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Goodbye, Twitter [Ken White, The Popehat Report]

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  • Ken White is leaving Twitter due to its recent changes and his disagreement with the brand they are exhibiting.
  • He has been on the internet since 1995, meeting his wife on Usenet and participating in many different communities.
  • White has been advocating for the exercise of free speech and free association, and is now voting with his feet by leaving Twitter.
  • People can still find him on Facebook, Substack, Post.News, Mastodon and by email.

Click HERE for original. Published December 12, 2022

The real scandal inside Facebook’s cross-check program [Casey Newton, Platformer]

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  • Facebook’s cross-check program has been criticized for offering unequal protection to some users, leading to the Meta Oversight Board investigating the program.
  • The board found that the program leads to unequal treatment of users, causes harm, and does not measure its effectiveness.
  • The board made 32 recommendations for the company, including developing stronger criteria for which accounts should be eligible for ERSR protections, making those criteria public, and allowing individuals to proactively apply for the program.
  • The board also recommends that Facebook build more capacity to ensure it’s actually reviewing posts in the GSR queue.

Published December 6, 2022

Visit Platformer to read Casey Newton’s original post

Why some tech CEOs are rooting for Musk [Casey Newton & Zoë Schiffer, Platformer]

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  • Elon Musk’s radical remaking of Twitter is getting largely positive reception from tech CEOs.
  • CEOs are inspired by Musk’s leadership and tactics, which could have ramifications across the tech industry.
  • Musk’s sledgehammer tactics have given executives an excuse to begin unwinding some of the leverage that their workforce gained in the roaring 2010s.
  • Musk’s project to reinstate banned users and picking a fight with Apple is making it harder on himself.
  • Internally, employees have referred to the project as “the Big Bang”.
  • Advertisers remain deeply skeptical and Apple has threatened to remove Twitter from the App Store.
  • Musk is planning to lay off most of the remaining engineering managers this week.
  • It’s clear that the person in most need of a late-night performance review is Musk himself.

Published November 28, 2022

Visit Platformer to read Casey Newton’s original post

Trump is restored to Twitter [Casey Newton & Zoë Schiffer, Platformer]

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  • Trump is back (sort of) on Twitter, but he has said he won’t use it. Elon Musk restored his account based on a poll, without forming a content moderation council as he had promised.
  • Late-night code reviews: After offices were closed and employees were asked to sign loyalty pledges, Musk asked engineers to fly to San Francisco for brief code reviews.
  • The shrinking sales team: After two meetings with the global sales team, Musk laid off more employees.
  • Uncertainty: Security certificates are set to expire, raising concerns that Twitter could go down without the people on hand to bring it back.
  • Elsewhere in Twitter: Engineers must email Musk what they’re working on, blue verification might not re-launch, and Musk says layoffs are over for now.

Published November 21, 2022

Visit Platformer to read Casey Newton’s original post

Narratives [Ben Thompson, Stratechery]

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  • Elon Musk and Sam Bankman-Fried’s recent actions show how narratives can lead people astray.
  • Musk’s attempt to take Twitter private was rooted in his personal grievances, and his letter to advertisers was mostly wrong.
  • Bankman-Fried’s political activism was seen as a way to hide his fraud, and his ambition to change the world was a distraction from his business.
  • Changpeng Zhao of Binance is an example of an entrepreneur who focused on his business, rather than on political activism.
  • The article discusses the importance of product-based narratives over theory-based narratives when it comes to understanding the implications of new technologies such as crypto and AI.
  • It argues that the narrative of crypto being a decentralizing force has been challenged by its product manifestation, which tends towards centralization.
  • Similarly, the narrative of AI being a centralizing force has been challenged by the emergence of decentralized and open source AI projects.
  • The article concludes that the best way of knowing is starting by consciously not-knowing, and that narratives that are right follow from products.

Click HERE for original. Published November 14, 2022

Elon only trusts Elon [Casey Newton & Zoë Schiffer, Platformer]

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  • Elon Musk’s Twitter halted new enrollment into its $8-a-month Blue subscription offering after it led to widespread impersonation of government officials, corporations, and celebrities.
  • Days before the launch, the company’s trust and safety team had prepared a seven-page list of recommendations intended to help Musk avoid the most obvious and damaging consequences of his plans for Blue.
  • On Saturday afternoon, a week after an initial round of layoffs had cut Twitter in half, a second massive wave of cuts hit the company, targeting contractors.
  • On Monday morning, at around 1:45 AM, Twitter engineers were called into an emergency meeting and told they couldn’t even write any code — “until further notice.”
  • Eli Lilly, Volkswagen, Pfizer, IPG’s Mediabrands, and Omnicom Media Group have all paused their ad campaigns on Twitter, potentially costing the company millions of dollars in revenue.
  • GroupM has told its clients that Twitter is a high-risk media buy, and mid-afternoon on Monday, after Musk announced he would begin disconnecting up to 80 percent of unspecified microservices, two-factor authentication temporarily stopped working via SMS.

Published November 14, 2022

Visit Platformer to read Casey Newton’s original post

Inside the Twitter meltdown [Casey Newton & Zoë Schiffer, Platformer]

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  • Elon Musk held an hour-long Spaces call to reassure advertisers, but VPs Yoel Roth, Robin Wheeler, Damien Kieran, Lea Kissner, and Marianne Fogarty all resigned the next day.
  • Musk sent an email to the team demanding they return to the office and prioritize finding and suspending verified bots/trolls/spam.
  • A lawyer on Twitter’s privacy team posted a rebuttal to Musk on the company’s Slack, warning of potential legal risks and violations of the FTC consent decree.
  • Musk held an unannounced all-hands meeting with staff, where he said bankruptcy was not out of the question and threatened to accept resignations from those who did not return to the office.
  • Musk’s plan to make verification checkmarks available to anyone willing to pay $8 for a subscription to Twitter Blue was abused, and he is also working to make Twitter a payments company.
  • There is a real sense of doom that Twitter could become a shadow of its former self, and Musk and his team were unable to access the @twitter account until Wednesday.

Published November 10, 2022

Visit Platformer to read Casey Newton’s original post

Meta Myths [Ben Thompson, Stratechery]

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  • The market was panicking about Facebook’s slowing revenue and growing expenses in 2018, but the reaction was overblown.
  • Facebook’s stock price increased by 118% between 2018 and 2021, but has since decreased by 42%.
  • Despite speculation, users are not deserting Facebook, Instagram engagement is not plummeting, and TikTok is not dominating.
  • Facebook is still adding users, Instagram has more than 2 billion monthly actives, and Reels usage is growing quickly.
  • TikTok usage is depressing growth, but is growing the overall pie for user-generated content, and is not infringing on Meta’s business.
  • Myth 1: Meta’s Stock Price is a Reflection of its Business Performance – While Meta’s stock price has dropped significantly, it is not necessarily an accurate reflection of the company’s performance.
  • Myth 2: Meta is Losing Money – While Meta’s revenue has decreased, it is still making money.
  • Myth 3: Meta is Becoming Less Relevant – While Meta’s advertising model has been impacted by Apple’s App Tracking Transparency policy, digital advertising is still growing strongly and Meta is adapting to the new reality.
  • Myth 4: Advertising is Dying – Advertising is not dying, but Apple’s ATT policy has had a significant impact on Meta’s revenue.
  • Myth 5: Meta’s Spending is a Waste – Meta’s capital expenditures are directly focused on the challenges posed by TikTok and ATT, and should pay off in the long run.
  • Maybe True: The Metaverse is a Waste of Time and Money – While the Metaverse may be a bad business for Meta, its costs are relatively small compared to the company’s overall spending.

Click HERE for original. Published October 31, 2022

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