Connect with us

SOCIAL

5 Twitter Updates that Elon Musk Should Consider to Maximize Revenue at the App

Published

on

5 Twitter Updates that Elon Musk Should Consider to Maximize Revenue at the App

Elon Musk continues to mess around with elements of Twitter, switching things off and cutting functionalities, along with staff, which may or may not ultimately lead to more significant problems for the app over time.

On balance, I would bet on Elon eventually working things out and stabilizing the app. It just might take a while to get there – but while we’re quick to criticize Musk’s various schemes and plans, it is also worth noting that he’s trying to reform the way that the business operates for good reason.

Elon paid $44 billion for Twitter, with a portion of that coming from a collection of equity partners, including Oracle, Sequoia Capital, Binance and Andreessen Horowitz. Those partners, of course, want to see return on their investment, while Musk will also reportedly have to pay over $1 billion per year in interest on the more than $20 billion in loans he took out to finalize the Twitter deal.

Twitter, meanwhile, according to Musk, is (or was) losing $4 million per day, due to rising costs and declining ad spend, the latter of which has potentially declined even further since Musk took over, with various big agencies advising clients to pause their Twitter ad spend due to the potential for changes to its policies.

Essentially, Musk needs to make money, and fast, which is likely why his $8 checkmark subscription plan feels so rushed. Because it is – but at the same time, the reality is that Elon needs to stabilize and rationalize the business, quickly.

Which may not be possible – but rather than simply pointing out the flaws in Musk’s approach, it’s worth also considering what Twitter could do to make money, and revamp the platform in line with business need.

This is a separate question from Elon’s ‘free speech’ changes, which may or may not happen – what features and/or elements could Twitter implement that would actually improve the platform, while also generating money for the business?

Here are some ideas:

Business subscriptions

The most obvious opportunity is a business subscription program, where brands could pay a certain amount – potentially in varying tiers – to gain access to additional Twitter features, designed specifically for business use.

Twitter’s already taken some steps on this front with its Professional Profiles, which it’s been gradually evolving over time, but there are other elements that Twitter could also incorporate into a more comprehensive business package.

Improved analytics, for example, would be valuable. Twitter actually downgraded its analytics tools back in 2020, removing various insight elements, including demographic info, from its display. You can still access basic audience and tweet analytics data, but Twitter is far from the best platform for analyzing your audience, in order to maximize your strategy in the app.

Which seems like a problem, and one that Twitter is uniquely placed to solve, and that brands would indeed pay for.

What if, as noted by Hubspot back in 2016, Twitter added follower analysis over time, so that you could track follower increases in line with specific tweets, or influence analysis, highlighting the most influential amplifications of your tweets. Hubspot also suggested conversation tracking, so you could identify key tweet trends as they evolve, and ’buzz tracking’, to monitor conversations around your brand and staff in the app.

Various third-party tools also include in-depth competitor analysis and performance tracking, which you can’t get on Twitter itself, while management platforms like Hootsuite, which has over 200k paying subscribers, are largely used for tweet scheduling.

If Twitter could provide variations of these types of analytics and scheduling tools, in one incorporated platform, that could be a significant value add, and brands could then pay to access, say, the basic Professional Profiles with enhanced brand display options, or Professional Profiles and improved analytics, and maybe a top tier of Professional Profiles with advanced analytics tools.

Twitter already facilitates data analysis via Gnip, which is pricey, and likely does place a higher data load on its systems (another cost consideration). But this seems like a key opportunity, and if Twitter priced this right, and offered variable access options for different brands, that seems like an immediate way to raise funds, using the platform’s existing resources.

The question then is how many brands are using Twitter, and how much would this be worth for the company?

There are no concrete stats on how many brands have an active Twitter presence, but I would assume that at least 50 million of the app’s 238 million daily active users are brands or professionals associated with brand accounts.

Let’s say you charge variable tiers of $5 to use Professional Profiles, $15 for basic analytics, then $30 at the top end. At base level alone, you’re looking at $250 million per month ($750m per quarter), which is well in line with Elon’s target of half of Twitter’s revenue coming from subscriptions.

That’s a very basic estimate, but seems like a better opportunity than charging users for a blue tick.

Audience segmentation and access

Another element which Musk’s team is exploring is paid DMs, and the capacity to reach Twitter users with direct promotions, for a fee.

That might work, and definitely, there are brands that have expressed interest in paying to reach specific users via their direct message inbox in the app.

But another aspect that could be worth considering is audience segmentation, and being able to tweet at selected users, either via DM or via tweet, with specific tweets and messages.

Twitter’s already been developing various audience segmentation tools, with private tweet groups (Circles), subscriptions (Super Follows-only tweets) and reply controls, so that you can decide who’s able to engage with your content.

But what if brands were able to better segment specific elements of their Twitter audience, then tweet at them only, enabling more specific community building, promotion, and more.

This could be another element of an advanced Twitter package for brands, or maybe an aspect of Twitter Blue, providing another way to maximize audience engagement – and limit annoyance.

Make Spaces and live-streams Twitter Blue-only features

This may seem somewhat counter-intuitive, in that these features generally gain more value when more people use them. But the reality is that most live-streams are bad, be it in audio or video form, while they also cost a heap in data storage and facilitation, usually to the point where they’re not profitable to operate.

But some people get huge value out of building their communities in live elements, and there are some broadcasters who are really great at what they do. If you made Spaces and video live-streams accessible only to Blue subscribers, at the current $4.99 per month (not the $8 per month blue tick program), you would effectively filter out a lot of the junk, which could actually see Spaces engagement, overall, increase, with top broadcasters then seeing increased engagement and amplification in the Spaces/Live tab.

Maybe you don’t see many sign-ups as a result, but it would be a valuable perk for Twitter Blue. And I’m, guessing that the vast majority of Twitter users never stream anyway, so the potential negative impact would be minor.

That also then reduces system load, while Twitter could also work to incentivize broadcasters by revamping the Spaces tab to focus on Twitter-native broadcasts, as opposed to podcasts from other providers.

Creator Profiles

Twitter already has Twitter for Professionals, which is aligned towards creators and providing them with more tools in the app. But this could also become a paid option, especially if Twitter sweetens the deal with, advanced audience insights, in-stream newsletter tools (made available only to paying creators), longer video and audio uploads, better access to live-streaming tools, etc.

There are various options that Twitter could build into a more advanced creator account offering, which would be of interest to those looking to boost their presence in the app.

Also – this may be off deep end – but what if Twitter looked to help amplify paying creators’ tweets by shading them a different color in-stream:

Tweet color mock-up

Okay, that might be too far, and my mock-up here is probably not the best representation. But I do think that there are options like this that Twitter could implement to showcase different elements, and highlight specific tweets in-stream.

Maybe the color is more subtle, but it could be another option that creators looking to build audience in the app would consider paying to use.

Build revenue pathways via partner subscriptions

In May last year, Twitter acquired Scroll, a platform which, before being integrated into Twitter, worked with publishers to establish revenue share deals from its paying subscribers, which essentially meant that publishers got direct revenue from readers, and readers didn’t get shown ads.

Scroll used the money that it generated from user subscriptions to the app (which cost $5 per month and up) to then pass on revenue to the sites that it sourced content from, which Scroll says ends up securing even more income than ads for its partner platforms.

Scroll revenue split

Twitter eventually integrated Scroll into Twitter Blue, then the Musk transition team canceled its publisher deals. But over 350 publications were, at one stage, signed up to the program, and it does seem like an opportunity to generate revenue for Twitter, even if it’s not a significant, game-changing amount.

Micropayments also offer an alternative revenue stream for all kinds of creators, which could better align with Musk’s goal to facilitate ‘citizen journalism’ in the app.

And many Twitter users would probably consider paying, say, $3-$5 per month to avoid paywalls, if those deals could be expanded, and this was made more of a specific focus, as opposed to being hidden within the Twitter Blue package.

Look, some of these may have obvious developmental flaws that Twitter staff would highlight immediately, while others may require so much development time and resources that the cost to offer them would be too great, especially now that Twitter only has half the employees that it did last month.

But the point is that there are other areas of opportunity out there that don’t require devaluing elements of the platform, or causing discord with ad partners – while they could also provide an improved user experience (as opposed to charging for basically nothing).

And while Twitter’s verification issue is significant and worthy of reformation, especially in regards to separating the humans from the bot accounts, it seems like a lesser concern at this stage. It’s also one that would likely be better solved by simply offering a gray checkmark for users that verify their info, as opposed to upending the current system entirely.

But Elon has his own way, and again, I do think that he will eventually stabilize the app. It’ll just take some time, and probably a lot more radical proposals, to get there.



Source link

Keep an eye on what we are doing
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address

SOCIAL

Walmart says it has stopped advertising on Elon Musk’s X platform

Published

on

Walmart says it has stopped advertising on Elon Musk's X platform

Walmart said Friday that it is scaling back its advertising on X, the social media company formerly known as Twitter, because “we’ve found some other platforms better for reaching our customers.”

Walmart’s decision has been in the works for a while, according to a person familiar with the move. Yet it comes as X faces an advertiser exodus following billionaire owner Elon Musk’s support for an antisemitic post on the platform. 

The retailer spends about $2.7 billion on advertising each year, according to MarketingDive. In an email to CBS MoneyWatch, X’s head of operations, Joe Benarroch, said Walmart still has a large presence on X. He added that the company stopped advertising on X in October, “so this is not a recent pausing.”

“Walmart has a wonderful community of more than a million people on X, and with a half a billion people on X, every year the platform experiences 15 billion impressions about the holidays alone with more than 50% of X users doing most or all of their shopping online,” Benarroch said.

Musk struck a defiant pose earlier this week at the New York Times’ Dealbook Summit, where he cursed out advertisers that had distanced themselves from X, telling them to “go f— yourself.” He also complained that companies are trying to “blackmail me with advertising” by cutting off their spending with the platform, and cautioned that the loss of big advertisers could “kill” X.

“And the whole world will know that those advertisers killed the company,” Musk added.


Elon Musk faces backlash from lawmakers, companies over endorsement of antisemitic X post

02:23

Dozens of advertisers — including players such as Apple, Coca Cola and Disney — have bailed on X since Musk tweeted that a post on the platform that claimed Jews fomented hatred against White people, echoing antisemitic stereotypes, was “the actual truth.”

Advertisers generally shy away from placing their brands and marketing messages next to controversial material, for fear that their image with consumers could get tarnished by incendiary content. 

The loss of major advertisers could deprive X of up to $75 million in revenue, according to a New York Times report

Musk said Wednesday his support of the antisemitic post was “one of the most foolish” he’d ever posted on X. 

“I am quite sorry,” he said, adding “I should in retrospect not have replied to that particular post.”

Source link

Keep an eye on what we are doing
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address
Continue Reading

SOCIAL

US Judge Blocks Montana’s Effort to Ban TikTok

Published

on

U.S. Judge Blocks Montana’s Effort to Ban TikTok in the State

TikTok has won another reprieve in the U.S., with a district judge blocking Montana’s effort to ban the app for all users in the state.

Back in May, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed legislation to ban TikTok outright from operating in the state, in order to protect residents from alleged intelligence gathering by China. There’s no definitive evidence that TikTok is, or has participated in such, but Gianforte opted to move to a full ban, going further than the government device bans issued in other regions.

As explained by Gianforte at the time:

The Chinese Communist Party using TikTok to spy on Americans, violate their privacy, and collect their personal, private, and sensitive information is well-documented. Today, Montana takes the most decisive action of any state to protect Montanans’ private data and sensitive personal information from being harvested by the Chinese Communist Party.”

In response, a collection of TikTok users challenged the proposed ban, arguing that it violated their first amendment rights, which led to this latest court challenge, and District Court Judge Donald Molloy’s decision to stop Montana’s ban effort.

Montana’s TikTok ban had been set to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2024.

In issuing a preliminary injunction to stop Montana from imposing a full ban on the app, Molloy said that Montana’s legislation does indeed violate the Constitution and “oversteps state power.”

Molloy’s judgment is primarily centered on the fact that Montana has essentially sought to exercise foreign policy authority in enacting a TikTok ban, which is only enforceable by federal authorities. Molloy also noted that there was apervasive undertone of anti-Chinese sentiment” within Montana’s proposed legislation.

TikTok has welcomed the ruling, issuing a brief statement in response:

Montana attorney general, meanwhile, has said that it’s considering next steps to advance its proposed TikTok ban.

The news is a win for TikTok, though the Biden Administration is still weighing a full TikTok ban in the U.S., which may still happen, even though the process has been delayed by legal and legislative challenges.

As I’ve noted previously, my sense here would be that TikTok won’t be banned in the U.S. unless there’s a significant shift in U.S.-China relations, and that relationship is always somewhat tense, and volatile to a degree.

If the U.S. government has new reason to be concerned, it may well move to ban the app. But doing so would be a significant step, and would prompt further response from the C.C.P.

Which is why I suspect that the U.S. government won’t act, unless it feels that it has to. And right now, there’s no clear impetus to implement a ban, and stop a Chinese-owned company from operating in the region, purely because of its origin.

Which is the real crux of the issue here. A TikTok ban is not just banning a social media company, it’s blocking cross-border commerce, because the company is owned by China, which will remain the logic unless clear evidence arises that TikTok has been used as a vector for gathering information on U.S. citizens.

Banning a Chinese-owned app because it is Chinese-owned is a statement, beyond concerns about a social app, and the U.S. is right to tread carefully in considering how such a move might impact other industries.

So right now, TikTok is not going to be banned, in Montana, or anywhere else in the U.S. But that could still change, very quickly.



Source link

Keep an eye on what we are doing
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address
Continue Reading

SOCIAL

EU wants to know how Meta tackles child sex abuse

Published

on

The investigation is the first step in procedures launched under the EU's new online content law known as the Digital Services Act

The investigation is the first step in procedures launched under the EU’s new online content law known as the Digital Services Act – Copyright AFP Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV

The EU on Friday demanded Instagram-owner Meta provide more information about measures taken by the company to address child sexual abuse online.

The request for information focuses on Meta’s risk assessment and mitigation measures “linked to the protection of minors, including regarding the circulation of self-generated child sexual abuse material (SG-CSAM) on Instagram”, the European Commission said.

Meta must also give information about “Instagram’s recommender system and amplification of potentially harmful content”, it added.

The investigation is the first step in procedures launched under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), but does not itself constitute an indication of legal violations or a move towards punishment.

Meta must respond by December 22.

A report by Stanford University and the Wall Street Journal in June this year said Instagram is the main platform used by paedophile networks to promote and sell content showing child sexual abuse.

Meta at the time said it worked “aggressively” to fight child exploitation.

The commission has already started a series of investigations against large digital platforms seeking information about how they are complying with the DSA.

It has sought more information from Meta in October about the spread of disinformation as well as a request for information last month about how the company protects children online.

The DSA is part of the European Union’s powerful regulatory armoury to bring big tech to heel, and requires digital giants take more aggressive action to counter the spread of illegal and harmful content as well as disinformation.

Platforms face fines that can go up to six percent of global turnover for violations.

Source link

Keep an eye on what we are doing
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address
Continue Reading

Trending