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Musk Says Twitter Deal ‘On Hold’ Pending More Data on the Actual Number of Fake Accounts in the App

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The action continues in the Elon Musk Twitter takeover push.

Early this morning, via, of course, a tweet, Musk announced that his proposed purchase of the company had been temporarily put on hold pending additional details from Twitter to support its claim that spam and fake accounts represent less than 5% of its users.

Musk later tweeted that he’s:

But of course, many have speculated what this now means, and whether it could be an attempt by Musk to back out of the deal entirely.

Because the idea that just 5% of Twitter active user base are bots seems fanciful, especially given that Twitter has been reporting this exact percentage of fake accounts since its initial public offering, back in 2013.

Because in reality, Twitter doesn’t know. In its own reporting to the SEC, Twitter states that:

“There are a number of false or spam accounts in existence on our platform. We have performed an internal review of a sample of accounts and estimate that the average of false or spam accounts during the fourth quarter of 2021 represented fewer than 5% of our mDAU during the quarter. The false or spam accounts for a period represents the average of false or spam accounts in the samples during each monthly analysis period during the quarter.”

So Twitter makes this assessment based on a sample of its 229 million users, which, conveniently, has indicated that exactly 5% of its accounts are fake, every single time that it’s been run.

That also doesn’t explain why Twitter hasn’t removed the fakes that it’s detected each time – unless, of course, it has removed them, then a whole new 5% of accounts, fluctuating in actual number based on the platform’s overall growth, have cropped up in their place.

It seems questionable, right? Well, Twitter also notes that it could be wrong.

“In making this determination, we applied significant judgment, so our estimation of false or spam accounts may not accurately represent the actual number of such accounts, and the actual number of false or spam accounts could be higher than we have estimated.”

Twitter further states that it’s continually improving its capacity to detect and remove fake accounts – though again, even with these improvements, the number of total fakes has remained static at 5%.

There’s also this:

“After we determine an account is spam, malicious automation, or fake, we stop counting it in our mDAU, or other related metrics.”

So, you remove it from the platform entirely, or just stop counting it?

“We also treat multiple accounts held by a single person or organization as multiple mDAU because we permit people and organizations to have more than one account.”

Which, as an aside, is another potentially misleading calculation within Twitter’s numbers, though all social media apps use similar counting methods.

So how many fake accounts does Twitter have actually?

Various independent researchers have tried to estimate this. Back in 2017, a joint study conducted by researchers from the University of Southern California and Indiana University found that around 15% of Twitter’s user base were bots rather than people. In 2018, Twitter suspended or removed more than 70 million accounts which it had determined were fake. At that time, Twitter had 330 million monthly active users, which would suggest that around 20% of its user count were not actual, real people.

Independent discoveries of bot networks also belie Twitter’s 5% claim. In the wake of the 2016 US Election, for example, researchers uncovered “huge, inter-connected Twitter bot networks” seeking to influence political discussion, with the largest incorporating some 500,000 fake accounts. In 2019, Wired reported that bot profiles were still dominating political news streams, with bot profiles contributing up to 60% of tweet activity around some events.

On balance, I would say that Twitter’s 5% claim is probably not correct.

But does that mean that Musk can pull out of the Twitter deal entirely, if he can prove that Twitter has misrepresented this element?

Okay, first off, as noted, Musk has said that he’s still committed to the deal and is not looking for a way out. Some have questioned the truth of this, but on face value, we have to assume that Musk is simply looking for clarification, rather than an escape route.

If Musk did try to withdraw from his Twitter offer because its fake account stats were flawed, he’d still have a hard time, especially considering that Musk waived doing detailed due diligence on Twitter’s business, in order to reach an agreement faster.

As reported by The Wall Street Journal

“Because Mr. Musk waived doing detailed due diligence on the deal, it could make it more difficult for him to back out over something like a discrepancy in the number of spam accounts. If he tries to, the company could attempt to force him to complete the deal under a legal protection called “specific performance,” though that maneuver is rarely successful in practice.

So it probably wouldn’t be enough for Musk to back out – but then again, some have suggested that this may have been Musk’s plan all along, to wriggle out of his proposed Twitter takeover, for varying reason.

That seems conspiracy-esque, but honestly, who knows what goes on in Musk’s head.

One thing’s for sure, we’re all learning a lot more about hostile takeovers, and securities laws relating to such efforts.

If Musk did seek to skip out on his Twitter takeover push, it wouldn’t be straightforward, with various regulatory processes in place to ensure such doesn’t happen, and various penalties that could be triggered as a result.

But maybe, as some have suggested, Musk could be using this as a negotiating tactic, in order to reduce his offer price for the app. Twitter shares are currently trading at well below Musk’s offer price, and if he could point to flaws in the company’s metrics, indicating bad faith on their part, that may give Musk more leverage to finesse the deal a little.

Each of these suggestions is effectively a ‘it’s possible, but…’ scenario, where there are various complexities built-in, which will most likely, eventually, see Musk becoming the owner of the company.

How many actual users Musk will have, and what that will mean for his growth projections, remains to be seen. And if his ambitious growth targets are now not possible, due to flawed data from Twitter, what does that mean for his financing, and securing capital from partners?

That’s likely what Musk is pointing to here – if Twitter’s not being honest in its calculations, Musk can’t properly estimate future potential, which limits his capacity to accurately value the company and attract outside investment for his bid.

So he should be able to lower it.

If I had to guess, I would say that this is Musk’s angle with this latest push, but it’ll also be interesting to see if we end up getting any real insight into Twitter’s bot problem, and what the actual figures on fake profiles could be.

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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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X Pitches Advertisers on Audience Reach Opportunities in ‘Q5’

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X Pitches Advertisers on Audience Reach Opportunities in ‘Q5’

X is making a push to win over advertisers in the holiday season, by promoting its opportunities in “Q5”, which covers the post-Christmas to mid-January period.

As explained by X:

During [Q5], we see reduced CPMs and cost-per-conversion as consumers shop for post-holiday deals and products to support their New Year’s ambitions. Last year, X saw a 5% reduction in the average CPM and a 27% reduction in the average cost-per-conversion1.

Which could present new opportunity to reach a larger audience with your promotions, if indeed they are engaging on X over the holiday period.

“Q5 is filled with a wide variety of tent-pole moments, ranging from the holidays to sports, entertainment and more. With a surge of engagement around these conversations, your brand can remain relevant to your audiences while driving maximum ROI.

X says that, based on engagement data from last year, there are a lot of potential topics of interest for brands.

X also notes that sports video views are surging in the app, up almost 25% YoY over the past 6 months, while vertical video is also gaining momentum.

“Vertical video is the fastest growing surface on X. Over 100M people around the world are consuming vertical video daily at an average of over 13 minutes per day. On many days, vertical video accounts for around 20% of all time spent on the platform.

Though I would advise some caution in trusting these data points.

In recent months, various questions have been raised as to what X counts as a video “view” versus an impression, which is when a post is shown in-feed.

Technically, X counts video views like this:

“The main X video view metric is triggered when a user watches a video for at least 2 seconds and sees at least 50% of the video player in-view. This applies to View metrics for both uploaded videos and live broadcasts.

But that’s different to the actual view count that’s displayed on posts:

“Anyone who is logged into X who views a post counts as a view, regardless of where they see the post (e.g. Home, Search, Profiles, etc.) or whether or not they follow the author. If you’re the author, looking at your own post also counts as a view.

Even worse, X counts multiple views from the same person in that count:

“Multiple views may be counted if you view a post more than once, but not all views are unique. For example, you could look at a post on web and then on your phone, and that would count as two views.

So you can see how the public view count on video posts can massively overstate how many people actually watched a clip, which could be why X is reporting such big spikes in engagement. It just depends on which “view” metric it’s referring to here, actual views or exposure in stream.

Which makes all of these numbers a little difficult to determine, while X owner Elon Musk and CEO Linda Yaccarino have also continued to amplify misleading engagement stats via their own X profiles, muddying the waters as to what kind of actual reach and engagement you can expect.

And that’s before you consider the concerns that other advertisers have had with their promotions potentially being displayed alongside harmful or offensive content in the app.

But depending on how you feel about these aspects, and where your target audience is active, it could be worth considering X for your post-holiday promotions, as you look to maximize sales activity over the holiday period.

It’s also worth considering that with fewer big-name brands taking prime spots in the app, there may also be additional opportunity to reach people via X promotions.

There may be value, depending on your strategic thinking, though I would be keeping an eye on actual engagement

You can read more of X’s Q5 insights here.



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