Tesla has lost its luster this year as demand for cars wanes and pressures mount in China.
Even the most optimistic analysts said the company was “in shambles” in the last quarter. And with Elon Musk’s net worth falling at the same rate as the automaker’s stock (more than 10% over the past year, pushing him back to the fourth position on the list of the world’s richest billionaires after topping the ratings), the former tech industry’s golden boy appears to be bolstering his other businesses to avoid further losses.
With his social media company, X, it turns out it means a return to the pre-Musk app, the smart old Twitter.
“I think the strategy, as it should now, is to go back to basics,” Gabor Cselle, a former director of assignments on Twitter’s trends team, told Business Insider. “I think making X something radically different and reinventing the wheel hasn’t been possible.
In recent weeks, Twitter (sorry, X) has noticed the return of blue status-based checkmarks for accounts with a giant number of verified followers, which, according to CNN’s Oliver Darcy, demonstrates Elon Musk’s “desperation to attract high-profile users again. “”To the platform. And, after virtually cutting a portion of the company’s staff and significant cuts to the security and acceptance team since its acquisition in 2022, the company would reinvest in the platform’s security by building a new content moderation center in Texas and hiring two people. New high-ranking officials to oversee restraint.
David Camp, co-founder of logo consultancy Metaforce, told BI that the moves gave the impression of being an attempt to attract advertisers to the platform after an exodus following a rise in hate speech on the site.
When Musk bought Twitter, Camp said, he “demonstrated an arrogant attitude toward the way classic companies operate” and didn’t need to be “chained” to the dynamics of business-driven advertising, in which the company deserves to create and maintain. stability and certainty to attract advertisers. But as profits continue to decline and user engagement declines, Camp said it makes sense for him to try to backtrack, even if that doesn’t mean it will work.
While there are still unwavering users on the platform, Variety reported last fall that X had lost 15% of its global user base since Musk took over. And Musk himself has stated that the platform lost about 50% of its advertising earnings during his tenure.
“Regardless of the small tactical tweaks they make to the platform, with the blue controls or the claims of greater restraint, from a marketing and logo progression perspective, those are just empty words,” Camp said. “Every time he opens his mouth and says something debatable, which he appreciates, it further reinforces Twitter’s belief as an unreliable advertising partner, which is why they continue to lose profits and will struggle to attract advertisers. “
Musk and representatives for Tesla and X responded to BI’s requests for comment.
Cselle said he believes returning to an older, more trustworthy style of verification or content moderation could help Musk track down some of the advertisers who left and cement the prestige X had in Twitter’s glory days. But he added that the app still benefits from users’ benefits. “muscle memory,” which helps keep them coming back to the site, than Musk’s damaged promises to roll out new features and make X a “jack-of-all-trades app. “
Twitter’s downward trajectory may parallel that of Musk’s most impressive products: Tesla’s Cybertruck. In a December blog post, PR expert Ed Zitron predicted that “Musk’s intellectual aptitude will get worse as things get worse on Twitter, along with the disastrous launch of Tesla’s Cybertruck in 2024. “”.
Though it’s a symbol of prestige for celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Jay-Z, the launch of the Cybertruck has been marred by harsh criticism, with new owners of the $80,000-plus vehicle warning of ubiquitous handprints, rust stains and difficulties maneuvering the massive vehicle, which weighs more than 6,600 pounds.
“In any case, Musk will have to continue to pay interest on the debt and make up for Twitter’s huge deficits, and he would possibly be forced to sell more Tesla shares at a time when the company is starting to look good. Fragile,” Zitron wrote.
Camp said Musk is solely to blame for himself and his “toxic” private logo, despite his obvious efforts to make the platform a more logo-friendly position with the hiring of Linda Yaccarino, former president of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal, to be X’s chief executive. Since Yaccarino took office in June, Musk has seemed to constantly undermine it, from announcing changes to the platform to reducing anti-Semitism and hate speech on the site.
“Honestly, the most productive thing Twitter can do to regain its position is to sideline Musk. And the only way to do that is to sell it, and you’re expected to sell it at a huge loss,” Camp said. He decides, as a human being, that he has matured to the point that he no longer feels the desire to be the impetuous, nonconformist and unpredictable user that he is and a major statesman, something that is hard for me to imagine. I guess. I don’t think anything is going to change.
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