Posted on 11/08/2022 7:49:07 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Did I say “despite”? Perhaps “because” might apply instead.
When Elon Musk took over Twitter on October 28, a great wailing and gnashing of teeth arose from not just Twitter’s employees but also the Twitterati on line. The cognoscenti declared the platform dead, and a number of them announced their departures. Others predicted that Musk would drive the platform into oblivion by chasing off all of its dynamic content providers.
It’s still early days, but according to The Verge, it looks more like Musk has touched off a renaissance instead:
Twitter’s daily user growth hit “all-time highs” during the first full week of Elon Musk owning the platform, according to a company document obtained by The Verge.
Since Musk’s dramatic takeover, Twitter’s monetizable daily user (mDAU) growth has accelerated to more than 20 percent, while “Twitter’s largest market, the US, is growing even more quickly,” according to an internal FAQ obtained by The Verge that was shared with Twitter’s sales team on Monday to use in conversations with advertisers. Per the FAQ, Twitter has added more than 15 million mDAUs, “crossing the quarter billion mark” since the end of the second quarter, when it stopped reporting financials as a public company.
If those numbers are in line with how Twitter reported metrics when it was public, they imply that the service has yet to see a mass exodus under Musk’s ownership. He tweeted on Sunday that, since his deal to buy Twitter was announced, “user numbers have increased significantly around the world.” Twitter last reported 237.8 million mDAUs and a 16.6 percent yearly growth rate for the second quarter.
The news isn’t all good the past ten days, however. Users may grow, but advertisers are departing, at least at the moment. Even that seems more aligned with a temporary freak-out than actual issues:
While users may not be fleeing Twitter en masse, advertisers are. In another tweet on Friday, Musk said the company has seen “a massive drop in revenue” due to “activist groups pressuring advertisers.” Reports of a sharp spike in racist and hateful tweets after his takeover initially spooked advertisers, though Twitter said afterward that the influx was due to coordinated “trolling campaigns.” The FAQ for advertisers on Monday says that “levels of hate speech remain within historical norms, representing 0.25% to 0.45% of tweets per day among hundreds of millions.”
Advertisers come with the traffic, not the other way around. If Musk generates net user growth in the long run, the advertisers will return. They need to sell their wares and services, and have to show up where the eyeballs are to do so. In that sense, as any blogger who started out from scratch can tell you, advertising is a lagging indicator.
This may end up being a healthier platform for advertisers in the long run anyway. The user growth that Musk is realizing likely comes from those who grew tired of the heavy progressive intervention and censorship imposed by the previous Twitter regime. Some may be returning from places like Gab and Parler, and some may be choosing to try out social media for the first time to see what happens. That creates a more diverse audience, the better for specific targeting for all sorts of products and services. The narrowing down of Twitter’s user base to a heavily urban-progressive demographic might have limited the appeal of the platform to some advertisers.
Again, these are early days, and a first-fortnight growth spurt only matters if it can be sustained. At the very least, though, this contradicts the mass-exodus narratives that had anecdotally sprung up in the first days of the Musk era.
What the heck? You mean Whoopi Goldberg leaving Twitter didn’t inspire a mass exodus???
Lol- ce.ebrities Wil. Be sitting outside the bui,ding loo,ing in through the windows, wishing they were inside with all the other cool people. But at least they will have comraderie one with a other outside in the cold.
Those on the inside can walk slowly by the windows sipping nice hot chocolate and raising the cup to those o. The outside as they do lol
Ad revenues are down because “activist groups pressuring advertisers.”
I always wonder about that.
* Who ARE these “activist groups”?
* How did they get such power?
* How can they operate ostensibly so successfully behind the scenes?
* How do they connect with the ad buyers and execs at large F1000 corporations
* Why do the people at those companies have such linguine spines?
* Why do they respond at all when some shadowy “activist group” tells them to stop buying ads on Twitter?
* Why don’t they just tell those “activist groups” to get lost?
Rush always said that shadowy “Southern Poverty Research Center” was two guys in a basement with a fax machine, effectively asking the same questions.
It’s ABSOLUTELY GREAT TO SEE CELEBRITIES LEAVE.
“If Musk generates net user growth in the long run, the advertisers will return.”
So wont these phony clowns like Whoopi. If they actually leave at all in the first, theyll be back, count on it.
Not surprising, since the old business model knowingly drove away at least half its potential customer base. Perhaps a lot more than half.
I’ve downloaded the app but haven’t signed up.
Gee, promoting free speech is a winner. Who would’ve thunk?(sic)
Yep, I was sure Whoopi leaving would be the end to twitter too... /s
“ Who ARE these “activist groups”?”
First and foremost among these activist groups, possibly the only one, is an organization called Media Matters for America. It’s run by a radical gay leftist named Angelo Carusone and funded in large part by Soros.
I may actually join up... Nah. I just want to be able to read it without being asked to join up or sign in.
Membership up, but income is down. Profitability is kind og the point.
List of Companies who have suspended Twitter Ads:
General Mills
CVS
United Airlines
GM
Audi
Mazda
Porsche
Volkswagen
American Express
Coca-Cola
Johnson & Johnson
Levi Strauss
Spotify
Ford
Dyson
Forbes
DIRECTV
Nintendo
Unilever
PBS
Actually the SPRC has made a very nice standard of living for many decades for old Morris Dees (who’s now 85).
I’ve never been a Twit but I may join now.
Celebrities won’t leave for long ....their appetite for notority will force them back.
Liberals: “See? All the American nazis are coming out of the decaying woodwork of the Republican party and joining Twitter!”
Bwahahahahaha. GO ELON GO
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