Elon Musk and twitter
What do you know about Elon Musk?
Elon Musk loves twitter!
Do you think Elon Musk has more or fewer twitter followers than…
BTS
Narendra Modi - Prime Minister of India
David Beckham
Barack Obama
The New York Times
Answers:
1) Obama - 131 million
10) Musk - 82 million
11) Modi - 78 million
26) New York Times - 52 million
34) BTS - 45 million
Beckham doesn’t use twitter. He does use instagram
BTS is more popular on instagram (62 million followers)
Elon Musk has bought twitter. Let’s look at the timeline…
April 4th 2022:
Musk announces he has bought 9% of Twitter
This made Musk Twitter’s biggest shareholder
How much do you think he paid?
After he announced this news, how did people react? Why?
Musk paid almost $2.9 billion for his 9% stake
The stock rose by 29% on the day of his announcement
The next day he asked his followers: “Do you want an edit button?”
He, and many users want to be able to EDIT tweets they made. Why?
Twitter’s former CEO, Jack Dorsey, said in 2020 they will “probably never” add an edit button. Why?
Dorsey thinks people can change the meaning of their tweets if they become popular and many people have already commented on them.
Do you think twitter should add an edit button? (Instagram and facebook already have one)
April 5th 2022:
Twitter’s CEO offers Musk a seat on the board… if he doesn’t buy more than 14.9% of the company
Musk initially accepted this offer, saying he was looking forward to working with the team “to make significant improvements to Twitter.”
April 9th 2022:
On the day Musk was supposed to join, he declined the offer
Why do you think Musk changed his mind?
Some people believe Musk wants to push more aggressively for changes which is easier if he isn’t on the board
April 14th 2022:
Musk tweeted: “I am offering to buy 100% of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 54% premium over the day before I began investing in Twitter and a 38% premium over the day before my investment was publicly announced.”
Musk also said this is his “best and final offer” and if it’s not accepted “I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.”
How do you feel about Musk’s negotiating strategy?
After his announcement, twitter’s stock price fell by 1.5%. Why?
Why do you think Musk wants to buy twitter?
Twitter doesn’t have as many users as instagram or tiktok but almost all journalists and politicians use twitter.
Having many followers on Twitter gives you power to…
influence opinions
create talking points
Donald Trump lost a lot of his power and influence when he was banned from Twitter and Facebook. Why do you think he was banned?
You can get banned from twitter for:
posting violent or nude images
threatening violence
posting lies about coronavirus or the election
coordinating harmful activity - January 5th
Musk often tweets controversial things and he is probably worried Twitter will ban him one day. He has publicly said:
“Twitter should match the laws of the country. If it’s a gray area, I would say let the tweet exist.”
Do you think Musk will let Trump rejoin twitter?
Musk also wants to make every user VERIFY their identity by sending a picture of their ID.
Why do you think he wants to do this?
Is it a good idea? How would Japanese users feel? What problems / risks would this create?
Musk probably things this will
stop people attacking each other so directly (with violent or racist language)
stop SPAM - companies that post annoying advertisements
Risks:
Do you trust twitter to protect our personal information?
In countries with autocratic governments (Russia, Saudi Arabia). If you criticize the government, the government can easily find your identity and arrest you
Musk wants to create a paid service ($3 a month at the moment). If you pay for twitter, he thinks you shouldn’t see ads.
Do you think this is a good idea?
Musk often gets in trouble for his tweets. Why are these tweets stupid?
Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 7, 2018
420 is slang for using marijuana. He’s is joking.
Musk was later sued by JP Morgan for the stock price chaos that followed
The SEC (America’s financial regulator) fined Musk and Tesla $20 million each for misleading investors.
He also had to step down as chairman of Tesla
“Tesla stock price is too high imo”
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 1, 2020
The price dropped by 10% ($14 billion) . Do you think he got in trouble from the SEC?
The SEC decided it was a personal opinion so he can’t be punished
The coronavirus panic is dumb
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk)March 6, 2020
Several times Musk has argued that coronavirus isn’t dangerous and has questioned if vaccines are necessary
When California closed his factory at the start of the pandemic, Musk tried to sue them
He opened his factory early, before the government allowed him to.
"Unless something changes to cause the birth rate to exceed the death rate, Japan will eventually cease to exist. This would be a great loss for the world."
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk)May 8, 2022
How do you feel about this tweet?
How do you think most people reacted?
Tesla doesn’t have a PR department. The company says to just check Elon Musk’s twitter account. Is this a good idea?
Some people believe that Musk bought twitter because they threatened to banned him for his coronavirus tweets. He bought a $44 billion company to protect his $1 trillion dollar company
sources:
https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/elon-must-twitter-take-over-chronological-timeline/
https://driving.ca/features/feature-story/top-5-dumbest-elon-musk-tweets
https://www.vox.com/recode/23025978/elon-musk-twitter-trump-free-speech-business-facebook-youtube
https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2021/03/13/elon-musks-false-covid-predictions-a-timeline/?sh=707d06825b6d