Social – Page 10

Elon Musk refutes Twitter layoff timing to affect year-end compensation • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 30, 2022Posted in Apps, Elon Musk, elon musk buys twitter, Social, TwitterNo Comments

Elon Musk, Chief Twit, has refuted claims from a New York Times report this weekend that states he plans to lay off employees before Tuesday, November 1, thus cutting staff off from receiving stock grants as part of their compensation. In response to a tweet from Eric Umansky, deputy managing editor of ProPublica, that said Musk was “making sure to fire people at Twitter before part of their year-end compensation kicks in on Tuesday,” Musk said: “This is false.” He didn’t provide any clarification about what, specifically, was false. Umansky’s tweet included a screenshot of a highlighted portion of the NYT story that also noted stock grants make up a significant portion of an employee’s pay, and by laying off workers before that date, Musk may avoid paying the grants. Musk did not respond to ZebethMedia’s request for clarification on whether the layoffs will affect stock compensation. He may very well have been refuting the entire NYT article, which stated Musk is said to have ordered job cuts across the company, citing “four people with knowledge of the matter.” But that seems unlikely, given the layoffs that are already underway. Previous reports said Musk would layoff 75% of Twitter’s staff, but last week when the executive visited Twitter headquarters, he said those numbers weren’t correct. Still, reports have been surfacing about various layoffs at the social media company, including of top Twitter executives like CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, General Counsel Sean Edgett and Head of Legal Policy, Trust and Safety Vijaya Gadde. Musk’s $44 billion deal to purchase Twitter went through late on Thursday last week. The New York Stock Exchange stopped trading Twitter’s stock on Friday morning, where it had been listed since 2013. Twitter will officially be delisted from the stock exchange on November 8. Current shareholders will be paid $54.20, Musks’s buying price, per share. It’s not clear how Twitter’s now-private status will affect current employees with stock grants.

Let’s check in on community-focused startups • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 29, 2022Posted in chief, clubhouse, EC Media, On Deck, Social, StartupsNo Comments

Over the past few years, community has been a buzzword for tech startups looking to sell a product or service based on their definition of a useful network. The pandemic stress-tested these business models, with some companies seeing that consumers weren’t willing to pay fees in exchange for advice they could find on Twitter, while others realized that focusing on a target user was more important than finding the biggest total addressable market possible. It’s part of the reason I had so much fun interviewing founders from Clubhouse and Chief last week at ZebethMedia Disrupt. I spoke to the founders of these companies to understand how they’ve evolved to deal with a bewildering new normal, and while a social audio app and a private membership community for women in leadership are quite different in strategy, they shared the same vibe: Less is more. Clubhouse’s product-market fit Paul Davison, Clubhouse co-founder and CEO, was fast to address what others described as Clubhouse’s fall from grace. He said that the app’s early hype saw it grow 10x in users month over month, a boom that broke a lot of the underlying infrastructure of the app. For months, he said, people had a bad experience on the app because of tech issues and the inability to find a room that matched their interests.

GM pauses paid advertising on Twitter as Chief Twit Elon Musk takes ownership • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 29, 2022Posted in Elon Musk, General Motors, Social, Transportation, TwitterNo Comments

General Motors has temporarily paused paid advertising on Twitter, one day after billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk finalized a $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform. CNBC was the first to report GM’s decision. ZebethMedia confirmed the U.S. automaker’s decision. “We are engaging with Twitter to understand the direction of the platform under their new ownership,” the company said in an emailed statement to ZebethMedia. “As is normal course of business with a significant change in a media platform, we have temporarily paused our paid advertising. Our customer care interactions on Twitter will continue.” It’s unclear what percentage of GM’s total advertising budget is dedicated to Twitter. Most, if not all, automakers have a presence on Twitter. Although not all of them opt for paid advertising. Ford, GM, Stellantis, Porsche, VW and Volvo are just a handful of the established automakers along with newer companies like Rivian that have social media accounts on the platform. Fisker is still on Twitter even after its founder and CEO Henrik Fisker deleted his personal account in April following the announcement of the Musk-Twitter deal. Musk tried to quell advertisers’ fear earlier this week with a note posted on his personal Twitter account about his intended approach to running the social media platform. “There has been much speculation about why I bought Twitter and what I think about advertising,” Musk wrote. “Most of it has been wrong.” He went on to write that he believes Twitter has the potential to be a “common digital town square,” and that the platform cannot be “a free-for-all hellscape.” Musk’s promises might not be enough for GM as it seeks to compete and even surpass Tesla in EV sales.

The TwitterMusking and other news • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 28, 2022Posted in Elon Musk, Social, TwitterNo Comments

Lo, the day is upon us: Elon Musk owns the bird app and all that comes with it. Musk’s $44 billion Twitter acquisition has closed, and he fired most of the top people in charge and is now busy learning about this thing he sort of wanted, then didn’t want at all, and now has been at least in part forced to spend a large fortune on. This week I talk with Taylor Hatmaker about the Twitter’s new owner and what it means. I also talk to Amanda Silberling about YouTuber MrBeast’s business, and why a billion-dollar-plus valuation for it makes us nervous. Plus, Kirsten Korosec comes on to talk about the scoop of the week after she broke the news that Argo is shutting down. Be sure to find us and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your podcast app of choice, leave us a rating and a review.

Elon Musk says Twitter will form a ‘content moderation council’ before deciding on Trump • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 28, 2022Posted in Elon Musk, Social, TwitterNo Comments

Elon Musk has only been in control of Twitter for a short time, but he’s already making big moves. Musk fired a number of key executives on day one including Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, but in a new tweet he claims he’ll be moving more slowly when it comes to making content moderation decisions. Musk hasn’t said much since taking over at Twitter, but he will apparently form some kind of policy advisory body to oversee content moderation decisions. Musk said the group will reflect “diverse viewpoints” though we’ll certainly have to wait and see on that one. Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints. No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022 Importantly, Musk says he won’t be making any major decisions or account reinstatements— i.e. restoring former President Donald Trump — before the council is put in place. Because it’s Musk that might happen within hours or it might not happen at all, it’s hard to say. On Thursday, Musk also let go of Vijaya Gadde, a well-respected top policy executive at the company who helped it navigate complex legal and moderation issues for more than 11 years. Getting rid of Gadde was a signal that a new era with different decision making is beginning, for better or worse. The tweet is likely more balm for skittish advertisers wary of Musk immediately turning the platform into an anything-goes mess of harassment, hate and misinformation. While Twitter arguably already meets that description with existing levels of moderation in place, advertisers are watching for any major shifts in the kind of content allowed on the platform and how it might adversely affect their brands. Musk might think this is an original idea, but Twitter already consults a trust and safety council to advise its product and policy decisions. The council — it’s already called a council — consisted initially of 40 organizations and experts that advised it in challenging policy areas. That group served in more of an advisory capacity, and unlike with Meta’s Oversight Board, it wasn’t designed to create binding decisions. First announced in 2016, Twitter expanded the entity in 2020 to form groups dedicated to specific difficult topics, including safety and online harassment, digital rights, child sexual exploitation and suicide prevention. “A lot of what we currently do, such as ongoing meetings with NGOs, activists and other organizations is always part of our process, but we haven’t done enough to share that externally,” Twitter wrote at the time. It’s possible Musk has something more like the Oversight Board in mind when it comes to content moderation decision making, but everything from the people who wind up serving on a hypothetical council to the nature of the group’s impact is likely to be controversial.

Twitter just keeps getting more expensive • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 28, 2022Posted in EC Consumer Applications, EC Newsletter, Elon Musk, Social, The Exchange, TwitterNo Comments

That Elon Musk closed his buy of Twitter this week has been wall-to-wall news. With the former executive team out, jokes in, and Musk now in control of the social service, a long chapter in technology history has been written. Views vary regarding what’s next for Twitter, be it looser content moderation guidelines or the return of certain banned users. What Musk intends to do with his new company — a corporate entity he, variously, wanted to influence, take a board seat in, buy, not buy, and, ultimately, bought — will come clearer in the following weeks and months. You won’t be able to miss the coverage, given the centrality of Twitter to the news cycle and Musk’s ability to keep the press’ attention. The Exchange explores startups, markets and money. Read it every morning on ZebethMedia+ or get The Exchange newsletter every Saturday. But before we wrap up this period of tech history, we’d be remiss to not compare the new value of social companies with the price that Musk is paying for Twitter. It was well-established before the deal closed that Musk was overpaying for Twitter based on the changing value of tech shares since the transaction was agreed on.

The story so far • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 28, 2022Posted in elon musk twitter, SocialNo Comments

Good morning, Elon Musk owns Twitter. We knew it was going to happen (except for the part where Elon fought it tooth and nail) but it’s real now, so let’s catch you up on the whirlwind that was the new “Chief Twit’s” ascension. The week’s festivities kicked off with Elon Musk paying a visit to Twitter HQ, on what we now know was the eve of the official deal close. He used the occasion to make an admittedly kinda funny visual pun about the phrase “let that sink in,” but carrying a sink and literally having Twitter let him and that sink in. Whimsical chaotic energy is definitely Musk’s strong suit so this is expected behavior, even if you can’t imagine any other execs — like, say, Tim Cook, for example — carrying large porcelain objects into office lobbies to announce an acquisition close. Elon Musk carries a sink into Twitter HQ. On the heels of a report that some advertisers might boycott Twitter should Elon lift Donald Trump’s permanent ban, the Muskie posts an extend missive to advertisers trying to explain his logic (“I did it to try to help humanity, whom I love” is exquisite) and ends by assuring them it won’t “become a free-for-all hellscape” under his rule. Bucking the odds-makers, Elon does not reveal the deal close at 4:20 PM PT, but instead the news first trickles out then hits like a wave with near-simultaneous reports across all major outlets on Thursday at around 6 PM PT. That means he beat the deadline set upon him by Delaware Chancery Court Judge Kathaleen McCormick, which was today, October 28. The deadline resulted from the court case that resulted from Elon trying to wriggle out of the deal — in which he floated multiple defenses as an attempt to get out of his $44 billion commitment. Image Credits: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images (collage by ZebethMedia) / Getty Images Musk wasted no time clearing house when he got in: He fired CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Regal, general counsel Sean Edgett and head of legal, trust and safety Vijaya Gadde basically at the same time he was officially handed the keys. Clearly, there was no love lost between Musk and Agrawal. And he’d previously been criticized for posting criticism of Gadde that essentially got her targeted by his sycophantic troll army. Plus, for the Twitter top legal brass, I bet he wasn’t feeling too great about that bit of litigation the deal closing helped him escape. Reports early in this process indicated Elon might want to set himself up as Twitter’s next chief executive — adding a third (fourth? who knows) CEO title to his current LinkedIn profile. That seems to be the case, as reports just following the deal say he’ll put himself in the power spot. It does look like he’s going to be doing that as a temporary measure until he figures out who should occupy the seat long-term. Maybe one of the cronies who were cozying up to him in the message history revealed during the Twitter litigation’s discovery process will get the nod. It’s official: Twitter will delist from the New York Stock Exchange on November 8. That will officially end its tenure as a public company, which began with its IPO in November 2013. Musk is taking it private via his financing vehicle X Holdings I, Inc. which is now sole owner of the company in its entirety. Elon’s first official acknowledgement on Twitter of his new toy post-deal close was a tweet reading simply “the bird is freed.” This was quickly rejoined by European Commission Internet Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, who responded with a reminder that freedom isn’t free. Notably, Breton has previously met with Musk in person and even recorded a video in which he says that he explained to Musk the EU’s Digital Services Act, and in which Musk basically says he’s aligned to everything it contains. 8. Elon discourses with some trolls Musk hasn’t said all that much since the takeover on Twitter, but he has replied to a couple of users who have complained about platform censorship in the past. One is a user called “catturd2” who claims he’s shadowbanned and who tweets COVID misinformation among other things. The other is Canada Proud, a right-wing propagandist group that also spreads COVID misinfo and focuses on attacking Canadian PM Justin Trudeau. That’s the story so far, but there’s going to be plenty more so stay tuned. We’ll update this post as more develops throughout the day and beyond.

Elon Musk fired top Twitter execs including CEO, reports say • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 28, 2022Posted in Elon Musk, Social, TwitterNo Comments

Elon Musk fired key Twitter executives Thursday, one of his first moves as the official owner of the social media platform. According to reports from the New York Times, CNBC, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and other outlets, Musk fired CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, general counsel Sean Edgett, and head of legal policy, trust and safety Vijaya Gadde. The deal is done, according to multiple sources, which is what gave Musk the mandate to clean house among the executive ranks. The Tesla CEO had previously criticized Gadde on the platform, and he has also tangled with Agrawal with the two exchanging messages that indicated a falling out as revealed by chat logs disclosed in discovery in the legal battle between the billionaire and the social network. This story is developing…

Clubhouse’s Paul Davison on Twitter, the impact of hype and what happened • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 27, 2022Posted in clubhouse, EC Media, EC TechCrunch Disrupt 2022, Hype, paul davison, Social, TechCrunch Disrupt 2022No Comments

For most venture-backed social companies, a period of hypergrowth seems like it would be the dream. It means the app broke through the noise of thousands of others, resonated with a mass market of people and didn’t need to spend a penny on marketing. Clubhouse, however, offered a retort to that perspective. The app’s fall from peak, both in terms of daily active users and general fanfare among techies, has been intriguing after its splashy invite-only start. Paul Davison, Clubhouse co-founder and CEO, spoke about changes at the company at ZebethMedia Disrupt last week. “We had a couple of months of insane, silly, unsustainable 10x month-over-month growth,” Davison said. “I think what people might not appreciate is that Clubhouse has kind of moved into all of these different verticals, and they probably don’t appreciate the size of the community and the activity and the diversity and the range and all the conversations that are happening.” He added: “I don’t think hype is good, I don’t think extreme hypergrowth is good for a company. The ideal is to grow at a steady pace.” Let’s not hype up hype Davison described Clubhouse’s “hype moment,” during which the app grew users 10x month over month and took the No. 1 spot at the App Store in Japan, Hong Kong, Russia, Germany, Brazil and Italy. While the company was able to use that momentum to raise over $100 million in financing, with its latest known round closing in April 2021, Davison grounded the narrative. The co-founder said that the 10x growth lasted two months and spiked the app’s Sensor Tower metrics, which “shaped the narrative” when downloads began to slow down. In reality, the hype stressed the infrastructure, Davison admitted.

Meta is in trouble • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 27, 2022Posted in Mark Zuckerberg, meta, metaverse, SocialNo Comments

A day after weighing in with its third quarter earnings report, Meta is flailing. The company formerly known as Facebook was in trouble Thursday after uninspiring numbers and an apparent lack of faith in Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse vision sent its shares plunging by 25%. At the time of writing, Meta was trading around $98, down from $130 on Wednesday. Other tech stocks are in a similar boat broadly. A challenging economic climate and a war that’s worsened geopolitical tensions have sent many tech valuations back to Earth, but Meta’s fall —and the message it sends about the company’s future — is really something. Meta’s stock price is now worth almost a quarter of the all-time high of around $380 that the company recorded late last summer. Image Credits: companiesmarketcap.com Thursday’s situation saw Meta hit a low that its shares haven’t touched since 2016 — well before Zuckerberg’s big and possibly doomed pivot toward a virtual social platform to succeed Facebook. A run of high profile doubts, both internal and external, about Meta’s metaverse probably isn’t helping either. This week, Palmer Luckey — the VR visionary founder of Oculus, the hardware that powers Meta’s headsets — slammed Horizon Worlds as a poor product that isn’t fun. “It is terrible today, but it could be amazing in the future,” he said. The company reported losing over $9 billion this year so far on its Reality Labs division, the home of its aggressive forays into VR hardware and virtual social networking. The company might bounce back, but it might also be reaping what it’s sown for years. Meta managed to sour its billion dollar acquisition of Instagram, a social app that people used to love, by choking the platform with ads at the expense of the user experience. Ironically, in striving to box out the competition and wring as many ad dollars as possible out of the app, Meta accidentally set the stage for the rise of TikTok — an app people don’t hate. Me sowing: Haha fuck yeah!!! Yes!! Me reaping: Well this fucking sucks. What the fuck. — The Golden Sir (@screaminbutcalm) March 12, 2019 With the Instagram portion of the business not looking so hot lately, Meta has quintupled down on the metaverse without examining if it even knows what users want at all these days. And after changing the name of the company while ruining a perfectly fine word in the process, there are no easy take-backs. Investors seem to be getting the message, or lack thereof. The company is even more of the Mark Zuckerberg show than ever these days — and losing longtime COO and adult-in-the-room Sheryl Sandberg this year probably didn’t help. But if a bet on Meta is a bet on its Zuckerberg’s understanding of where social media trends are going and how to get there first, the once unstoppable advertising beast appears to be shambling in the wrong direction.