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Musk Plans to Increase Twitter’s User Base by Almost 200% Over the Next Three Years

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Elon Musk certainly has some lofty goals for Twitter, but are they feasible, and can he actually deliver on the targets that he’s setting for the platform as he moves closer to becoming its owner and CEO?

Last week, in a new SEC filing, Musk reported that he had secured around $7 billion in additional funding commitments to solidify his $44 billion Twitter takeover bid. That introduced a range of financial partners into the deal, including Sequoia Capital, Binance, Oracle chief Larry Ellison and Saudi Prince Alwaleed.

In essence, these contributors now become minor shareholders in a Musk-owned Twitter, while he’ll buy out all of the company’s current shareholders once the deal goes through. Which means fewer investors to report to – but then again, these backers aren’t putting billions of dollars behind a Musk-owned Twitter out of the goodness of their corporate hearts, they expect a financial return for their money, which means that Musk must have some plan to turn Twitter into a money-making machine.

And while we don’t know exactly how Musk intends to do that, The New York Times recently obtained a pitch deck that had been presented to these investors, which provides a broad overview of Musk’s Twitter vision.

Among the key points:

  • Musk plans to increase Twitter’s user base from the 229 million daily actives it has right now, to 600 million by 2025, then to 931 million by 2028
  • The roadmap also outlines a 5x increase in Twitter revenue by 2028, rising from $5b in 2021 to $26.5b
  • Advertising income, currently amounting for 90% of Twitter’s intake, will reduce to around 45% of the company’s revenue
  • Musk plans to cut around 1,000 staff at Twitter over the next year, before adding around 2,700 new employees by 2025. 

As noted, these are some lofty goals, and how, exactly, Musk plans to boost Twitter’s user base so significantly is not clear. But clearly, investors have faith in the Tesla owner’s track record – which could well be the best strategy, as he has been able to turn his other companies into major financial successes over time.

It’s just hard to see a pathway for Musk to make Twitter a more important, attractive option to users. I mean, by now, everybody knows what Twitter is, and almost anyone who’s interested has signed up. What can he add to make non-users more interested again, and make current users want to spend even more time in the app?

That element is unclear, and I’m not sure Musk himself is entirely solidified on that middle step. But he and his team must have something in mind, these numbers didn’t just come from nowhere. But if live-streaming, Fleets, Moments, Spaces – if all of these additional elements haven’t made Twitter a must-use app yet, what’s next on the cards to sweeten the app offering?

A key focus element for Musk is subscriptions, and boosting the amount of users that pay to access the app, which is one pathway that Twitter can take to reduce its reliance on ad revenue. Twitter Blue, thus far, has not been a success – but in his plan, Musk also notes that he expects Twitter Blue subscribers to rise to 69 million users by 2025.

Why will users pay to use Twitter Blue more in future?

Part of Musk’s push is that he will look to use subscriptions as a form of verification, giving paying users a checkmark of some sort which delineates that they are, in fact, a human, and that they’re registered their details in the app.

That could also negate the influence of bots – though not entirely, as Musk has said that Twitter will always remain free, at least on some level.

Maybe, then, the 69 million subscribers that he’s targeting could actually be business accounts – but even so, it’s hard to imagine many brands will be happy to pay for basic access, without some sort of additional sweetener to Twitter’s subscription offerings.

Though if he can raise the user count, brands will increasingly want in, and if Musk made all brands pay for Twitter access, you can see how this could become more significant.

If he can boost Twitter’s usage – which, it’s worth noting, hasn’t risen in any significant way for some time.

As you can see in this chart, Twitter’s Monetizable Daily Active User count has increased by 108m over the past five years. Under Musk, he expects to see that jump by 371m – close to 200%, growth – in the next three.

I don’t know what Twitter can do to achieve this, but maybe, Elon has a plan. Maybe there is a pathway that no one else can see as yet, and it’s possible, somehow, that it will see unprecedented growth once Musk steps in as CEO.

I don’t know – it seems optimistic, but again, Elon Musk has defied popular belief in the past, and come out on top.

This, though, would be a next-level magic trick, while the public nature of it, too, will put a lot of pressure on Musk to prove his perceived genius.

We’ll soon find out – according to reports, Musk will take over as interim Twitter CEO shortly, as the final details of his takeover deal go through.

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Elon Musk’s X and Amazon discuss potential collaboration

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Elon Musk’s X and Amazon discuss potential collaboration

In a significant development in the social media industry, Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, is reportedly engaging in preliminary discussions …

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Threads Looks Set to be Made Available to European Users Next Week

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Threads Looks Set to be Made Available to European Users Next Week

Good news with EU social media fans, with Threads looking set for a December 14th launch in the region, just in time to capitalize on holiday engagement.

As reported by The Verge, EU Instagram users can now access a countdown timer at www.threads.net, which seemingly indicates the exact time for the upcoming EU launch. Meta hasn’t made any official announcement, but the countdown clock is only visible to European users, while EU users can also search ‘ticket’ in the Instagram app to find a digital invitation to Threads.

Which replicates the original Threads launch back in July, which included similar Easter eggs and indicators pointing to the launch date (like the above).

The EU launch of Threads has been delayed by evolving EU data privacy regulations, which, due to the timing of the implementation of these new rules, has put additional development burden on the Threads team to ensure compliance with the new parameters. Amid the initial Threads launch, Instagram (and Threads) chief Adam Mosseri said that it could take “many months” for Threads to reach EU users due to these additional complications.

But we have since seen indicators that Threads is coming.

Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Meta had an established plan to launch Threads to EU users in December, while app researchers have found various references to an upcoming “Threads EU Launch” in the app’s code.

Threads EU launch

Given the various strands of evidence, it does indeed seem likely that European users will get access to the app next week. And again, with social media usage increasing during the holiday break, that would also provide the best opportunity for Meta to capitalize on its opportunities.

Which are seemingly on the rise. As more people turn away from Elon Musk’s X project, largely due to Musk’s own divisive commentary, they’re seeking a real-time social alternative, and for many Threads is already filling that void.

That’s especially true for journalists, a common target of Musk’s attacks, who are now establishing new networks within the Threads ecosphere. And while live sports engagement remains high on X, Threads is also making a push to win over more sports communities, even placing ads courtside during the new NBA in-season tournament showcase in Las Vegas.

Threads NBA ad

That’s seemingly prompting more sports fans to post in the app, which will expand again with the arrival of potentially millions more users in the EU region.

So how many more users can Threads expect to gain as a result of its European expansion?

Based on Meta’s EU disclosure data on active users, Instagram currently serves some 259 million monthly active users in Europe.

Instagram’s total, official user count is 1 billion MAU, while Threads now has over 100 million monthly users. So presumably, around a tenth of active IG users are also signing up to the app, which would mean that, at a rough estimate, we’re set to see around 25.9 million new Threads users incoming, if/when Threads is launched in the EU region.

Which is probably not as many as you might expect, but this is based on rough estimates, as Instagram reportedly has more than a billion actives now, and we don’t know the exact, current user counts of either app.

But either way, it will expand the conversation in the app, and enable more people to take part, which has its own expanded benefits. And with around 60 million X users also in the region, that could see a number of them looking to make the switch.

Which is the real aim here. Meta has created Threads as the X alternative, aiming to scoop up former Twitter cast-offs who are unhappy with Elon’s changes at the app. In order to do that, Threads needs to be available in all regions where X users may be looking to jump ship, so its EU expansion is another critical step in this respect.

It’ll be interesting to see what Threads user numbers rise to over the holiday period, and whether it can indeed become a genuine rival for X in total active engagement.

We’ll keep you updated on any official announcement on the Threads EU launch.



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The best social media hacks to blow up your following in just a year

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The best social media hacks to blow up your following in just a year

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Get viral fast. Plus more social media hacks to grow your accounts.

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