hate this platform.
And Twitter, a platform that users hate, also loves its opponent Musk in the first half month. He posted more than 15,000 pieces of content on Twitter, even because he received a 2,000W fine on Twitter, he still maintained his "original intention" and dared to say and do it on social platforms. This kind of honest and honest (whether true or not) statement has made Musk the number one influencer in all walks of life.
Musk's "candor" on social platforms has caused him a lot of trouble
There are so many people selling cars, building tunnels, making acquisitions, launching rockets, investing in solar energy, and trying brain-computer interfaces, but only one Musk can make your headlines. The more things you do, the more people who pay attention to Musk, the more people who pay attention to him, the easier it is for Musk to "do things", which may be the "Matthew effect" of super Internet celebrity Musk, the strong are always strong, and the weaker the weak.
Compared with Musk, who does not play cards according to common sense, Twitter's style of doing things seems to be far from trendy and not newsworthy enough. So the "Poison Pill Project" is just a plan, after all, everyone feels that the "Package Short Plan" is not just a plan for Musk. In the hegemonic president literature, Musk is the domineering president who is rich and powerful, and Twitter is the traditional company that is unwilling to change.
The victorious Musk
It's just that there is another male/female protagonist missing from this domineering president "Wen". Cp's colleague who was enchanted thought: "This is for Trump, the midterm elections are about to start, it is time to regain the right to speak." You banned Trump, and now I'm going to make enemies of the world for him."
Of course, CP lovers who are caught in the fire will just look at it, because Trump is not appreciative. Musk has succeeded, but Trump has told Fox News that he has no intention of returning to Twitter and will continue to use his own social networking site, TRUTH Social.
But then again, why didn't Trump "rob Twitter" back then? My guess is that there is no Musk as much influencer, nor as rich as Musk.
Trump and TRUTH Social
Six consecutive pushes to push old friends
The only solution is Ma Yilong
Musk successfully acquired Twitter, standing and talking without waist pain and choosing to watch the hilarity from a distance is many people. There are also many opponents, and Senator Warren, who likes to curb the development of technology giants the most, said:
It's dangerous, and a billionaire will determine how millions of people have the opportunity to communicate with each other. It is about the concentration of power. Concentration of power means less competition, and ultimately only one or a few people decide who speaks, who is heard, and who is shut down.
But at the same time, Musk's acquisition also has a loyal supporter, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey.
Twitter founder Jack Dorsey
This support is most likely due to the fact that they share a common enemy– the Twitter board. Since Musk's acquisition of Twitter publicly, Dorsey has been silently inserting a knife into Twitter, alluding to the dysfunction of the board of directors, saying that the existence of the board is the reason why the company has been running badly.
Musk and Dorsey are still very familiar, and may be able to be considered friends. Both are successful entrepreneurs, very rich, but also a lot of development, but also the technical personnel step by step to today, they also have a common hobby - Dogecoin, Bitcoin.
In previous forum activities, Musk and Dorsey discussed whether Twitter should consider accepting customers to buy ads with cryptocurrencies. At that time, the answer was of course, and now his friend Musk may really be able to turn this "of course" into "planned".
A lot of the same points and views on things make Musk and Dorsey think similarly about Twitter's development path, and they both support a decentralized, inclusive community environment. So after the dust settled on the acquisition, Dorsey sent 6 tweets in a row to express his expectations for Musk.
Similar founders and acquirers. Image credit: The Times
He first shared a song from "Everything Is In Its Right Place" and said he thought it was the right answer. Multiple tweets followed sharing his expectations of Twitter and his confidence in Musk.
"I love Twitter, it's the closest thing we have to global awareness."
"For me, the idea and service are the most important, and I will do everything I can to protect both." In my opinion, the existence of Twitter as a company is the problem and my biggest regret. It's already owned by Wall Street and the advertising model, and taking it back from Wall Street is the right first step. ”
"In principle, I don't think anyone should own or run Twitter, it should be a public good at the level of protocols, not a company." However, what we need to solve is the problem of Internet companies, and Elon is the only solution I trust. I believe his mission is to expand the light of consciousness. ”
"I am pleased that Twitter will continue to serve the public conversation. Travel the world and even into the universe! ”
Elon's goal of creating a platform of "maximum trust and broad inclusion" is right. It is also @paraga. The goal of [the current Twitter CEO] is why I chose him. Thank you both for getting the company out of the way and on the right path. ”
In Dorsey's remarks, he determined that Musk was the only right solution for Twitter.
Dorsey's Twitter
Future Twitter
Probably very Chinese
So, what might Twitter look like in the future?
"I want even my worst critics to stay on Twitter, because that's what free speech is all about." Musk's remarks, announcing the success of his acquisition, have left human rights groups fearing that hate speech will be out of control, and conspiracy theories may also be widely circulated on social networks.
Twitter lags behind other platforms in the early competition, and a very important reason is that the platform does not interfere with users, resulting in many well-known users leaving the platform in hatred and threats. But don't worry too much, because from Musk's remarks after the success of the acquisition, he already has some directions, and these directions will be familiar to domestic users.
Enhance the attractiveness of your product with new features
Build trust through algorithmic open source
Make Twitter better by fighting bots and authenticating user information
New features, including but not limited to Musk's previous edit buttons for public voting on Twitter, which have long existed on Weibo, as well as short videos, live broadcasts, and audio sharing with you that have been caught up by other platforms because of missed opportunities. Specifically, Twitter's existing features may also change, and Musk has previously said that he hopes that Twitter Blue users can get cheaper subscription prices, hide ads and offer cryptocurrency payment options.
Musk's publicity twitter
Another algorithm is open source to build public trust before it is rarely mentioned, some people speculate that it is directly open Twitter information display algorithm, let users know why I will brush this post at this time, users can even carry out personal customization on this basis, so that the algorithm content of this information is more suitable for their reading habits.
However, this speculation is still too bold, after all, there are many large factories that publish their own algorithms, but there is no big factory that directly announces the core algorithm. After all, publicizing the core algorithm also means that the black industry will better understand your logic, and the most concerned about the algorithm is never an ordinary user. If these algorithms are really announced, Taobao may be easier to brush orders, Weibo marketing numbers are more likely to come out, and the content popularity of platforms such as Toutiao is more traceable.
The last one is what domestic platforms continue to do, cracking down on the water army and the real-name system. Musk has mentioned the topic of free speech, how to ensure that the entire ecology does not collapse because of freedom, perhaps limited freedom. With your name on it, you can say anything you like, but only if you take responsibility for what you say, and in the case of online violence and online rumors, the prosecutor can find you through your Twitter.
Fighting water troops, zombie numbers, robot accounts is what all platforms are doing. These accounts may be used to launch cyberbully attacks, spread gambling information, and spread false rumors. It can be said that the elimination of these accounts will have many potential benefits for the ecology of the platform and the user's experience.
No matter how Twitter's products change, we hope that the existence of Musk, the topic maker, will allow us to see something new in a world where social products are repetitive, imitated, and highly similar.
Add the above WeChat please note the name company and intention
About the new list
As a data-driven Internet content technology company, Xinbang provides a series of new media content marketing and enterprise service products to help Chinese enterprises acquire and manage digital content assets, serve the content industry, and serve the content industry.
Our clients include Ping An of China, Tencent, ByteDance, JD.com, Procter & Gamble, Estée Lauder, L'Oréal, Unilever, Disney and other Fortune 500 companies, as well as growing smoges, emerging brands and MCN institutions. For the construction of content-based organizations for enterprises, the new list provides all the necessaries from public domain traffic collection and distribution to private domain content operation and construction.
"New media, find new lists" is our mission. With comprehensive and stable new media content data products and enterprise service capabilities, Xinbang has been rated as a national high-tech enterprise, and has won the titles of "First Prize of National Content Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition", "Top Ten Cultural Enterprises in Shanghai", "Annual Award for Contribution to New Media in China Advertising", "Golden Lion International Advertising Film Award", "Sullivan China New Economy Outstanding Growth Award" and other titles, and has a number of communication evaluation and monitoring patents.