Elon Musk is winning

[Opti]

Not sure if this belongs here or in Politics as it is a little of both. I strongly recommend reading the article which is 3 to 4 times the size of what I chose to post from it.


www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/elon-musk-is-winning/ar-BB1qnX5I?ocid=msedgntp&pc=DCTS&cvid=83f359e771984442943d02d3b02b5104&ei=11


When Musk acquired Twitter, my favorite explanation for what he bought came from The Verge’s Nilay Patel, who argued that the platform’s greatest asset wasn’t its technology, but the addled “politicians, reporters, celebrities, and other people who should know better but keep posting anyway.” Nobody fit this description better than Musk, an inveterate poster. Patel, writing as if he was speaking to Musk, concluded: “You just bought yourself for $44 billion.”

The bolded to me is the key and perhaps a big part of why extreme political stupidity is afoot in the Democrats Party.
But of course there is more,

Let’s face it, Twitter isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. The platform is a lot like a cockroach. It is ugly, skittering, repulsive, and incredibly difficult—despite many efforts—to kill. Elon Musk purchased the network in late 2022, treated its power users with disdain, haphazardly fired much of its workforce, alienated its advertisers, insisted on calling it X, and turned it into a vehicle for an edgelordian political project. People left in droves.

It’s still a rat’s nest of reckless speculation, angry partisans, and toxicity, but it’s also alive in a way that’s hard to quantify. Joe Biden’s shocking performance at the presidential debate in late June set my timeline ablaze in a way it hadn’t been since 2021. When a gunman shot at Donald Trump eight days ago, the platform did what it does best, offering a mix of conspiracy theorizing, up-to-the second hard-news reporting, and, perhaps most crucial, a notion of communal spectating (which, despite the awfulness, is genuinely addictive). The past three weeks have been extraordinarily chaotic, full of the kind of infighting, violence, and spectacle that X was built to help document and even fuel.

If you step back, though, you may notice how awkward this situation is: Joe Biden chose to make one of the biggest announcements in presidential history on a social-media site owned and operated by one of his opponent’s biggest donors and most vocal supporters. Musk reacted to the news by posting about how his “smartest friends” are voting for Trump and by compulsively replying “Trump/Vance LFG!!” to people on X.



Biden’s staff posted the news on X because they must have understood that, for better or worse, it is the quickest, least mediated way to inject information into the bloodstream of political and cultural discourse. (As Musk remarked about the mainstream media this afternoon: “They’re so slow.”) That X is back to its old ways means journalists, pundits, consultants, lawmakers, and hyper-engaged political hobbyists have all settled back into the familiar pattern of refreshing the app to consume news in the 24-second news cycle. “Among other things this should be the moment that brings all the liberal exiles back to Twitter/X,” the New York Times columnist Ross Douthat posted shortly after Biden’s announcement. “Nobody’s ever escaping this platform now.”

[obelisk]

old news, time to move on, there are other ways to communicate

[bean29]

I am an old timer, I never understood Twitter, never paid much attention to it.  I made my exit official after Twitter was purchased by Musk and became obviously partisan.

[djAdvocate]

Musk's intention was to turn Twitter into a troll farm.

[Opti]

Jul 24, 2024 14:15:34 GMT -5 bean29 said:

I am an old timer, I never understood Twitter, never paid much attention to it.  I made my exit official after Twitter was purchased by Musk and became obviously partisan.

It originally was the first microblogging platform but now with all the social media, it really depends if you find it useful or not.

I'm thinking of trying Insta only because my alma mater seems to be a fan of it.

I'm not on X and have no plans to be. I found the article interesting as it says X is still used by politicians and entertainers. 
And definitely newspaper writers use it all the time in internet articles. (or so it seems  )

[haapai]

I'm confused.  How is not entirely vaporizing the value of Twitter/X considered "winning"?