this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2023
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I'm not sure if this is technically Technology news, but I can remove this post if it's in the wrong community

Archive link: http://archive.today/3XM6s

Musk brought up the idea of charging all users of X/Twitter during a wide-ranging conversation focused on AI that featured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. “[We’re] moving to a small monthly payment for use of the X system,” Musk told Netanyahu, claiming that it is the only way to eliminate the problem of bots, as reported by Bloomberg’s Dave Lee.

Musk didn’t mention timing of his plan to charge X/Twitter users, nor did he say how much it would cost.

Musk, who also is CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has said X/Twitter ad sales have plunged 50% since he bought the company. “We’re still negative cash flow, due to ~50% drop in advertising revenue plus heavy debt load,” Musk posted on July 15.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

What about a fee for every X install like Unity?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

So what is a tweet supposed to be called now? A Xext or something?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

In all seriousness, it's just called a post now. Elon threw away the incredible brand recognition of "Tweet," the noun/verb that every tech company wants. It's like if Google stopped wanting people to use their name as a verb and just go with the generic "search" term.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

an X-cretion.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So I mean, if this was in lieu of data collection and tracking, this is what more of the software world should actually do. Running platforms isn’t free, and making the user the product is a malicious and unsustainable solution.

That said, I certainly wouldn’t pay Twitter - I think I’d rather donate to a Mastodon instance, or pay for some other private alternative. Musk is awful for so many reasons, holds way too much power, and deserves no money of mine.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

if this was in lieu of data collection and tracking

I guarantee this isn't in lieu of, it's in conjunction with.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yup. You can see this kind of stuff happening with ads in things you buy.

There was a model of "ad supported" and "pay to own"

But some exec figured out you could do both and double dip.

There is no world in which things get more consumer friendly unless it's forced

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

This is one way to finally get rid of Twitter. I wonder if Spez is considering charging for Reddit?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I know it is a popular sentiment that people should migrate to Mastodon, but I personally think people will migrate wherever the people they follow migrate to.

With this in mind, I suspect Bluesky will be the platform to usurp Twitter; but with Twitter chasing off all their users in the near future, it may go to whichever platform is readily open at the time.

I'm very curious to see if Bluesky or Spill open up when Twitter closes the door on its users. If not, Mastodon may have a shot at being the next large platform...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Why Bluesky when there is ecosystem of dozens community-baked and deployed apps?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Is bluesky up yet? I'd assume everyone will just go to bluesky anyway.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yes, but it's invite-only. Either you join the wait-list and get lucky, or someone gives you an invite (members get an invite to hand out to friends every 10 days or so). Amusingly this has resulted in a large chunk of blüski being furry and LGBT, due to how tightly knit the communities are. I know a lot of the furry discord servers I've been in regularly have people openly offering invites, whereas most of the non-furry servers seem to be completely unaware of how active it is or that it even exists (my experience is that blüski feels way more active than Twitter due to it not giving preferential treatment to Elon shills; you're far more likely to have random people seeing your posts).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The biggest problem with Bluesky is it's owned by another musk.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

He's not great, but that's an exaggeration

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Not an exaggeration.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Until it isn't. The platform is still single-tracked through an unaccountable billionaire.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Please do it fast.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I fucking dare him to follow through. Please do it. Don't wuss out Elon!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Should we all go make twitter accounts and say how great of an idea this is?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Moving to a user supported service IS a good way to cut down on spam and wrest control from advertisers...

...IF you do it before you destroy all value, branding, community and cultural relevance

As so many others have said, this move at this point sounds like he's trying to finally end this fiasco.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

He's too much of a pussy to actually do it, we all know this.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Quick, tell him that on Twitter! Maybe he'll actually do it and we'll finally be rid of his godawful grandstanding.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Imagine thousands of people not succeeding in crashing a megacorp on purpose, and then one rich guy crashing it just by being stupid

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I hope he buys reddit next

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think he should seriously consider buying Meta so that we can watch it crash and burn just like Xitter. Facebook is the cancer of the internet and it deserves to go too.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Unfortunately, Twitter was only up for sale because it wasn’t able to effectively monetize. On the other hand, Meta has figured out how to make money hand over fist.

I think the easiest route to get Musk to own Meta is if we goaded him + Zuck into a pay per view fist fight over ownership of Meta.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Twitter was profitable in the years before covid. They made a net income of $1.2 billion in 2018.

They made a slight (compared to their revenue) loss during the pandemic, presumably because advertisers generally were willing to spend less, but they were still earning more than enough - simply cut a few costs and they'd be profitable again. Or just wait for the market to improve since from the sounds of it they had more than enough savings to ride it out (that appeared to be their plan).

They didn't sell to Musk because they were desperate, they sold to Musk because he signed a contract guaranteeing he would pay far more than the company was worth. If I owned a house that was worth a million dollars, and someone offered me ten million, hell yeah would I sell that house even if I wasn't really interested in selling.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I really hope this happens. It already was dying, but this would be the final nail in the coffin for the stubborn users who are still on there for some reason. Clearly Twitter Blue has been failing.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

He should totally do it and charge per post as well.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Do iiiiiiiiit

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

That would finish off Twitter instantly.

He's not THAT dumb. Right guys?

....right??

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

why does he look like that

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Fuckin do it, Elon. Double dog dare ya.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Sounds like a great idea!

I mean, not for Xitter, but for the internet as a whole it would be amazing!

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

One of the richest people in the entire world wants still more money. Tell me again how "trickle-down economics" works?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

He's the wealthiest man in the world. That doesn't mean he has a lair full of cash and just wants more. People really struggle to understand the difference between wealth and money in the bank. This isn't about hoarding money just for the sake of it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I understand the difference, but he's collecting stuff just because it's shiny. He's short of cash because he has no impulse control, and I fail to see why he shouldn't fail the same way other people who overextend themselves fail.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What makes you think he's short on cash? Wealthy people don't store their wealth in cash anyways. The money is tied to the stocks of the companies they're running. That's why he needed to lend the money for twitter too; he doesn't have that kind of cash, but people are willing to borrow it to him because of his wealth.

If you just had read the article you'd see that they have lost 50% of the advertisers and are losing money. This isn't about wanting more money just for the sake of it. No company can exist if their finances are on the negative.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

What are you saying?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You aren't going to tell me Musk doesn't have some cash laying around.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is he just supposed to pay for the running of twitter out of his pocket or what? It says there they've lost 50% of advertisers, and are making negative profit. That isn't sustainable. The purchase of twitter has cost him 40-something billion, and still keeps costing him even more. It's not about just wanting more profit, but to atleast break even.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

It's a self inflicted wound. Can't bring myself to care.