Technology writer and author Glyn Moody examines these implications and makes some predictions about the site’s future.
Twitter evolved from a place where people would post about their breakfast to become a major global public forum, especially for politics, in its 16-year history. It is also a valuable platform for creators to increase awareness of their activities and boost their income. Concerns about Twitter’s future would have been raised by its purchase by anyone. These concerns have been magnified by the iconoclastic nature of Elon Musk, its new owner and his previous outspoken views about what Twitter should or should not do.
One of Musk’s first actions was to reduce the Twitter workforce by approximately 50%. Key members of the teams responsible for content moderation and fighting misinformation were among those made redundant. Unnerved by these and other early decisions made Musk, such as reinstating Donald Trump’s account on Twitter, apparently based on a quick Twitter poll.
Both advertisers and users are confused by the blue checks used to identify verified Twitter accounts. The new Twitter Blue option, which came with the blue tick, was initially announced at $19.99. This was dropped to $7.99 after criticism. The blue checks scheme was scrapped a few days later after a series of fake accounts were created and approved by Twitter. One example: A fake Eli Lilly & Co account tweeted insulin would be free. This caused the share price of the company to drop by 4.5% within hours.
Elon Musk later tweeted about a new scheme. It included a “Gold Check for companies, grey check to government, and blue for individuals (celebrity, not). All verified accounts will need to be manually authenticated before the check activates.”
Key members of the teams responsible for content moderation and fighting misinformation were among those who were laid off.
This new system is not clear if it will benefit or harm creators. It will enable them to get the blue check faster, which could increase their online visibility. This is a concern for artists who want to establish themselves and build upon their reputation. The new blue check is open to everyone, as long as they can prove their identity. However, the mark’s value may decrease with more people using it. Fake accounts of well-known artists may also appear if Twitter’s manual authentication process fails to work as it did with the short-lived Twitter Blue.
The other significant development is the plan to allow more material to be published as tweets. Musk stated on 5 November that “Twitter would soon be able to attach long-form texts to tweets, ending the absurdity of notepad screenshots.”
A popular Twitter account, Everyday Astronaut asked if it was possible to upload full-length videos . Musk responded, “We can do 42 minute chunks at 1080 resolution right now for new Blue. So you could break down a longer video.” The limit of 42 minutes should be lifted next month .”. Musk also tweeted that long-form material could still be uploaded .
It would be a significant shift in Twitter’s micro-blogging culture to allow creators to make money by selling material online. It has been a short-form medium that favors conciseness and pithiness, with a 140 character limit originally. This was increased to 280 in 2017. This distinguishing characteristic would be lost if the text was longer.
Twitter’s major shift would be to allow creators to make money off material they post online.
Similar to YouTube and TikTok, Twitter would be able to allow videos and other content to be posted. Some people may find Twitter less appealing as it becomes similar to other services such as YouTube and TikTok. Twitter’s hundreds of millions active user base is significantly smaller than YouTube’s 2 Billion users and TikTok’s 1.8 Billion users . Businesses may choose to advertise with TikTok and YouTube if Twitter becomes a direct competitor. Both creators and businesses could find it more motivating to switch to other platforms because of the rapid rise in hate speech since Musk purchased it.
The downside to being able post long-form content is that Twitter can be more appealing for sharing unauthorised copies. Before Musk’s new strategy was implemented, people were sharing full-length movies by splitting them into 50 tweets. Now the question is whether Twitter can quickly remove such material.
Posing long text, video and music is a plus for creators looking to promote their work and make money. They could upload large samples to help them move towards alternative business models that are based on their relationships with fans and not on intermediaries like publishers or record companies.
These latter tend to be more concerned with controlling the distribution of works than spreading the word about their creators. Kevin Kelly first proposed the ‘true supporters‘ model in 2008. It takes a different approach. This model focuses on the relationship between artists, their fans, and generates direct support before creating a work. It is not about selling music tracks or books but rather on generating direct support. Creators who are paid directly retain most of the money. The traditional business model pays relatively little to creative workers and the intermediaries who reap the most benefit.
Kelly’s thoughts about true fans were largely speculation when he described them. The use of crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Patreon to support artists is well-established today and expected to continue growing. One research report estimates that crowdfunding is valued at $17billion in 2021 and will grow to $43billion by 2028. While not all of it will go to creators in 2021, many billions will. This will make it comparable with traditional intermediaries like publishers, film studios, and music labels.
Although it is unclear what Elon Musk might think about this alternative business model, there are some indications from his previous statements regarding intellectual monopolies. In September, Musk stated that he didn’t care about patents and that patents were for the weak. Although he hasn’t been as open about copyright, he did tweet in May: “Current Copyright Law in general goes absurdly beyond protecting the original Creator”. This suggests that he may be interested in Twitter to support the true fans model that is centered on creators and not to boost the current system that profits most to the corporations that exploit them.
Glyn Moody
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/glynmoody
Glyn MOody has been writing for more than 30 years about copyright and digital rights. He is the author “Walled Culture”. This ebook can be downloaded from the Walled Culture website.