SOCIAL
Elon Meets with Advertisers to Calm Concerns, as his Twitter Reformation Continues to Unfold

Another day in the wacky world of Elon Musk’s Twitter, and today, Elon has both killed off a plan to add a secondary, ‘official’ gray tick, to complement the blue checkmark for certain Twitter accounts, while he also met with key advertisers in an effort to calm their concerns about the future direction of the app.
Honestly, it must be exhausting for Elon to go back and forth so often, but I also think that we’re now starting to get a better understanding of the process here, the method behind the perceived madness of his approach. That this is, actually, all part of a plan, no matter how misguided that plan may seem.
In a TED Talk back in 2014, Elon Musk explained how he approaches problems, and why he’s been so successful at finding alternative solutions, which many have overlooked.
As explained by Musk:
“Well, I do think there’s a good framework for thinking. It’s physics. You know, the sort of first principles reasoning. What I mean by that is, boil things down to their fundamental truths and reason up from there, as opposed to reasoning by analogy. Through most of our life, we get through life by reasoning by analogy, which essentially means copying what other people do with slight variations.”
The fundamental concept here is that we’re often too reliant on what’s already happened, what’s been done, as a marker of what will come next, which can blind us to the opportunities that are right in front of us, because we think that we already know the outcome.
When you view things from this perspective, the chaos that Musk has overseen so far at Twitter makes a little more sense. Rather than listen to the many commentators that have seen social platforms try things like subscriptions in the past, and fail, or even take the past history of social platforms into account, Musk has approached things with a more blank slate view.
‘What would happen if we did charge for a blue checkmark?’
Of course, I, like almost everybody else, think that this proposal won’t work, based on precedents like Twitter Blue, or Facebook’s past explorations of charging for the app. But Elon Musk doesn’t look at things the same way, and that’s how he’s solved some of the biggest technological problems at his other companies.
And when you consider this, the whole Elon persona, and approach, makes more sense.
Elon himself has essentially flagged this today, noting that:
Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months.
We will keep what works & change what doesn’t.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 9, 2022
Giving everyone blue checkmarks, with no ID verification, has already led to various cases of misinformation and deception, within hours of the option being launched – which, in fairness, Twitter has snuffed out pretty quick. But this seems like only the start, as there’ll be many, many ways that scammers will look to use this as a means to dupe people, while the amount of users that are likely to pay for a blue tick is probably not enough to even make it worth the effort.
But again, I’m viewing this with history as my guide – I’m looking at it based years of analyzing social networks, and the lessons that the platforms have learned in the past, which guides my view of what I expect to be the outcome.
That’s not how Elon Musk works, and the more we see of his approach, the more this is coming into perspective, potentially flagging what we can expect.
Another aspect to consider in Elon’s Twitter approach is promotion, and his unique approach to getting attention.
It’s notable that Tesla, Elon’s main company, doesn’t pay for advertising, and never has, and a big part of the reason why it doesn’t is because having Elon Musk as its front man is actually just as valuable as paying for ads
Because he loves attention, and he knows how to get it – which, in the end, means that he doesn’t need to pay for it, because the media comes to him.
In the same vein, Elon knows that he can generate huge interest and attention simply by tweeting crazy things. For example, based on internal data (which Musk shared this week), Twitter engagement is actually on the up since he took over at the app.
Watching this unfold, I can now see that this could all, potentially, be a part of his bigger plan, which means that Musk will keep tweeting out his usual outlandish, attention-grabbing stuff, then let each comment percolate among the media, effectively promoting Twitter in the process.
Then he’ll just abandon the dumbest concepts, as he says, shrugging them off as random late-night thoughts.
At the same time, Musk will continue to hold meetings like today’s chat with ad partners, where he’ll walk back his most galling comments. Within this, he’s effectively saying ‘yeah, I say a lot of random stuff, which is actually really good for the platform’s numbers, but in reality, I’m not going all-in on extreme hate speech, etc.’
That balance will get difficult when his fans start calling on him to enact a more free speech approach, in line with his public statements. But maybe, this is the process, balancing various spinning plates by working to appease as many sides as he can.
Random class warfare tweets, then calming ad exec meetings. Supporting ‘free speech’, then meeting with the Chinese Government to address their concerns.
On balance, this does still seem like an untenable status quo. But what we’re seeing is similar to Trump’s approach to the app, flooding the zone with his ‘off the dome’ comments, while working at the other end to build the business.
And again, as Musk himself notes, some of these ideas won’t work. But he’ll try them anyway – because why not?
Sure, people are gonna be annoyed about his $8 per month ‘verification’ proposal. But if they don’t like it, they don’t pay, then Twitter scales it back at a later date – or even more likely, reverts back to the original system once it’s clear that not enough users will pay (still betting on this being the most likely outcome).
Then what happens? Twitter usage reverts to normal, with maybe a few more people paying for subscriptions. Then Twitter will release some other subscription offering, which is maybe slightly better, maybe worse. Some people will pay, others won’t, and we’ll all debate the logic of Elon’s latest crazy move, effectively keeping Twitter and Musk in the news.
And despite this being a messy process, and all out in public, it may well help to maximize Twitter promotion, and keep more people coming to the app to join in the chaos, as Musk and Co. continue to try out new ideas.
Basically really, the risks are may not that high – so long as Musk doesn’t cut off users wholesale or completely tank the reach of every tweet from every non-paying user (which Musk has discussed, and could still happen), or open the floodgates to all kinds of hate speech that could have dramatic impacts on the app.
Which he has suggested he will do. But he hasn’t done it yet.
Elon also knows that advertisers will come if usage increase, and while the associated brand risks could still be significant, it’s starting to become a little clearer that there’s a distance is between what Elon Musk says and what Elon Musk does in reality.
And in a year’s time, Twitter will probably look very much like what it does right now. Whether it makes more money, though, is the key query for Elon’s new team.
SOCIAL
TikTok’s popularity complicates possible U.S. ban

The U.S. government’s threat to ban TikTok takes aim at what has become the most popular smartphone app in the country.
Why it matters: TikTok’s scale presents an enormous challenge to lawmakers trying to argue that the app’s national security threat outweighs the wishes of the millions of people and businesses that use the app.
- The TikTok app has been downloaded more times in the U.S. than any other social app since it merged with U.S. lip-syncing app Musical.ly in August 2018, according to data from Apptopia.
- The app is expected to generate more than $11 billion in U.S. ad revenue by 2024, far outpacing rivals like Snapchat, Pinterest and Twitter, per eMarketer.
- TikTok has also captured far more revenue than its competitors from in-app purchases, like coins that fans can use to tip their favorite creators, per Apptopia.
Driving the news: TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew plans to highlight the app’s growth in remarks prepared for his first-ever Congressional testimony on Thursday and released Tuesday night by the House committee he will address.
- The company now counts more than 150 million monthly active users in the U.S., up from the 100 million users it first reported in 2020, executives confirmed to Axios.
- Chew will also likely cite TikTok’s role in supporting small businesses — a message that’s also been used by tech rivals like Meta and Google when faced with regulatory pressure.
- On Tuesday, Chew posted a TikTok video touting the app’s reach, asserting that 5 million U.S. businesses, a majority of which are small or medium-sized, use TikTok to reach their customers.
Be smart: Tuesday’s video is part of a broader consumer campaign that the short-video platform is beginning to push amid growing efforts by federal and state governments to limit or ban the app.
- Last week, The Information reported that TikTok sent a message to some creators inviting them to join its top executives in Washington D.C. to support the company on Capitol Hill.
- This week, TikTok is trying to appeal to users directly in the app. “Some politicians have started to talk about banning TikTok,” Chew said in the video posted Tuesday. “Now this could take TikTok away from all 150 million of you.”
- He then directed users to leave comments about “what you want your elected representatives to know about what you love about TikTok.”
Between the lines: TikTok has ramped up its marketing efforts in recent weeks, buying prominent ad space alongside many of D.C.’s most prominent political publications.
- While most of TikTok’s consumer messaging is focused on the ban risk facing the app, its Washington campaign has mostly focused on steps the company is taking to protect U.S. user data.
The big picture: Surveys indicate that the public remains mostly divided on whether the government should ban TikTok, but Republicans are much more likely to support a ban than Democrats.
- Lawmakers that oppose the ban argue the government needs to find more convincing proof that TikTok is a national security threat before forcing the app’s Chinese parent ByteDance to sell to a U.S. company or face a ban.
- Lawmakers that support moves against TikTok say the app is a threat to U.S. user data privacy because of Chinese laws that require Chinese companies to share user data with China’s government.
Yes, but: Many lawmakers fall somewhat in the middle, arguing that lawmakers need to provide the public with more clarity about the actual national security risks.
- “If you’re going to pull the plug on one of the largest digital communities in the country, you have to make a very clear case for why you’re doing that,” Rep. Jeff Jackson (D-N.C.), an avid TikTok user, told Bloomberg.
What to watch: TikTok’s U.S. tech rivals have been waiting in the wings, hoping their TikTok clones — like Reels on both Facebook and Instagram, YouTube Shorts, and Snapchat’s Spotlight — could steal some market share from TikTok if it were banned.
- Those services have all launched in the wake of former president Trump’s initial proposal to ban TikTok in 2020, and many have grown pretty sizable.
- Google said last month that YouTube Shorts has crossed 50 billion daily views.
- Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said last month that Reels plays across Facebook and Instagram “have more than doubled over the last year,” and people sharing Reels “has more than doubled on both apps in just the last 6 months.”
SOCIAL
WhatsApp Adds New Group Chat Controls, Additional Context Around Group Membership

WhatsApp’s adding some new control options for group chats, which will provide more capacity to manage who can, and can’t, join a group, while it’s also providing new insights into groups in-common with other users, to provide more context for connection and discovery.
First off, on group controls – WhatsApp’s adding a simplified control panel UI to approve new chat members.
As you can see in this example, the new format will enable chat admins to approve and reject group chat applicants, while it will also show people that have been previously approved or rejected.
That could make it much easier to manage your group chats, and ensure you’re on top of all participating members – which will be handy for Communities, which WhatsApp added back in November, and enable users to connect around specific topics.
The idea is that this will expand WhatsApp usage beyond private chats, and facilitate a wider range of discussion. And with more social media engagement switching to private chats, it’s another means for Meta to align with that shift, and keep users engaged.
It’s a simple addition, in broader context, and could be beneficial for those trying to keep tabs on their group membership.
WhatsApp’s also adding a new ‘groups in common’ display, to help users glean more context about other members.

As per WhatsApp:
“With the growth of Communities and their larger groups, we want to make it easy to know which groups you have in common with someone. Whether you’re trying to remember the name of a group you know you share with someone or you want to see the groups you’re both in, you can now easily search a contact’s name to see your groups in common.”
The display could also assist in group discovery, helping you find more relevant Communities that you might also want to join to engage in related topics.
As noted, with more online interactions switching to private chats, and away from public posting on social platforms, Meta’s now trying to align with that change, and provide more ways to keep users engaged, and help brands also meet them where they’re active.
WhatsApp, which has seen big growth in US, is now a larger part of the equation, and with more people leaning into more private discussion spaces, it makes sense for Meta to provide more tools to facilitate such.
The next step is monetizing WhatsApp, which remains a work in progress – but Meta is indeed making progress on this front as well.
As such, group chats could be another way to help boost exposure for brand functionality in the app, which is why Meta will be keen to build on these tools wherever it can.
SOCIAL
LinkedIn Creates Profile Summaries, Job Listings Via Generative AI 03/22/2023

Microsoft-owned business and
employment-focused social platform LinkedIn is adding a new ChatGPT-powered tool Premium subscribers can access to create personalized writing suggestions for sections of their LinkedIn profile, as
well as other AI integrations.
LinkedIn Premium subscribers now have the option to “Enhance” their profile via AI-drafted options for the …
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