According to media reports, up to half of Twitter’s employees may be fired today. The expert warns users to quickly abandon the service if its operation can no longer be trusted.
A fierce news mill billionaire has been spinning around Twitter Elon Musk bought the social media service for $44 billion.
Many of the headlines have been driven by Musk himself, as he has churned out various ideas about changing Twitter in an unbroken stream.
Twitter’s entire board of directors and several people who were in leadership positions in the company have received departure passes. More layoffs are expected today, Friday, when according to media reports, up to half of the company’s 7,500 employees may be fired. The goal is to improve the company’s profitability.
Among other things, the news agency Reuters and The New York Times newspaper (you will switch to another service) have told about the message sent to the employees’ e-mails on Thursday, in which they are ordered to stay at home and wait for information about the continuation of their jobs. That information will be given by email by early evening Finnish time today.
Washington Post reporter Will Oremus has tweeted a picture of the instructions the employees received. Among other things, they say that employees’ access to the premises and internal systems has been blocked for the time being.
According to the message, information about dismissals is sent to the employee’s private email. Those who keep their jobs will receive information about this in their work e-mail. The company urges employees to check their spam folder as well.
A lawsuit has already been filed against Twitter in the United States for violating the requirements of the law, because notice of layoffs was not given at least 60 days in advance, says financial news website Bloomberg (you will switch to another service).
An expert warns about the effects of drastic savings
Social media expert, University of British Columbia professor Alfred Hermidan According to Musk, his dismissal frenzy can endanger the operation of Twitter. He lifts Dagens Nyheterin (you switch to another service) in an interview published by, for example, the old social service Friendster, which stumbled upon unreliable functionality.
of the New York Times (you will switch to another service) according to the information, Musk seeks savings of up to three million dollars for the daily infrastructure costs of the service. If Musk fires a large number of employees responsible for Twitter’s technical functionality and as a result the service becomes slower and more unreliable, users will easily switch to another service, warns Hermida.
Musk is also trying to increase Twitter’s revenue with various reforms. Among the ideas that flew out of his brainstorming are, for example, putting a paywall on videos, the ability to send private messages for a fee, and charging a monthly fee of eight dollars.
For eight dollars, a Twitter user could get a blue badge indicating their verified identity, fewer ads, enhanced visibility in search results, and the ability to post longer videos than they currently do. Musk doesn’t like the fact that Twitter currently divides its users into “gentlemen and peasants”, and according to him, a monthly fee would change this.
Some Twitter users are excited, some are outraged
In terms of enthusiastic reception, users have received Axios news (you will switch to another service), that Musk might bring back Vine, the video-sharing service once bought by Twitter and quickly abandoned. Vine’s short videos could challenge Tiktok.
Some of the Twitter users are infuriated by Musk’s continuous change proposals. For example, to those who complained about the eight dollar monthly fee, Musk has responded faithfully to his style with a mockup and the message “You get what you pay for”.
Concerns about Twitter’s future are also raised by Musk’s speeches about broad freedom of speech, which has been interpreted as meaning the loosening of strict restrictions. Although the old restrictions are still in effect and Musk has assured that there will be restrictions in the future, many users have already rushed to test the limits of the service.
Different types of hate speech increased in Twitter messages immediately after the change of ownership.
More on the topic: The use of the N-word on Twitter increased by almost 500 percent after the service was taken over by Elon Musk, says the institute
Hate speech, layoffs and Musk’s constant public brainstorming about future changes to the service have gotten advertisers on their toes. Several large advertisers have decided to put Twitter advertising on hold for the time being and wait for the situation to clear up.
Among these companies are, for example, the car manufacturers General Motors and Audi, the food company General Mills and the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, says The Wall Street Journal magazine (you are switching to another service).
Musk’s answer to the advertisers’ concerns was an “opinion survey” carried out on Twitter. Of the more than 2.7 million respondents, 78 percent agreed that freedom of speech should mean more to advertisers than political correctness.
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