Produced | Sanyan Finance by | DoraEmon
In just a dozen days, Twitter ushered in the fate of changing owners.
Today, Twitter announced that it accepted Musk's $44 billion bid for the acquisition. After that, as long as it is approved by Twitter shareholders and regulators, Twitter will officially change its name and surname and become the "Ma family".
After this has become a thing, Musk, who has already become the richest man in the world, may further become a god. Flying in the sky, running on the ground, drilling holes in the ground, and even the science fiction of brain-computer interfaces... What else Musk hasn't touched?
Speaking of Musk, this person is really not a harsh person, from becoming the largest shareholder of Twitter in early April, to today's "get it" Twitter, less than a month has been vigorously done.
But we still have a lot of questions, why did Musk buy Twitter? How will this change Twitter? While the acquisition isn't strictly a foregone conclusion, and how Musk changes Twitter remains to be seen, it may be possible to figure out some answers to some questions from the available information.
Why did Musk buy Twitter?
In fact, there is an official answer to this question, which Musk himself has already explained:
He said he wants to improve the product with new features, open source Twitter platform algorithms to enhance trust, and fight robot trolls, verify all human accounts, and help Twitter get better.
To put it bluntly, Musk has always been dissatisfied with Twitter's content moderation policy and public opinion environment, and he believes that Twitter is not free to speak and must be changed. The way to change is to buy it for him and do it according to your own vision.
Of course, this kind of official interpretation, just like the public relations response, often faces things that are greater than the essence, and are not necessarily the real reason. Therefore, there are views that Musk wants to buy Twitter for two main reasons, one is to keep Twitter's public opinion position, and the other is to help Trump return to the presidency.
Unlike many other well-known public figures and big Vs, Musk and Trump like to directly manipulate social accounts to publish information without the professional PR team deliberating on the words.
Therefore, the distance between these two and netizens is very close, and they not only gain a large number of fans, but also form a huge influence without deliberately creating a persona.
Previously, according to media statistics, Musk released a total of 11,394 tweets in the 10 years from June 2010 to June 2020, with an average of 5.9 per day.
Musk also often interacts with others, interacting with objects ranging from the big V of tens of thousands of fans to the grassroots of dozens of fans. So, Twitter is a very important social product for Musk.
As we all know, when Trump's account is blocked, it means that everyone has the potential to be blocked. That, of course, includes Musk as well. This may be one of the reasons why Musk complained about Twitter's content moderation policy.
Some people speculated that Musk bought Twitter to ensure that he was not banned.
The second reason is that Musk wants to help Trump get back in office.
Unlike other us presidents, Trump relies on social media to gain fan support and is also a "tweeter". But when Trump's Tweet was blocked, he had to build a separate platform himself.
According to Fox News, some sources said that Trump and Musk have a very good relationship. In 2018, Musk was accused of securities fraud for "rambling" on Twitter. Trump also defended Musk at the time.
Therefore, some people think that Musk bought Twitter to restore Trump's "right to tweet" and then help him run for president.
Will Trump return to Twitter?
Whether Musk bought Twitter for the above reasons or not, some of the obstacles to Trump's return may really be cleared, so will Trump come back?
Trump has said in an interview with the media that Musk is a good man and that even if he is allowed to return to Twitter, he will not come back. Trump said he would continue to use his own social platforms.
However, whether Trump will be able to resist the temptation of Twitter's huge user traffic is still unknown. However, the core of this problem is actually whether Musk will continue Twitter's original blocking policy after he acquires Twitter.
Judging from Musk's current remarks, the implementation of "free speech" is the main reason for his acquisition, and it may be very likely that he will lift the ban on Trump.
Does Musk himself want to run for president?
If Musk really wants to help Trump, then why not be on his own when he is president?
When Trump was successful in his campaign, social media played a considerable role. Therefore, some netizens believe that Musk wants to run for president himself, so he acquired Twitter. It's just that with Trump's "lessons from the past", simply buy it first.
There is a positive answer to this guess: impossible.
Under the U.S. Constitution, one of the eligibility for presidential candidacy is "naturally born in the United States," a requirement that is currently understood to mean that a U.S. citizen must be born in the United States.
Musk was born in South Africa and is not native-born American. So unless the U.S. constitution is amended, Musk is not eligible to run for president of the United States.
After the acquisition is completed, will Twitter employees be laid off?
As with many corporate acquisitions, employees of the acquired party may be laid off for various reasons, and Twitter employees currently have similar concerns.
On Monday, Twitter held a full-staff meeting in which CEO Parag Agrawal and board chairman Bret Taylor answered employee questions about Musk's acquisition.
Agrawal said Twitter does not currently have any layoff plans and Twitter's remote work policy will continue until the end of the deal. He also said the team will, as always, make decisions in accordance with the company's principles. "I've been talking about driving positive change in the company, and I'll continue to do that," Agrawal said, adding that different decisions could be made after the deal is completed.
At the same time, Agrawal also promised that Twitter leadership will provide employees with the opportunity to communicate directly with Musk.
Some employees asked whether Musk's acquisition had an impact on employee retention and attrition in the context of increased competition for talent in the technology industry. Agrawal replied that if the teams work together, they don't have to worry about losing the core that makes Twitter strong.
What will happen to the original leadership of Twitter?
After Twitter was acquired by Musk, perhaps employees will not face the problem of layoffs, but the leadership team will be more variable.
At Monday's meeting, Twitter's current CEO Agrawal and co-founder Jack Dorsey were both optimistic about Twitter's future.
Agrawal said Musk wants Twitter to be a powerful, positive force in the world like everyone else, while Dorsey said Musk is right to create a platform of trust and broad inclusion.
However, Musk bluntly said in his offer letter to buy Twitter, "I have no confidence in management." Therefore, perhaps after Musk completes the acquisition, he will change the management according to his own wishes.
Are Twitter employees willing to work for Musk?
According to the Washington Post, some Twitter employees were "shocked and frustrated" by Musk's acquisition, and some employees even said they were shocked beyond words.
What will the future hold for Twitter?
First, if Musk really advocates "free speech" as he says, cancel or reconstruct the Twitter content moderation mechanism. Some industry experts fear that the move could lead to Twitter being challenged in curbing hate speech, rumors, harassment and other negative and harmful content.
However, more changes that Musk has brought to Twitter may be in the business model. Currently, major social networks are free to use. Twitter is no exception, with an advertising-based business model.
Musk may launch a paid model on Twitter, where users can enjoy an ad-free experience. At present, Musk has already tried a number of paid services on Tesla, and it can be said that he has rich experience.
In addition, Musk may also combine Twitter with cryptocurrencies more closely. After all, he has repeatedly supported cryptocurrencies on Twitter, and may take advantage of the opportunity to acquire Twitter to further promote cryptocurrencies.
From the underground to the ground, space, the human brain, hardware, software, and data are not capital in disorderly expansion?
Musk already has a flying space in the sky - SpaceX, Starlink; Tesla running on the ground; boring digging holes in the ground; future-oriented brain-computer interface... Now he is one step away from taking the media back.
I have to admit that Musk is not only ambitious, but also top-notch. All the business under his name, if not the top, belongs to the head.
In 2021, Tesla became the world's best-selling electric vehicle brand with a market share of 14.4% that year;
SpaceX ushered in a new era of private spaceflight, and now not only has it sent astronauts into space, but it has also recently taken individual tourists to the International Space Station;
Recently, Musk's underground highway project Boring Company received $675 million in financing, valued at $5.7 billion; preliminary approval has been obtained to build a transportation system under the Las Vegas underground;
In April 2021, Musk's brain-computer interface company Neuralink announced that it had implemented the use of brain chips to let monkeys play games, but was later accused of abusing monkeys.
Musk's accomplishments are admirable and amazing, and perhaps he really wants to make the world a better place and change people's lives on his own. But as Musk's hand reaches out to Twitter, should we worry about the monopoly of capital's disorderly expansion?
On the one hand, Musk did promote the development of human technology, but on the other hand, the monopoly problem brought about by excessively inflated business ambitions will also trigger serious negative effects.
Just imagine, if one day, people from birth to death, can not be separated from the products provided by Musk's company once the monopoly is formed, how much money the product is determined by the market, depending on capital;
More seriously, if large-scale aviation projects are monopolized by capital, the country's space exploration projects will also have to pay high fees, and there is no other way.
This is not a cause for concern, such as the acquisition of Twitter, many netizens believe that Musk wants to control public opinion, is a monopoly of online platforms.
After Musk has Twitter, he actually has the potential ability to influence the country's presidential candidates, even if Musk himself is not eligible to run, what about his cronies, friends and even children?
White House press secretary Jen Psaki was quoted in a CNN related report as commenting that "regardless of who owns or runs Twitter, the president (Biden) has long been concerned about the power of large social media platforms."
However, for us people who eat melons, the impact of Musk's move on the United States is indeed a bit of a "salty carrot to worry about", but what is worth vigilance is that once Musk has Twitter, he can also grasp hundreds of millions of personal data and even public data. The value of this information need not be said, once it is privately controlled, can we only pray that "capital does not do evil"?
Musk's SpaceX StarLink project has already shown signs of capital expansion. With the rapid development of the Starlink project, it began to seriously threaten the space order. Last year, the mainland informed the two satellites of the Starlink to actively reduce the orbital altitude and approach the "Tianhe" core module, resulting in the Chinese space station having to carry out "emergency avoidance". Starlink has threatened space security not only once, but one of Starlink's satellites in 2019 was also at risk of colliding with a satellite of the European Space Agency.
In addition, Starlink also occupies a large number of space resources, forcing satellites in various countries to become more and more nervous about the acquisition of satellite frequencies and other related resources.
However, according to the current situation, there is no international authority that can regulate SpaceX's projects. That is to say, the star chain is in a disorderly expansion that can "do whatever you want".
The ancients are cloudy, no rules and no circles, should we be wary of Musk's "unscrupulous" capital expansion?