Elon’s Learning How Twitter Works

According to The Verge, Elon Musk on Tuesday gathered a group of engineers and advisors asking why his engagement numbers have been tanking. He fired the engineer (one of his top two) who delivered the news that only a tiny fraction of your followers ever see your tweets. The view counter he forced the company to place on every tweet proves it. According to those in the room, Elon was shocked – and really mad.

No matter how you choose to measure Twitter’s success, practically every meaningful metric is declining. It’s easy to understand why. Elon is running the company on his formidable, but (in this case) suboptimal intuition. If he has a master plan, he’s keeping it to himself. Worst of all, the company is bleeding good people that cannot be quickly replaced.

None of this really matters to consumers. Normal people don’t tweet very often; they mostly read tweets. It’s called the 1/9/90 rule. One percent of people create, nine percent react or contribute, and 90 percent simply consume.

The good news is that Elon has pretty deep pockets. Twitter is his to do with what he wishes. For the rest of us, it’s just fun and games.

Author’s note: This is not a sponsored post. I am the author of this article and it expresses my own opinions. I am not, nor is my company, receiving compensation for it.

About Shelly Palmer

Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named LinkedIn’s “Top Voice in Technology,” he covers tech and business for Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular daily business blog. He's a bestselling author, and the creator of the popular, free online course, Generative AI for Execs. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.

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