SOCIAL
Twitter on Shaky Ground as More Staff Exit the App, Reducing the Platform to a Skeleton Crew

So, just another average day on the social media beat, nothing much happening…
Oh, wait, no, Elon Musk has incited a mass exodus of staff at Twitter, many of whom are now predicting that the site will likely crash at any moment.
Yes, Twitter could well be on its last legs, or at least, it could be on the brink of significant outages, after Musk called on the app’s remaining staff to commit to ‘extremely hardcore’ working conditions, or leave the company with three months’ pay. Apparently, some 75% of them decided the latter was a better option.
A quick summary of the current Twitter staffing situation:
- In September, before Elon Musk took over at the app, Twitter, reportedly, had around 7,500 staff in total
- Musk initially cut Twitter’s top execs, on his first day at the helm of the app, then, just days later, Musk culled around 50% of the company’s staff as a cost-saving measure, taking it to approximately 3,700 staff
- At that time, many exiting employees said that the cuts were not thought–through, with entire, critical departments culled, and Twitter’s international teams, in particular, reduced to almost nothing. Reports also suggested that Musk’s transition team was forced to ask some key staff to return as a result of the hasty action
- On Wednesday this week, Musk sent an email to the remaining Twitter staff which explained that they would need to commit to ‘working long hours at high intensity’, on whatever projects Musk decided to pursue. There was no roadmap provided, no plan, just a requested commitment to ‘extremely hardcore’ work – or they could leave with three months’ pay. Workers had till 5pm Thursday to either accept these conditions or resign.
- At the 5pm Thursday deadline, around 75% of Twitter’s remaining workforce had reportedly decided not to accept Musk’s offer, which has now reduced the staff headcount to 900 people in total.
So we’ve gone from 7,500 to 900 – a 88% total reduction in Twitter staff since Musk took the reigns. Which, as noted, has left many speculating that the app cannot keep running at such a reduced capacity. Some are suggesting that internal systems are already breaking, with no one there to monitor them, while any significant increase in activity – like, say, the World Cup next week – could break the app.
It’s impossible to know exactly what may or may not happen, but an 88% reduction in staff has to have some impact.
For his part, Musk initially seemed concerned about the mass exodus of staff, but then resumed posting memes about the situation.
He also bragged, once again, that Twitter usage is at an all-time high, so he, at least, seems relatively confident that the platform will stay up and continue on as normal, despite the reduction.
But it does also appear that fewer people accepted his ‘extremely hardcore’ offer than he had anticipated. Further reports also suggested that Musk and his team scrambled to retain some of the most critical staffers at the last minute, which may well prove to be a saving grace.
Some exiting Twitter staff explained their reasoning for opting out, with one former Twitter engineer noting that:
“There was no vision shared with us, no 5-year plan like at Tesla. Nothing more than what anyone can see on Twitter […] additionally there were rumors the new vision might be radically different, not just subscription-based but possibly having adult content be a core component of subscription offerings. That is a BIG departure and one I wouldn’t get behind.”
As it turns out, people are more willing to sign-up to an ‘extremely hardcore’ work approach when developing major, world-changing projects, like electric vehicles and spaceships to Mars, but when the work you’re asking them to stick around for is potentially facilitating hate speech, profiting off porn, and taking advantage of fame hungry chumps, the enthusiasm meter isn’t so high.
But still, Twitter is still running, and Elon’s still tweeting about his plans for the app. So maybe Musk was right, and there was a lot of bloat in its staffing – or maybe your next tweet could be your last.
Nobody knows, which is why #RIPTwitter was trending last night, and remains a key topic of discussion in social media circles today.
So what comes next?
On Twitter itself, the Musk team’s five key focus areas, reportedly, are:
- Developing Musk’s $8 verification plan (apparently, all the staffers who were working on this project have now left)
- Developing a Twitter Blue for Business offering (no details as yet)
- Facilitating DM encryption (already in progress – as per this finding by app researcher Jane Manchun Wong)
- Expanded tipping for creators, with a ‘tips on tweets’ features (as opposed to on-platform donations)
- Enabling longer text in tweets
How Musk and Co. do any of this is now up in the air, as they’ll need to re-assess staffing, and reallocate resources. But these were Musk’s focus elements before yesterday’s mass exodus.
It seems like these will remain in place, once what’s left of Twitter re-groups – though again, how they get anything done beyond keeping the app running, day-to-day, is also unclear.
In any event, nothing will be happening till next week, with Musk’s team locking everyone out of the company till Monday, in order to mitigate the risk of rogue ex-employees causing problems at the app.
Oh, also, Musk’s Twitter takeover is apparently under a national security review due to concerns that Musk’s foreign funding partners may now be able to access user data.
So basically, just another day on Mr. Musk’s wild ride.
One thing’s for sure, he certainly knows how to get attention.
SOCIAL
How to Train ChatGPT to Write in Your Brand’s Tone of Voice [Infographic]
![How to Train ChatGPT to Write in Your Brand’s Tone of Voice [Infographic] How to Train ChatGPT to Write in Your Brand’s Tone of Voice [Infographic]](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1702266964_How-to-Train-ChatGPT-to-Write-in-Your-Brands-Tone.jpg)
Are you looking for ways to improve your ChatGPT output? Want to train it to write in a more unique tone of voice, in order to better suit your branding?
The Creative Marketer shares his ChatGPT prompt tips in this infographic. To enact these, add “Write like [INSERT CHARACTER]” at the start of your ChatGPT instructions.
TCM breaks things down into the following categories:
- Innocent
- Sage
- Explorer
- Ruler
- Creator
- Caregiver
- Lover
- Hero
- Everyman
- Magician
- Jester
- Outlaw
Check out the infographic for more information.
A version of this post was first published on the Red Website Design blog.
SOCIAL
Elon Musk reinstates far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on X

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been reinstated on X, formerly known as Twitter, by company owner Elon Musk – Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File Joe Buglewicz
Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, on Sunday reinstated far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on the social media platform, a year after vowing never to let him return.
Jones, who claimed that a December 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut that killed 20 children and six educators was a hoax, was banned from the platform — then still known as Twitter — in 2018 for violating its “abusive behavior policy.”
He was also sued by families of the victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting and ordered by a judge in the case to pay up more than a billion dollars in damages last year.
Musk had himself promised never to let the Infowars host back on the social media platform, which he bought last year for $44 billion.
But following a poll Musk conducted on X asking whether Jones should be reinstated, to which some two million users responded, he flipped that decision.
“I vehemently disagree with what he said about Sandy Hook, but are we a platform that believes in freedom of speech or are we not?” the SpaceX founder said on X.
But Shannon Watts, founder of the group Moms Demand Action group which pushes for tighter gun laws, said that “defamation is not free speech.”
Musk’s decision comes the same week that the Sandy Hook families commemorate the 11th anniversary of the December 14 shooting, which Jones alleged was staged to allow the government to crack down on gun rights.
Jones’ followers harassed the bereaved families for years, accusing parents of murdered children of being “crisis actors” whose children had never existed.
It also came a week after Musk had responded to advertisers pulling out of X because of far-right posts and hate speech, including an apparent endorsement by Musk himself of an anti-Semitic tweet.
Asked whether he would respond to the advertising exodus, Musk said in an interview with journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin that the advertisers could “go f*** yourself.”
Jones, who has a million followers on X, returned to the site with his first post re-tweeting Andrew Tate, the controversial former kickboxer facing rape and human trafficking charges in Romania, in which he hailed Jones’ “triumphant return”
US media reported that as of Sunday, the account of Jones’ controversial show Infowars was still banned.
SOCIAL
Instagram Launches New ‘Close Friends Only’ Podcast to Showcase Celebrity Users

Not sure if this will be a valuable addition, or another stream that’ll fade out pretty quick, as Meta stops paying attention to it.
Today, Instagram has launched a new podcast called “Close Friends Only”, which it says will present “the latest on culture – from memes and icks, to fashion and friendship – all from your favorite celebrities.”
And they’ve gone big out of the gate, with the first episode featuring Ice Spice in conversation with Doja Cat.
The conversation sees the two stars discuss their favorite memes, their favorite animals, celebrity crushes, experiences in flirting on IG, their juiciest DMs, and more.
Which will no doubt get a heap of attention, and will help make Instagram a bigger focus for youngsters seeking to replicate their idols. But in terms of practical advice or tips, yeah, there might not be a heap there.
But it could be worth tuning in anyway, in order to get the lowdown on the latest trends, from some of the people that are leading the way on cultural shifts.
But then again, as noted, it’ll be interesting to see how IG follows this first episode up, and whether they keep running regular episodes of the podcast with more celebrities.
Either way, it’s an interesting promotional vehicle for IG, especially given that it’s focusing on musicians, as TikTok becomes an even more critical platform for music promotion.
Maybe, then, this will be Instagram’s counter to that, but again, we’ll have to wait and see whether more episodes arrive.
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