The New Era of Twitter
Credit: Brett Jordan, Pexels
Elon Musk has officially taken over Twitter as of Oct. 27. This has come with both positive and negative reactions from the average users of Twitter and from people here around campus and the Dutchess County area. Brendan Connor ‘23 said, “I feel good about Elon’s purchase, I think it was a step in the right direction and it makes me optimistic for the future of conversation on Twitter.”
Some students even plan on making a return to the platform. Nick Petrilli ‘23, a computer science major at Marist is planning on making a return to Twitter following Musk’s purchase. Petrillo said, “I think it was a great move and I support him entirely, Elon seems to also understand that no matter what he does there will always be people who aren’t pleased, I think it’s really important for him to be aware of that, it also appears he’s stayed consistent on what he plans do with twitter believes is right for Twitter as a platform.”
Elon Musk has received lots of criticism for not only terminating four top twitter executives, which included the former CEO Parag Agrawal, but also firing roughly 3,700 employees.
Petrillo had a positive outlook on Musk’s decision to terminate several executives. “I think it’s a great first step because the upper leadership of a company usually reflects how the platform is run and, in my opinion, Twitter previously it wasn’t successful, starting at the top is the best way to make a change in the platform.”
Connor shared a similar sentiment saying, “at the end of the day he has the prerogative to make those decisions, I think the former CEO wasn’t focused on operating a fair platform, so I think it’s a good move and gives Twitter a fresh start.”
The consensus in the region is surprisingly positive, but there are still some concerns that have been brought forth. Nathan Bachner, a resident of Poughkeepsie, believes with Musk in charge there’s a chance that hateful and dangerous rhetoric will become more prevalent. Bachner said “I worry people who stoke the fire of political extremism may start to creep their ways back onto the platform, I don’t want twitter to turn into a platform that lacks proper moderation on overly offensive language and turn into more of a hostile environment than it's already been.”
According to CBS, researchers found there was an immediate, visible and measurable spike in hate speech shortly following Musk’s takeover.
Musk’s implementation of Twitter Blue has also come with loads of backlash. This new subscription-based model gives the ability for any user to receive a checkmark on the platform at the price of $8 per month. Petrilli has an interesting outlook on Twitter Blue stating, “Twitter has primarily been an advertiser-based platform and I’d bet that several advertisers will pull their ads from twitter. With that being said the people who use the platform will be the main reason the platform will be able to keep operating. I think that was a pretty smart move by Musk and ultimately gives the power to the people on the platform.”
It surely is an interesting time for Twitter and its users, and although there are several credible concerns with Musk now running Twitter, it ultimately will take time to see the effects of Musk’s leadership – whether it ends up being positive or negative for future conversation on Twitter.
We’re currently living in quite a polarizing time in history, and it is vital for social media platforms and the leadership specifically to be aware that free speech is not absolute, and some moderation is necessary. It’s also just as important to ensure that there’s an equal distribution of opinions from all sides of the spectrum. There has been much debate over Twitter allegedly giving unfair treatment to individuals who fall on the right side of the political spectrum, and with Musk now in charge it is crucial to ensure that unfair treatment doesn’t start to swing in the opposite direction.