Posted on 11/17/2022 9:20:06 PM PST by SeekAndFind
I don’t think we’re about to see Twitter implode but if you’re on Twitter this evening there are a lot of people suggesting everyone who works there has quit. This latest round of departures started yesterday with an email Musk sent to the remaining work force (about half had been fired earlier this month).
Early Wednesday morning, the world’s richest man and newly installed Twitter CEO emailed the site’s employees with an ultimatum, obligating them to commit to an “extremely hardcore” work ethic or leaving the company.
Musk argued that Twitter must be ready for a more “increasingly competitive world” and therefore employees must be ready to give more. CNN correspondent Donie O’Sullivan provided a screenshot of Musk’s surprise email.
In it, Musk wrote, “Going forward, to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore. This will mean working long hours at high intensity. Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade.”
After mentioning that Twitter will become “much more engineering-driven,” he gave his employees a choice to get on board with his ambitions or leave the company. He added, “If you are sure that you want to be part of the new Twitter, please click yes on the link below,” adding, “Anyone who has not done so by 5pm ET tomorrow (Thursday) will receive three months of severance.”
And according to this tech reporter for Fortune, most people have decided to leave.
As we’re all very aware, folks on visas are stuck, so thats who makes up most of the roughly 25% (or less than 1,000….) expected to stay. The actual impact is not yet known — there have been no internal comms about what comes next. We’re nearly 2 hours post deadline.
— Kylie Robison (@kyliebytes) November 17, 2022
Lets put this into perspective — at the beginning of this month, Twitter had 7,400 employees. Barely half way through the month, if 75% do actually stick to their decision today, the company will have shrunk by a whopping ~88%.
— Kylie Robison (@kyliebytes) November 18, 2022
Some employees posted a countdown video to 5pm. It sounds like all of these guys were leaving or expecting to be fired.
It’s been a ride pic.twitter.com/0VDf5hn2UA
— Matt Miller (@brainiaq2000) November 17, 2022
The NY Times is reporting the company is in disarray.
Hours before a Thursday deadline that Elon Musk had given Twitter employees to decide whether to stay or leave their jobs, the social media company appeared to be in disarray…
All the while, two people said, resignations started to roll in. By the deadline, 5 p.m. Eastern time, hundreds of Twitter employees appeared to have decided to depart with three months of severance pay, the people said. Twitter later announced via email that it would close “our office buildings” and disable employee badge access until Monday.
Others are predicting it’s imminent demise.
From one of the remaining Twitter employees: “It (Twitter) has about a week left before it’s dead.”
— Travis Akers (@travisakers) November 18, 2022
Musk himself seems to still be in a good mood.
How do you make a small fortune in social media?
Start out with a large one.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022
But Twitter itself is awash in people predicting the end is near. Here’s what the trending topics sidebar looks like right now:
So lots of people are jumping in with predictions that Twitter may implode at any moment. Some are saying goodbye.
Hoping this doesn’t happen ⬇️ but just in case: it’s been wonderful tweeting with y’all! 🐣
As a backup, follow me on Instagram, same handle: @AOC – it’s really me there, as it is here.
Or sign up for emails, where I’ll share any other platforms I join: https://t.co/Tt9J3IlWW8 https://t.co/xfe7HNvEW1
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 18, 2022
Wait, we’re all saying goodbye to each other? This is really weird.
— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) November 18, 2022
Twitter can’t end. There are so many people I haven’t talked shit to.
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) November 18, 2022
I imagine this is what it will be like in the final days before the giant meteor or the Yellowstone eruption.
— Nathan Wurtzel (@NathanWurtzel) November 18, 2022
Others are just having fun with memes.
Goodbye twitter, been a good run. #RIPTwitter pic.twitter.com/fkkUZWz2oQ
— Bish 🗽 (@thebishundercov) November 18, 2022
Twitter HQ next fall #RIPTwitter pic.twitter.com/DCLnpGHPPb
— Zombae (@ZombaeVT) November 18, 2022
The Cat Memes will live on…
#RIPTwitter #CatsOfTwitter pic.twitter.com/lfWJb1sgvY— Cat Cosplay 🐈⬛ (@Cat_Cosplay) November 18, 2022
Somebody at Twitter HQ has pulled out a projector.
Someone is projecting multiple messages onto Twitter headquarters building in SF from a neighboring building.
pic.twitter.com/VuFqLvDyxT— Gia Vang (@Gia_Vang) November 18, 2022
But the reality is it’ll probably still be there in the morning.
It'll be very awkward when after hours of eulogizing this site doesn't actually go down, it'll be like saying goodbye to a date and then realizing you're walking to the same subway station
— Keef Girgo (PARODY ACCOUNT) (@CaseyMalone) November 18, 2022
Update: So true…
Nice to see Twitter going out as it lived: Hysterically overreacting to the latest news development, compulsively sharing false viral tweets that confirm its priors, and repeatedly mistaking satirical accounts for real ones. Godspeed.
— Yair Rosenberg (@Yair_Rosenberg) November 18, 2022
Also:
And … we just hit another all-time high in Twitter usage lol
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022
Good. The crybabies can go on the government teat and smoke dope.
Maybe Musk is a true Trumpster, and his plan was to defangle Twitter, so everyone goes to TruthSocial. If it is too Conservative for some users, bye.
Ooogle is having it’s own round of layoffs. Those who choose to stick it out and tow the line will be richly rewarded. But that isn’t an option (in their minds) for these spoiled brats.
I read on TWITTER that these were some of the first positions eliminated in the first round of layoffs. Can you imagine the laughter as the team was going through these positions???? And you know those peons were so smug when they introduced themselves to each other and identified their positions - as if they really mattered in the real world.
So now they are resigning and are going to head back to mom and dad’s basement.
Climate Change Negotiator
Kombucha Brewer
Multi Gender Analyst
Intersectional, Standpoint, and Queer Theorist
Lesbian Arabic Culture Historian
Body Language of Queerness Specialist
Diversity Psychologist
Lesbian Poet
Trans Leadership Ambassador
Erasing Whitness Educator
Queer Discontentment Therapist
Feminist Philosopher
Taylor Swiftologist
Selfie Coach
Jay Z and Kanye West Psychoanalysis Committee
If I worked for a company that paid well and they tried to double my work hours for the same pay I wouldn’t think I was “paid well” anymore.
As long as the people leaving are going to work elsewhere, I don’t know why FReepers would have any problem with them leaving.
Wondering if Ligma and Johnson decided to stay or go? 😜
So those on work visas are stuck at Twitter. Most likely many if not most are Indians. That must be a bitter pill as that community tend to be very left of center.
I once worked for a company that had when I was hired, a 36 ½ hour work week. One day they announced that they were going to a 40-hour work week but would be adjusting our hourly pay down so we’d make the same amount for working 40 hours as we did working 36 ½. Those of us who brought up that this was in essence a pay cut, were told it was not a pay cut and were threatened with being fired for complaining. I soon found another job as did many others.
Short answer: Musk gave employees an option to either double their workweek for no additional pay, or take 3 months severance and look for a new job.
Which option would you take?
Tesla profits in China are the funding for the Twitter gambit with plenty to spare.
Interesting thread.
Your list is hilarious.
They’ll find new and better employees. What a rotten company that twitter has been.
Agree. Just imagine, what that would do for DC!
It's TIME to DownSize DC!
Restore the Constitution!Size DC!
Longer Answer: Musk has a reputation for being a very demanding boss and a bit of an asshole (kind of like Steve Jobs actually).
New engineers would be thrilled to work 60-80-??? hours per week to design a Mars lander. And many would also be willing to take the wrong side of work/life balance to work on extremely innovative potentially self-driving electric cars. But very few are willing to work that many hours on a wanna-be social media company with few distinctive features and an unclear future.
It’s very easy to see “Gender Vocabularity Consultant” and axe them immediately. But it’s impossible to axe half the workforce without losing major market momentum. It’s not clear Elon has a workable vision for Twitter. And I think it’s already too late for Elon to avoid creating an environment where anyone with the skills to move on is leaving, meaning that the only old-guard employees will be the ones who aren’t hireable anywhere else.
I know a few freepers are imagining a situation where Elon/Twitter has 100% turnover and brings in all new employees to rewrite/rework the platform. For those Freepers I’d like to share a story about Netscape Mozilala. Netscape was one of the very first web-browsers and at its peak had over 90% maketshare of an exploding market. It faced growing and eventually serious competition from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and (sound familiar?) trailed down to 50% market share with a lot of people were claiming it was old news and needed a major reworking from the ground up. So they did just that — they spent ~3 years re-writing their code “to have a more stable foundation” and the result not only did not add any new features, but actually had fewer features than the old version. During those three years, their market share dwindled to extinction, and Netscape Navigator was first bought by another company then disbanded.
So no, completely outsting the old team to revamp the product from the ground up is a terrible idea.
Your Netscape example is spot-on! I was an ISP back in the day and remember Netscape’s missteps very well.
What if Elon Musk moved Twitter to Texas? He did move a lot of his company to Texas. I hear no complaints from him about that move. Dell Computer has done exceedingly well in Round Rock and there is a history of chip development in the DFW area. In fact I suggested to Musk on Twitter that he could move Twitter to Texas. (no response) I'm sure he has thought about it.
He is fighting the “entitlement mind” with that crew. If they can’t have it their way then they will burn it down so that no one can have it.
If they’d allow remote work or opened an office near me then I’d go work for them.
Imagine Viking Kitties on twitter
I used to have fun on Twitter when conservative sites were everywhere.
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