Social media management is an integral part of almost every digital marketer’s job, and staying up to date with the latest industry updates is almost obligatory. Although, if you don’t have time to browse the web every single morning, in quest of finding the core information, we’ve got you covered.
Most probably you’ve heard that Twitter was recently bought by the richest person in the world – Elon Musk. Despite the controversy that surrounds the acquisition of Twitter, it’s time for us marketers to take a moment and re-think what it can possibly mean for our client’s businesses.
Undoubtedly, Twitter is one of the most popular social media platforms around the world. It’s a great place to target various types of users, from celebrities and politicians to small business owners and ordinary people. Although, despite its popularity, Twitter’s moderation policy has not always enjoyed favourable opinions.
You may remember last year’s storm on the Capitol in DC USA, and how it possibly all started with a few seemingly harmless tweets posted by Donald Trump. Twitter has remained almost relentless despite the torrent of criticism it has received over how they moderate freedom of speech and allows hate speech to freely spread through the internet. However, since Elon Musk became an official owner of Twitter, people around the world have expressed their fear regarding the increase in the unrestricted use of hate speech on Twitter.
As Musk tweeted “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,”, his approach to running such a powerful platform resulted in a number of high profile public personalities leaving Twitter for good. This raises the question, of whether Twitter will be a safe place for debates and promotion, or rotten to the core and filled with dangerous speech? With Musk’s claims to be ‘a free speech absolutist’ we can expect him to relax Twitter’s content restrictions. Whether you are supporting Elon Musk’s approach to freedom of expression and reshaping Twitter or not, it’s important to stay up to date with what kind of changes we can expect in the future.
It appears at this moment that freedom of speech is not the only part of Twitter that will go through a significant change. Back in 2019, Elon Musk tweeted “I hate advertising”, and ever since then, he made it crystal clear how he feels about ads on social media platforms. Despite that, Musk publicly announced that he is planning to generate income from Twitter through other means than ads, such as charging politicians or companies to be on the site. Yet it is important to note that ads account for roughly 90% of Twitter’s revenue, therefore despite Musk’s reluctance towards advertising, it may not be as easy to completely abandon ads.
This kind of controversy has resulted in mixed feelings among marketers, regarding whether it’s worth it to keep investing money into Twitter ads. If Elon Musk will relax Twitter’s content regulation policy, we may be unable to prevent our ads from appearing alongside hate speech or misinformation. This is of course not ideal for any ethical business. Many online marketing companies have raised numerous concerns and complaints that suggest they are ready to move their investments somewhere.
Without advertising, the future of Twitter doesn’t look as fruitful as it could. Eliminating safeguards that allowed the platform to remove dangerous speech, racist content, and conspiracy theory, can result in a significant drop in the company’s revenue. Despite Elon Musk’s utopian vision of Twitter as a ‘safe space’ for free speech, without a healthy relationship with businesses, Twitter may find it difficult to keep its position as one of the most popular social media platforms.
Digital marketing is an ever-changing industry and these kinds of twists and turns happen frequently. If you blink you may miss something important and that’s where our marketing experts come in. Our dedication to staying up-to-date with the latest industry insights is driven by our pure passion for what we do. If you are looking for a place where that will help you to keep one ear on the ground, you’ve found us! Get in touch with our dedicated team today, and we can have a discussion about how our passion for digital marketing can help your business grow.