Within a span of 96 hours, Elon Musk’s buyout of San Francisco tech giant Twitter has generated major aftershocks on the platform and elsewhere.
But with all of Musk’s tweeting and whiplash-inducing decision-making, it’s hard to keep tabs on what’s going on in the Twitterverse. Here is an ongoing liveblog of everything the Tesla CEO is doing as the “Chief Twit.”
Elon Musk allegedly snags Tesla staff for Twitter
Oct. 31, 3:15 p.m.
Tesla software engineers are not interchangeable with Twitter software engineers, having to navigate different skill sets and coding languages for their respective jobs. But for Musk, it reportedly makes no difference.
Musk, according to a Monday CNBC report, is nabbing around 50 software engineers from Tesla and two other Musk-owned entities for his grand plans to revive Vine and alter the verification process at Twitter. (CNBC, infamously, fell for a prank Friday when they interviewed what appeared to be laid-off Twitter staffers; one of the staffers gave a NSFW name.) Even though most Tesla engineers have limited familiarity with Twitter’s inner workings, CNBC notes, it appears they’re pulling through for Musk in hopes of currying favor with the Chief Twit. It’s not just low-level employees, either. Ashok Elluswamy, the director of software development at Tesla, is among the workers who have reportedly been tapped for the Twitter gig.
CNBC also noted that some Twitter workers who have stuck around are being ordered to work 84-hour weeks — 12 hours a day, seven days a week — without promises of job stability or even overtime.
Celebs are ditching Twitter left and right
Oct. 31, 1:45 p.m.
At least a few big-name celebrities are fleeing Twitter in an apparent boycott of its new owner. Among them, according to a CBS News list: legendary “Grey’s Anatomy” showrunner Shonda Rhimes, singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles and actor Téa Leoni.
It appears LeBron James is also on the outs after a report that said the use of the N-word quintupled after the news of Musk’s ownership broke. “… if this is true,” James wrote in a tweet Saturday, “I hope he and his people take this very seriously because this is scary AF. So many damn unfit people saying hate speech is free speech.”
Elon Musk wants to revive Vine
Oct. 31, 1:30 p.m.
It appears like Elon Musk and his army of VC pals are R&D-ing Twitter based on polls and his replies. After a poll Musk tweeted out Sunday, it looks he has plans to revive Vine, the Twitter-owned short-form video service that met its demise in 2016. In many ways, the 6-second video service was a predecessor to the now-ubiquitous TikTok. But it would have to compete in a marketplace where every app, from YouTube to Instagram, has a short-form video feature, all of which are primarily cribbing from TikTok.
On Monday morning, Axios reported that Musk is tasking engineers with looking into Vine’s codebase, seemingly in hopes of reviving the failed video app. The code has not been updated in six years, the outlet reported.
Musk has at least one high-profile internet celebrity intrigued: YouTuber MrBeast, who said, “If you did that and actually competed with tik tok that’d be hilarious.” Musk responded, “What could we do to make it better than TikTok?”
Elon Musk wants to make blue checks pay
Oct. 31, 12 p.m.
Musk is seemingly spitballing out loud ideas for generating revenue from his multi-billion dollar impulse buy. On Sunday, as the Verge first reported, Musk announced plans to charge anyone who wants a Twitter verification — or a blue check — $20 a month. That’s a healthy chunk of change to charge for a previously free feature that most people don’t think twice about; that’s more than Netflix and (ad-supported) Hulu combined for a feature that 81% of Twitter users would not pay for, at least according to a poll Jason Calacanis tweeted out Sunday. (Musk simply replied, “Interesting.”)
To make matters even odder, the Verge reported that Musk is proceeding full-speed ahead and reportedly ordering engineers to develop the feature by next Monday, Nov. 7, or get sacked.
The San Francisco VCs consulting Elon Musk on Twitter
Oct. 31, 12 p.m.
Two of the most prominent figures in Musk-era Twitter are not Twitter executives or even other bigwigs in the social media space. They’re San Francisco venture capitalists — one of whom is also a conservative political heavyweight.
San Francisco-based venture capitalists Jason Calacanis and David Sacks, the latter of whom has poured money into the recalls of former San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the San Francisco Unified school board, are both key players in this new era of the social media giant.
“For those asking, yes, I am hanging out at Twitter a bit and simply trying to be as helpful as possible during the transition,” Calacanis tweeted Sunday afternoon.
But the Washington Post reported Monday that both Calacanis and Sacks are listed as “staff software engineer” in Twitter’s internal directory and have official company emails, suggesting that they have some formal role in Twitter’s new age.
Read More:Elon Musk Twitter takeover updates: Frantic workers, chaotic demands
2022-10-31 22:16:08
