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this weekās feature is one of the coolest digital marketers in the game: on paper, emily has a background in economics, law and financial analysis. but youāre more likely to find her doing cold water swims or conquering everest base camp⦠all while balancing freelance work for a host of purpose-driven businesses.
musk: free speech saviour or marketing genius? š¤
If you havenāt seen the headline āElon Musk $44Bn Twitter Takeoverā then itās probably time to crawl out from under that rock. Itās caused a controversy around questions of free speech, censorship, regulation and privatisation of the platform. Good or bad (or no intentions - weāve all splurged on useless items when faced with extra cash⦠Perhaps this is just the same phenomenon at scale?) Mr Muskās moves are worth a second look (and Iām not talking about these movesā¦)
So what may be the implications of this hostile takeover and why should we care?
The value of Twitter as a platform for public discourse š£
Our society is built on the evolution of ideas, knowledge and information in the public sphere. Not all ideas are created equal - but thatās the point. We share, debate, discard, improve and evolve our ways of thinking over time. Vital to this process is other people, opposing ideas and different perspectives. Or else weāre just shouting stupidities into an echo chamber (shoutout Truth Social - ok, maybe thatās a bit harsh).Ā
Where does this evolution take place? Gone are the days of town halls and speakerās corners⦠If youāve spent any time on Twitter, youāll know itās a thriving arena for public debate and political discourse. And if we are going to treat it as such, we have to ask the question: is Twitter sufficiently unbiased and well-equipped to promote the free speech that should characterise public platforms?Ā
Impacts of privatisation š©
As a publicly-traded company, Twitter is subject to regulations and has authority to ban, remove and censor peopleās posts. While we may not all agree as to the degree of censorship, there is certainly value in these regulations when it comes to child pornography and the like. One argument by those wary of Muskās takeover - specifically the fact that he is taking Twitter private - is that he will no longer be subjected to these regulations and will trash the censorship policies Twitterās employees have spent years developing, especially given his pro-free-speech sentiment.Ā
However, Muskās recent comment that he wonāt disregard laws and regulations in pursuit of free speech and that policies will āmatch the lawā may have provided these adversaries with some comfort. In fact, Muskās privatisation plan may bring about some changes like greater transparency in the algorithm, cleaning Twitter of its notorious bots and getting rid of advertising. Pretty positive if you ask me (unless youāre an advertiser). Musk may actually be moving Twitter closer to being the āfree speech wing of the free speech partyā it was once promised to be.
Marketing genius? š©š»āš
So itās all very well that Elon is going to champion free speech. And perhaps we should all be grateful? But a sprinkle of scepticism is always useful. As an avid tweeter (or is it twit?), thereās no doubt that Muskās moves are influential. Last year, Bitcoinās value surged over 20% when Musk changed his bio to #bitcoin (It could use some of that magic right about now @Elon).Ā And letās not even go into his other Do(d)ge obsessions⦠Simply put, his ability to move markets is to his own benefit and thereās no guarantee that this unlikely influencer wonāt take advantage of this.
Weāve all been warned of the dangers of running your business/ brand entirely off of a social media platform. Weāve all heard horror stories of influencers devoting months worth of bikini pics and building a significant following⦠Only to be kicked off due to a nip slip. With this in mind (and at a slightly larger scale), we canāt ignore the possibility that Musk is just buying his own marketing machine. Have we all inadvertently been signed up to Elon Muskās mailing list? Is this just another Truth Social, the microphone and echo chamber of a powerful, influential individual under the guise of a āfree speechā platform?
Stuck between a rock and a hard place š°
Perhaps weāre holding Twitter to too high a standard and we should just forget its role as a platform for public discourse? Unfortunately the reality is that if we want to keep improving ideas and evolving as a society we need to have an unbiased platform in which ideas are shared, debated, discarded and ultimately improved. The danger is that biassing platforms one way or another doesnāt do anything to silence voices with which you disagree - it just sends them somewhere else where they can share their views unchallenged. But if Twitter is going to be a public space, weāre going to need to put our faith in one individual to protect the principle of free speech⦠And I donāt know if Iām quite ready to do that.
emily
while on the topic of twitter, sash recommends reading the ceoās thread on the bot issue
emily thinks you should check out this upcoming fast food - pop culture collab slash data grab
matt found this podcast eye-opening - it covers our attention crisis and how to go about reclaiming yours