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Tech-Op-ed Nov/Dec, 2022 SOUNDING OFF
By Michael Skinner Editor
Musk’s Twitter Takeover
E
lon Musk's official takeover of Twitter began with a pun — the kind of joke that one can only make after spending $44 billion. Strolling into Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters in late Oc-
tober, Musk arrived carrying a sink. “Entering Twitter HQ — let that sink in!” he quipped, posting a video of his grand entrance. A self-labeled “free speech absolutist,” Musk, 51, began his Twit-
ter reign by firing top executives and laying off roughly half of the company’s 7,500 employees. According to the New York Times, the layoffs were haphazard, with employees learning that their jobs had been terminated in a variety of ways. His goals for the platform include stripping down Twitter’s con-
tent moderation policies, eliminating bots (nonhuman automated spam accounts), and improving transparency around the company’s algorithms. In his first major revision, Musk began charging an $8 per
month fee for Twitter’s coveted blue check mark verification icon. The check mark began as a way to delineate between an official page of a particular person and imposter or parody accounts. Prior to Musk’s move, it brought a certain level of status to an account as being more trustworthy than others. It was originally used for celebrities and high profile public figures, who were more likely targets for imitation. Musk’s ultimate objective appears to be to transform Twitter in-
to an “everything app” called X. It’s assumed that he means to com- pete with the likes of China’s WeChat, through which users can com- municate, call for rides, read news, book appointments, shop, play video games, and even pay taxes, along with many other activities. WeChat’s success has been praised around the world, especially
in the West, as one of the best things to have come out of the Chinese internet. One major difference between Twitter and WeChat is that fundamentally they were designed for different purposes. Twitter is a social media platform, whereas WeChat began as a direct messag- ing app.
Users are much more likely to depend regularly on a messaging
service that connects them to others in real life, rather than a more broad-ranging social network like Twitter. While Twitter does have direct messaging functionality, it is dwarfed by competitors like Face- book messenger and WhatsApp. WeChat, developed by Chinese internet giant Tencent, has over
1 billion monthly active users, in contrast to Twitter’s roughly 200 million. Musk has stated that by 2028 Twitter will be near the 1 bil- lion mark, but questions remain around the platform’s ability to be profitable without depending entirely on advertising. “You basically live on WeChat in China because it’s so usable
and helpful to daily life, “ said Musk at a Twitter employee town hall in June. “If we can achieve that, or even get close to that at Twitter, it would be an immense success.” There are still many obstacles to creating a new super app out-
side of China, including competition with Facebook, TikTok and YouTube all striving to reach super app status. There are also con- cerns around anti-monopoly regulation and policymaker opposition that may throw a wrench into Musk’s ambitions for Twitter. Howev- er, Musk has a history of leaning heavily into big ideas, and his plan for X, if a success, may be the most impactful one yet. r
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
By Jacob Fattal Publisher
ing up to be a record breaking Jan/Feb issue of U.S. Tech. The industry has come alive again, with only scattered remnants
Look Alive 2
023 is right around the corner and we couldn’t be more excited. This time of year is always special: we’ve just finished the last of our nine yearly editions and have begun work on what is shap-
of the effects of the pandemic left over. Our domestic trade shows are essentially back to normal (the old normal). Recent shows are evi- dence of this, including The ASSEMBLY Show in Rosemont, Illinois, and SMTAI colocated with MD&M Minneapolis being excellent gath- ering places for the industry. We’ve now set our sights on IPC APEX, and are collecting edito-
rial material, including product previews, for the conference and ex- hibition which is scheduled to be held from January 24 to 26, 2023 in San Diego. If you are looking to promote your company at this show, feel free to send your product news releases and articles to mail@us-
tech.com. IPC APEX is a show that sets the tone for our industry each
year. All the major players will be there, timing the release of new products for maximum impact in 2023. Already we’re looking forward to seeing how the industry handles the increasing miniaturization of components and circuitry, further integration of robotics and automa- tion on the shop floor, 3D printed electronics, and greater use of pro- duction data to drive continuous improvement. We consider ourselves very fortunate to have such a dynamic
and resilient industry and covering its developments is a great pleas- ure. Thank you to all of our readers, supporters, friends and col- leagues for making 2022 another great year. From all of us at U.S. Tech we wish you happy holidays and hope to see you again soon! r
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