Elon Musk is not the X god he likely thinks he is. No birdie has to tell anyone he keeps repelling social media users with his frenetic performance running the once-popular platform previously known as Twitter.
Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of the company he foolishly renamed X would fit perfectly as a case study of a ”really poor takeover of an organization,” as Bill George, an executive fellow at Harvard Business School, told CNBC Make It over the summer. “I don’t think he understands social media.”
That’s probably the kindest take to describe Musk’s rash moves, including his latest idea: floating the possibility of charging X users “a small monthly payment.”
Bad enough that the Tesla and Space X tycoon cast off the distinctive blue feathered logo and rebranded the platform with a decidedly not-distinctive new name. He also eliminated the verified “legacy” checkmarks and put them up for sale for $8 a month, another bad move.
The idea of paying to use a devalued platform is surely the worst idea yet.
Making people, including journalists, pay to post on the site where they had been sharing information and their thoughts for free is beyond absurd.
Musk didn’t give details about the amount users might have to shell out in his prospective tiered system. But during a livestreamed conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, Musk claimed the fee is needed to counter the “vast armies of bots” on X.
But here’s the thing: X doesn’t sell. Most people still refer to the platform by its old name. Ad revenues are down amid growing complaints over the hate speech, including antisemitism, and misinformation that has been allowed to proliferate on X.
If Musk has smart advisers, they’re telling him flat-out right now: Dude, no one’s gonna pay.
If Musk follows through, expect flocks of users to finally decide its time to deactivate rather than pay to remain on a site they find increasingly ineffectual and toxic.
Musk may not have what it takes to optimize X, but he certainly is showing he has the skill to run it into the ground.
If he keeps pelting stones at the one feature that has kept X going despite his mistakes — it’s free — he’ll kill the bird off altogether.
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