Identity theft and online impersonation have become common, posing a significant threat to our privacy and security. One such alarming case involves a scammer on Facebook who has been using the name and identity of Gail Alfar to deceive unsuspecting users. Despite numerous reports and complaints, Facebook has failed to take down the fraudulent account.
Facebook Refuses To Take Down A Scammer Who Goes By My Name
If you use Facebook and see a post by Gail Alfar then read this post: There is a scammer who is stealing my identity and impersonating me on Facebook and scamming people. Facebook refuses to take this down.
I do NOT use Facebook and would never ask you to connect with me there Someone is impersonating me on WhatsApp and making fake accounts on other platforms to ask you to contact them.
THIS IS NOT ME
The subscriber who informed me this was happening, told me there were โ11 pages of text history on messengerโ and that he was devasted when the scammer got upset and it threw him in a tail spin.
โOh my gosh there is soo much. You are going to be floored. The person even reposted pictures as if you were active as well! They had me believe you were coming with two Tesla engineers, I had set up a private jet (a friend is owner of a charter company) and the pilot would drive you all in a Tesla from airport to the accommodations I had arranged.โ
Here are a few screenshots of the imposter.
Here is the conversation I had with a subscriber on X who details the horrors by the scammer.
Three Ways that Elon Musk’s X protects users from impersonation.
Robust Reporting System: X makes it easier for users to report impersonators and fake accounts by providing a straightforward reporting process. This allows for quicker removal of such accounts, reducing the potential harm they can cause.
Visible ID Verification: X offers a visible ID verification feature, allowing users to easily identify verified accounts. This helps to distinguish between genuine accounts and potential impersonators, providing an additional layer of security for users.
Enhanced Privacy Settings: X provides users with more granular privacy controls, allowing them to better manage their personal information and who can see their posts. This makes it harder for impersonators to gather information about their targets and reduces the risk of identity theft.
The case of the Facebook scammer impersonating me, Gail Alfar, is a stark reminder of the dangers that lurk in the online world. As we continue to rely heavily on digital platforms for communication and information sharing, it is crucial for both users and social media companies to take proactive steps to prevent and combat identity theft. By staying vigilant, reporting suspicious activities, and raising awareness, we can work together to create a safer online environment for everyone.
A Look into the Future of Finance and Social Media
In an interview from last July 2023 with Zuby, Elon Musk shared his vision for X. Elon explained that X is not just a social media platform, but will become an all-encompassing financial services company that aims to greatly improve the way money and information are exchanged.
The current financial system is slow, insecure, and expensive. X will address these issues by creating a real-time, high-security, cost-efficient database for money. This would be achieved through the use of advanced engineering and technology and the elimination of redundant systems like bank branches and ATMs.
By focusing on efficiency, security, and cost-effectiveness, Elon believes X has the potential to become the major player in the global financial system, possibly accounting for half of it. This will be a significant shift from traditional banking as we know it, as X would operate faster, and more securely.
As we look forward to 2024, it is clear that Elon is on the fast track to revolutionizing the way we handle money and information. With Elonโs ambitious vision and dedication to the best technology, the future of finance and social media is closer than we may think.
Enjoy this part of the interview with Zuby
Zuby: ๐ is something youโve been having in mind for a long amount of time.
Elon: Yes, 20 years.
Zuby: Tell me the story about ๐.
Elon: Way back in the day the idea was for X or X dot com to be an all-encompassing financial services company or, kind of like, in an information theory way, to be the most efficient database for the information that is money.
The way that money currently works is, from a practical standpoint, itโs still mostly run on mainframes. that is, it’s still a thing with banks, and it is mostly written in COBAL, it is still mostly batch processing. So actually, the financial system is very slow. itโs not secure. Youโve got all these heterogeneous complex databases.
So, if you have a real-time, margins database, thatโs just, like fundamentally more efficient. And it does not have all of the expenses of bank buildings all over the place, and bank branches, and ATMs, which are increasingly kind of redundant. You can operate way more efficiently.
And so, essentially, if done right, X would serve people’s financial, needs to such a degree that, over time, it would become maybe half of the global financial system.
Zuby: Wow
E: Or some big number, Iโm not sure what the number is, but pretty big. It would be, by far, the biggest financial institution. But, like I said, not really in the way that people are used to thinking about banks.
Just the most efficient database for the thing that is money. With the least amount of fraud, everything is real-time, and if it involves money in any way, it can be dealt with seamlessly in one location.
In addition, weโve got this, sort of, social media outlet, which is also information. Its people share information of various kinds, whether itโs text, videos, pictures, voice.
*pause* (Elon gazes into thought for a long moment)
Elon: And so both money and what we call social media, are really information exchange.
And so thereโs potential there to make a product that is really quite compelling, like, combines all these things, simplifies people’s lives, and is more cost-efficient for the average person. youโll have a minimum number of fees and whatnot. So I think thereโs a lot of potential to create, kind of, the ultimate App, system, website, whatever.ย
My thoughts
Elon moves fast. He has made improvements in how we think of energy production, energy storage, and transportation. Elon has completely overturned the antiquated space flight system of one-time-use rockets. Elon is a force of goodness for the earth and all humanity. When he talks about our stumbling, cumbersome, antiquated financial system I envision weighted lines of code in COBOL. I see the huge levels of breaches of security and I know, in my heart, that Elon is right. We all need a better system to handle money. If the man who is building Starship is doing this, I am all for it. What shakes me is the ability he has to envision what will work best for people. There is a look in his eye, and a pause in the interview, where you just knowโฆ weโll see this come to pass.ย
Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to Gail Alfar. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author and podcaster is to support X and Tesla (the most American vehicle manufacturer) and Elon Musk in both making life better on Earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization.
FOR MEDIA USE ONLYโNews media is welcome to use my material in connection with a story or article. By downloading any content I create, you understand and hereby agree and represent that: (1) you are a member of the news media; (2) use of the content is in connection with a story or an article appearing in newspapers, periodicals, digital publications or television; (3) all images and rights thereto remain the property Gail Alfar.; and (4) use of the image is not for publication covers, advertising, promotion or otherwise for commercial purposes. Furthermore, use of any and all images and content appearing on this page must each include the notice โCourtesy of Gail Alfarโ Use of materials copied from this website is at your own risk. You must obtain prior written consent from Gail Alfar for uses that exceed the above parameters.
July 24, 2023, at the X HQ in SF, a giant pink hashtag with a bird on it, was moved out.
The end of the birds.
Removing the birds, and changing the signage is less important than the incredible changes that Elon Musk brought.
They say sunlight is the best disinfectant. Elon brought that sunlight. The Twitter Files are a gift to humanity. All are worth reading, absorbing, and learning from.
Elon found a way to take control of a large & financially failing company โ and save it. I am impressed with the strategic moves he made to transform X into a startup.
Finding the best engineers for the job at X is critical. If you look at Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink the Boring company, you might think that was thoroughly enough for one man to achieve in his lifetime.
This is why Twitter could not be something Elon โboughtโ but rather โXโ be something that he started. From that stemmed what may be one of the most important companies of our time: xAI.
I asked one of my sons what he would want to talk about with Elon if he could meet him. โTime management. How does he manage his time? How does he achieve doing so much? I would like to know his methods.โ
Once in a rare while, a very rare while, humanity throughout history is given a gift. Elon Musk is one of those gifts.
If you enjoyed this article, follow and subscribe to Gail Alfar on X at @gailalfaratx
Welcome to my blog! Relax, pour yourself a hot chocolate, and join me to learn about the New X Terms of Service.
I just read through the first new Terms of Service Summary from X. These terms are exciting because most agreements, up until now, were mostly holdovers from the days of the old โTwitter.โ
The birds are free now, and there are new terms soon to be in effect! I will make this a quick read for you – under 2 minutes, to be exact. But don’t let the brevity fool you; these rules are pretty serious stuff. They will go into effect Sept 29, 2023.
SUMMARY OF X’S TERMS
Let’s get straight to the point with key takeaways:
Ads Are Part of the Package: When you use X, continue to expect some ads. In return for using Xโs platform, X will show you some ads.
Follow the Rules: It’s vital to adhere to the User Agreement you sign, and all applicable laws when posting content or using X. You’re responsible for your actions on X. If you’re running a business on X, ensure your marketing practices align with both the platform’s rules and local advertising regulations.
No Sneaky Workarounds: X’s new Terms contain a stricter prohibition on scraping of the site’s data. X means business when it says you should only use the interfaces they provide. Scraping, trying to outsmart technical limitations, or any attempts to disrupt services are a big no-no.
X Holds the Cards: X has the authority to take action if you breach these terms. This can range from removing content to limiting visibility, restricting access, or, in severe cases, pursuing legal action.
Intellectual Property Licenses: You still own your content, and you grant X a license to share it with the world. X also provides you with a license to use their software to enjoy their services.
Use at Your Own Risk: X offers services “AS IS” and “AS AVAILABLE.” They disclaim all warranties and responsibilities. Keep in mind that you may encounter offensive or harmful content, and the platform’s services can change or be discontinued at any time. Understand that X does its best to provide a positive experience, but you should exercise caution and report any problematic content, using the X reporting system that accompanies every post.
Limited Liability: While you have remedies and redress mechanisms, Xโs liability is limited. For certain types of damages, X won’t be liable at all, and their aggregate liability will not exceed $100 USD or the amount paid X in the past six months for the services in question.
WHY DATA SCRAPING IS A PROBLEM
Iโll illustrate why data scraping is likely against Xโs rules, consider this scenario: Imagine a user scrapes sensitive information from X’s platform and uses it for malicious purposes. This could include stealing user data, spreading false information, or even engaging in identity theft. Such actions not only harm individual users but also compromise the integrity of the platform and the community. By prohibiting data scraping, I see X as protecting your privacy and ensuring a safe and secure environment for all.
Don’t Forget Privacy
These new Terms of Service also include Xโs Privacy Policy, which you can find linked below.
MY THOUGHTS
Many big name accounts are still not verified, and currently, they often donโt display ads in their many replies. Ad revenue sharing is for people who pay for X premium. Under these new terms, I interpret that Ads could start appearing in all replies.ย As always, only VERIFIED accounts count toward Ad revenue sharing.
X needs to operate in a way to be (eventually) perpetually sustaining and profitable. In other words, X must protect itself from harm. These terms, a first for X, are also designed to maintain a fair and secure digital environment for you and all X users. Ultimately, you want to have a majority of unregrettable user minutes, while knowing your data is secure.
Article is by Gail Alfar, please credit accordingly.
Disclaimer: I am not responsible for any legal interpretation of X policies and you should read through them yourself for accuracy and always follow your local regulations first.
(Austin, Texas) Trying to keep up with Elon Musk is like running a relay race with no end. Today he advised top officials in Washington DC at the AI Insight forum while yesterday he spoke at the All-In Summit.
This blog post is about X and How the algorithm rewards creators who post long content that engages people.
Elon at All-In Summit
Elon explained how the algorithm flows to support creators who post longform articles as well as creators who post longer videos.
If you think about it, itโs very logical. When a short post is looked at and scrolled past quickly on X, it does not account for much time spent, so naturally it will not be something that contributes to many unregrettable user minutes. It may occupy two seconds of a person’s time, but no more. The impact it will have will be low. If I scroll constantly on X, I may regret it because I am not pausing to read an informative article or watch a finely crafted video.
When I paused to watch the hour long podcast on X with Lex Friedman and Walter Isaacson, I walked away enriched and enlightened and feeling great. This is a wonderful example of unregretted time spent on X. If thatโs the only thing someone did that day on the app, I think they will be quite happy because thereโs so much new information to be learned from Lex Friedmanโs podcast. Therefore, that material or rather, that video will be algorithmically promoted more on the app than a three second video.
Optimizing User Time On X
This is how Elon explained it on All-In,
โWe are trying to optimize for user time on the platform, what it naturally means, is that posting content that somebody looks at longer is going to get higher priority than content that is short. This is because the system is aspiring to maximize on regretted user minutes. So, if weโre succeeding, you want to spend more time on the platform and after having spent that time, you donโt want to regret it.โ
Elon explained that he would like people to spend time on X in order to both learn new things and to be entertained, rather than spend time that is later regretted. In contrast, people say they regret excessive time spent on TikTok. X should aspire to be different.
He went on to explain that
โWhen you are optimizing for unregretted user minutes, the more content you post on the platform, the more reach that thing will get, because the system is seeing the users spending more time on the platform, because theyโre seeing that youโre watching a long podcast or reading a longform article, or watching some video. Thatโs going to take a lot more time than, say, if you link to a video elsewhere, or link to an article elsewhere. That means you spent less time on the platform, so the system will not exclude it, but will give it less attention.โ
Elon also emphasized that the algorithm that does this will be Open Source. Anybody should be able to recreate the same results using the algorithm that they see being created on the X app.
This kind of transparency generates trust and allows users to not only understand how the X app works, but it builds curiosity into the process. Some of the finest computer engineers are working on these algorithms, and being able to see their work, nicely presented, and cleaned up for the public, is a fantastic education in algorithmic programming.
While Elon was in Washingotn DC, I stayed grounded in Austin and we had rain and cool weather for the first time in months! Weโre finally reaching the end of a scorching hot summer. Iโm celebrating the cooler weather by writing, my favorite pastime! I am looking forward to September 23, the first day of Fall. Our Texas Summer has outdid itself this year on the heat scale and thereโs something really alluring about pumpkin pies and cozy jackets right now, bring on the cold weather!
Austin, Texas in rain.
Article by Gail Alfar, please credit accordingly. Gail writes on X independently, she also writes for WhatsUpX , WhatsUpTesla and Xcelerate.
X is a place to connect with other people, a wonderful way to find up to the secondnews about whatโs happening almost anywhere on Earth. The good thing about X is if a post is misleading then directly under it, you will see a Community Note and a link, explaining the context. If you happened to view that post, say, at 6pm and it had no Community Note at that time, then you will receive a notification on X that the post you saw now has a Community Note on it.
In this way, there is no other source for news with more truth than X.
ORGANIZING, STORING
X is free to use and Iโd also recommend that once you get established and understand how it works that you try X Premium, which will allow you to store valuable information in multiple bookmarks that you label.
I think of these as my digital file cabinet. I use these files to store information, images, and videos, which would otherwise get lost. I use this information in articles that I write and for research, similar to the old-fashioned galvanized steel file cabinets.
DAILY DOSE OF HUMOR
X is also the right blend of humor, hard-core research, and cutting-edge information from some of the worldโs smartest people.
The reason why humor is so important is it provides us with a good balance throughout our day.
X has a default for you tab, and when you update your timeline, you get to see posts from accounts that you may not have been following. Since I like humor, I end up seeing some funny things there alongside my interests (sustainable energy, electric transportation, autonomous driving, and Starship).
YOUR FEEDBACK IS WORTH IT
Thereโs one more aspect Iโd like to emphasize in this short article, and this is that Twitter went through different stages, and in each stage, it was difficult if not impossible to know who worked for Twitter, because they did not tweet, and if they did, we did not know who they were.
Whatโs interesting about X is that people who work for X who post are often popular on the app, but not in the sense of being sexy or glamorous unless the sexy and glamorous part could only be applied to being great at engineering.
In essence, I think itโs fabulous to see the work that X technologists are doing in real-time, but thereโs another twist to this which is outstanding. Itโs that you as a user on X can ask questions to X engineers or give them your feedback on how to make the app a better experience.
In fact, if you follow someone on X and you have a question about how it works, I have found that most people on X are ready and willing to help others understand the app better.
As I go about my day, working hard, but also taking sporadic breaks and relaxing, Iโm glad to experience X as a stream of consciousness in my life that expands my thinking. I hope my words and experience will help you to explain how X works to your friends and family who might not understand it so well.
JUST POST
The best way to understand it is just to start using it. Start posting your thoughts, and, maybe, let your first post beโฆ
โThis is my first postโ
If you liked this article, give it a heart and share your feedback and follow and subscribe to Gail Alfar on X at @gailalfaratx
Everything built at Elon Muskโs companies is designed with care, beauty, and the best possible technology.
How do we get from Twitter to ๐?
How big is ๐, and how many people are aware of the change?
How long will it take to transition from using terminologies related to Twitter, like tweet, retweet, and so on?
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF ๐
I wanted to write an article reflecting the thoughts of people Iโve spoken to and heard here on ๐. I know you are witnessing Twitter transforming into ๐. I felt a strong desire to write to mark this significant event in history.
The first signs of transformation were subtle. Terminology related to Elon Muskโs ownership of Twitter began to show up as ๐.Corp.
There were and still are multiple occasions in which Elon explains in interviews, conversations, and posts, that ๐ will be undergoing great change. Twitter, he has said, โwas simply an accelerant to the creation of ๐.โ
Do you remember when you could go to the website x.com and there would be a tiny little โxโ in the upper left-hand corner of a big white void?
Today, when you go to the website, there is an Art Deco ๐, with the slogan โHappening Nowโ over a more traditional blue background.
THE SLOGAN IN THE APP STORE IS โBLAZE YOUR GLORY!โ
“Blaze Your Glory” suggests you will create a path of extraordinary success. You will leave an impact. “Blaze Your Glory” may encourage you to pursue your dreams, overcome obstacles, and leave behind a legacy that inspires others to follow their paths to glory.
A SHINING ๐ IN THE NIGHT OVER SF
For one magical night, the ๐ headquarters in San Francisco on Market Street had a shining, flashing, Art Deco, โ๐โ gracing the building’s rooftop.
At night, that โ๐โ sent a signal out through the electrons in the air and over the beautiful hills, buildings, neighborhoods, and streets of the city where so many people have left their hearts.
But Elon Musk has chosen to keep ๐ headquarters in SF, and not follow the trend to abandon it, relocating the business to Texas.
Change takes a gradual movement and does not happen overnight. I say this because some people are unaware of Twitterโs transition into ๐. My smart, busy daughter that works in Austin wondered what that ๐ was on her phone, she had no idea it had changed until I told her. Likewise, my husband wasnโt aware until I told him.
I believe that ๐ will take hold in the lives of many people, offering them something that Twitter could not have given them. It will do what โTwitterโ never could have done. For one, ๐, as Elon Musk has posted, is a place where Creators can make a living,
โPeople from every corner of the world post incredible content on ๐, but often live in tough circumstances, where even a few hundred dollars a month changes their life.โ
People that may have been spectators, or never logged into Twitter, will one day become account owners. They will desire the secure payout and pay-in system that we will see on ๐.
DELIGHTING USERS WITH THE BEST VALUE
When I use ๐, I know that it is built with superior technology and designed to delight the user.
Tesla vehicles are a testament to customer satisfaction and joy over a beautiful product.
๐ is similar to Tesla in that the technology behind your experience on ๐ will be superior to any other internet product.
๐ is designed to delight you and give you more value than what you pay for it.
Elon Musk’s relentless focus on technology and engineering for Space๐, Tesla, Boring Co., and Neuralink, has been likened to โmagic.โ You donโt have to know how it works, it just does!
Elon can visualize, or see where something should go, and if there are no engineers that can do it, he will learn how to do it himself.
Iโm excited to watch Twitter transform into ๐. It is wonderful, to watch the number of users, and the value that they receive increase. Soon we will forget about the birds, the tweets, and the retweets.
If you enjoyed this article, follow and subscribe to Gail Alfar on X at @gailalfaratx
I had a chance to listen to the first X Spaces hosted by David Sacks and Elon Musk in order to introduce people to presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
Author’s Note: X is the new branded name for what was once called “Twitter.” This blog is renamed “What’s Up X?”
Ramaswamy is an American entrepreneur and a candidate in the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries.
David Sachs hosted the XSpace and introduced Ramaswamy and then he was welcomed to speak by Elon Musk.
The first topic touched on the meaning of existence, and Ramaswamy mentioned that heโs 37 years old, the first millennial to run for president, and he said that many in his generation are looking for a way to be involved, but when people ask them what it means to be an American, many cannot answer that question. Elon Musk said he thinks young people should aspire to be the good guys.
Turning Fiction into Reality
Elon explained that he grew up watching shows where Americans were the good guys and he thinks people can find meaning in life by trying to understand the nature of the universe. Inventing and building new things is also something he thinks the younger generation can aspire to.
Elon said this is the reason that he is a big fan of expanding the scope and scale of humanity and that consciousness should be expanded, and we should believe that civilization is a good thing and not a bad thing.
Elon made a point that weโve seen amazing fictional movies and read sci-fi books about the future, and he believes those things should come to pass, and not remain fiction. He believes we should become a multi-planetary species because this gives people purpose and a reason to wake up in the morning and be excited about the future.
Amidst cheerful sounds of Elonโs son, Lil X, playing in the background, Elon spoke about truth, saying that itโs important to believe thereโs truth, and we should be aspiring to truth.
Ramaswamy asked what the conditions are that allow people to aspire to truth.
Elon said Earth is not the worst place and we should make it the best place possible, and heโs not thinking of colonizing Mars because Earth will never be a viable option in the future.
Instead, it will be nice to see the fictional life of Star Trek come to pass, where we are a multi-planet species.
Image Courtesy SpaceX of Starship Flame Deflector
How To Address Problems at Schools and Universities
Ramaswamy said that on this planet, he believes a revival (religious) of a sense of grounding and belief in a strong family is important. This led Elon to bring up another interesting point that at many Ivy League and top universities, students are being taught that it is not good to be a patriotic American. He believes it is a grave mistake to teach this to students.
I can attest, as I have a daughter, who works at the University of Texas, Austin, and the American flag is considered offensive, while the LGTBQ+ flag is considered politically correct. David Sachs added that in San Francisco, they ripped Abraham Lincolnโs name off one of the high schools.
Ramaswamy agreed with Elon saying, when students are successful, they are often ashamed of that success, and try to hide it, he says itโs because America has always been number one, and students are taught to believe it is not good to be number one. Ramaswamy said part of Americaโs role in the world was to provide an example of what is possible when you have a country founded on those ideals, but once you start apologizing to the world for those ideals, thereโs a permanent loss of history.
Ramaswamy asked Elon Musk what he would do about it. This was Elonโs answer.
Elon said we should be castigating the schools and universities for doing this to our kids. He advised donors to universities and high schools to rescind their donations and ask for change before they donate again.
It sounded like Elon also was going to say stop sending your kids to those schools if they continue that, but he was cut off by Vivek who said “We want to make sure that America remains a meritocracy where smarts and hard work are rewarded instead of having an elite ruling class.โ
Ramaswamy made the point that when students are ashamed of the exceptionalism of America, and when they apologize for being American, itโs like self-flogging. He said itโs like when you wear a burlap hair shirt and beat yourself with a stick. Elon disagreed when Vivek said that the climate movement is a form of self-flogging.
Helping Our Earthโs Climate is Not Far-Right Wing
Elon said that he believes he may have done more for our earth’s climate, than any other individual past or present.
He says he feels itโs extremely bizarre when people label him as a far-right extremist. Elon said that he has literally been pouring blood, sweat, and tears into protecting the environment. He doesnโt understand what these people are talking about when they say that heโs a far-right conservative and he perceives himself to be a moderate, he cares about humans and our civilization, he is not far left, nor far right, but a centrist.
Why Are ESGs (Environmental, Social, Governance) Harmful?
The discussion turned to ESGs. You may already know that ESGs allow companies to be rewarded for woke policies of diversity and inclusion but then exclude many people.
Essentially, both Ramaswamy and Elon agreed that ESGs are harmful not only to companies but for people in the United States.
Elon said that fundamentally people have been misled and theyโve given their savings over to 401(k) plans that rate high on the ESG scale. Elon explained that people are having their money invested in index funds and ESG funds with the hope of the funds gaining in value so that they can have a secure retirement. Contrary to what people think, the voting that happens in these mutual fund environments is not in the best interest of profit nor in the interest of people.
Elon mentioned the names Vanguard, Blackrock, Fidelity, and T Rowe. He said that these companies are lying to shareholders.
Essentially, itโs possible that these mutual fund companies are setting themselves up for one of the largest class action lawsuits ever. This is because they are lying to their shareholders. Elon said itโs because they are breaking the deal with their customers, and they are not maximizing shareholder value.
The Government Monopoly on Violence
Elon also explained that the government is a corporation in the limit. โIt is the most important corporation and the biggest and itโs got a monopoly on violence. And so you should say, how much violence do you want the government to do? Not that much, less, generally not more.โ
As background, in political philosophy, a monopoly on violence or monopoly on the legal use of force is the property of a political system that is the only entity in its jurisdiction to legitimately use force, and thus the supreme authority of that area.
โAs we speak, the flower of Ukrainian youth is dying in trenches.โ – Elon Musk
On Ukraine, Elon mentioned we should know that our money is going to help the people of Ukraine, not a handful of oligarchs.
Elon Musk said, sadly,
“There has to be forgiveness, and there has to be some realism. And we have to look at Ukraine and Russia by not turning Russia into a devil and Ukraine into an angel. There are no angels in war.
“The flower of Ukrainian youth is dying in trenches. Why are these boys dying? For what?”
“We should also be sad that there are Russian boys dying in trenches. Why are these young men dying because of disagreements between old men? Why? And entrenched warfare where only a few miles are exchanged? At what price? How many lives per mile is a life worth?
“If you don’t forgive your enemy, you’re stuck in a circle of retribution forever. There has to be forgiveness.”
Ramaswamy said if he was voted into office, he would strike down legislation that President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed into law, which has prevailed ever since. He said he would strike that law down, and most likely it has evolved into something it was never intended to be. He carefully explained that we should be rewarded for the value of our contributions and that it should not be based on any other factors.
Iโm unclear which law Ramaswamy plans to strike down, as the Civil Rights Act was passed by Congress and signed by LBJ in 1964, outlawing segregation in businesses such as theaters, restaurants, and hotels.
On June 29, 2023, the US Supreme Court ruled affirmative action is unconstitutional, ending race-conscious admissions in higher education. He could be referring to Executive Order 11246. President Lyndon B. Johnson issued Executive Order 11246, in 1965 prohibiting employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, and national origin by those organizations receiving federal contracts and subcontracts. This order could legally be struck down by Congress.
Interested in Etymology?
Lightening up the conversation about race, Elon mentioned that he owns etymology.com, which if you link to it, is simply an orange emoji. Elon announced that if there is somebody who would love to expand that, and go hard-core on it, he may be willing to sell it to that person.
FBI/CIA
Another point Elon brought up is that he has met a lot of people who work at the FBI and the CIA, and he stated that he thinks they have a lot of integrity.
Closing Thoughts
In closing, Elon said the discussion with Ramaswamy was important and that many people may agree with his position, and that he likely has won over a lot of people. He added there are a lot of things that sound pro-democracy and are ballot harvesting and are used to hack (votes). He said Goerge Soros is a talented arbitrator and heโs applied that talent monetarily and politically and he figured out that through charitable organizations you can promote a cause with pre-tax money and that doesnโt count in any of the political stuff. It is effective because you do not attack the candidate, just the positions that they hold. Then you hire a big team to harvest ballots from Nursing Homes and all that sort of stuff. โThere are real things that have happened. I donโt think we should counter corruption with corruption but there does need to be a get-out-the-vote campaign. Clearly, Republicans need to work harder at winning over voters. Especially in key House and Senate races and Presidency.โ
Ramaswamy said this country has blessed him with so much. He said he wants to win the Presidency and has invested mostly his own dollars in his campaign thus far. He says it takes $2B to get elected and he raises money through donors. He invited listeners to donate. His link is on his X account profile.
Elon said it is โRare to meet a politician that is not an NPC.โ referring to Ramaswamy.
Looking over the new Capitol Mall, the Texas Capitol Building and the Austin, Texas skyline. http://art.cvsherman.com
Itโs early in the morning and I wake up andโฆ check Twitter. If this is you then youโll love this article as it takes you through the past week of Twitter in minutes and you get to read about Twitter. From lawsuits to engineering advancements, Twitter 2.0 is not boring.
Elon Muskโs role at Twitter is executive chairman, and chief technical officer overseeing product, software, and system operations. Linda Yaccarino is CEO of Twitter (and doing a great job). Twitter has improved under their leadership. Additionally, Tesla is thriving under Elonโs leadership as Technoking of Tesla and CEO, as reported in Teslaโs Q2 2023 Update Report. So, when Sen Elizabeth Warren suddenly came along to throw false accusations at Elon Musk and the Tesla board, it was cringe, to say the least. Elonโs legal team respondedโฆ
TWITTER TO SUBPOENA SEN. WARREN
Twitter legal informed a federal court on Thurs, July 20 that theyโre seeking for Sen.Warren to disclose her communications with the SEC and the Federal Trade Commission from the past few months. This includes the document she sent to SEC Chair Gensler, where she falsely accused Elon Musk of harming Tesla.
META CAN NOT LEGALLY COPY TWITTER (THE MOST IMPORTANT COMPANY)
Meanwhile, Twitter has addressed Meta CEO Mark Zuckerbergโs haphazardly created โThreadsโ app. Representing Twitter, Lawyer Alex Spiro sent Zuckerburg a cease-and-desist letter saying, โTwitter has serious concerns that Meta has engaged in systematic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property.โ
Alex Spiro said of Twitter last March,
โOnce you get to Twitter, you realize the geopolitical significance, the significance across so many different things, thought, speech, the community of viewpoints. You realize it may actually be the most interesting and important company in the world.โ (Vanity Fair Interview, March 2023)
Sadly, in the past year, Zuckerburgโs โMetaโ hired many ex-Twitter employees to gain access to Twitter’s trade secrets and highly confidential information. Meta then assigned these employees to develop their copycat “Threads” app in a few months, with the sole intent of using Twitter’s trade secrets and intellectual property to accelerate their copycat โThreadsโ app. This is a violation of state and federal laws and the employees’ ongoing obligations to Twitter.
Competition can be a good thing, but cheating is always wrong.
Elon Musk said it well, โCompetition is fine, cheating is not.โ
So, as the copycat app โThreadsโ reaches an all-time low in interest, Twitter continues to employ hard-core engineering, 24/7 under the direction of Elon Musk. What cannot be underestimated, is the high value of having Elon Musk, as chief technician at Twitter. Not only will Twitter become one of the top places alongside SpaceX and Tesla to work as a software engineer, but Twitter will eventually become so advanced in software engineering that it will become the gold standard, assuming it isnโt already.
TWITTER IS A VALUE-ADDED APP
In an incredibly short amount of time, Twitter became an app with a generous toolbox for writers, creators, artists, and more!
Twitterโs publishing capability can now extend to essentially an unlimited amount. Is possible to publish an entire encyclopedia on Twitter, if somebody wanted to!
Donโt be surprised if Twitter is used by teachers extensively due to the usefulness of having books directly on Twitter combined with an extensive bookmark system available on the app, as well as an entire safety team dedicated to making sure abuse, hate, and threats are de-amplified on the app.
Iโll end this article with my heartfelt thoughts. It is difficult for me to understand why anybody would want to work against what Elon Musk is doing at Twitter. He is allowing creators on Twitter to share ad revenue, which brings income to places far and wide in this world. It brings needed income to places where, truly, it could be the income that a family needs to provide a living. These opportunities have never been available before and can provide amplification of talent, art, and culture. Make no mistake, Twitter is not just for North America, its reach is global, and so the goodness that it can provide through education, books in different languages, and creative and unique art, are for the good of all humanity.
It truly pains me to think that Zuck, Warren, and others, would love to see Twitter fail. The memes Iโm sharing with this article are useful for making humor out of senseless acts of intended destruction. Twitter 2.0 will prevail, for the benefit of humanity!
Meta CEO Zuckerburg coped Twitter illegally.
This article is by Gail Alfar please credit accordingly and thanks for your support.ย
Creator Ads Revenue Sharing is exclusive to Elon Muskโs Twitter 2.0. It did not exist with the Twitter 1.0 business model.ย
โAbsolutely essential. Creators need to make a living!โ – Elon Musk on 11/1/22 after buying Twitter on 10/27/22
Twitter made history with a generous new program to share advertising revenue with creators. This was one of Elon Muskโs intentions from the very beginning when he purchased Twitter. Since his purchase, Twitter has improved dramatically through Elonโs deliberate shift in prioritizing technology and software at Twitter.ย
On July 13, Twitter selected an initial group of talented creators, and they were invited to accept ad revenue payment. Iโll share a few of their enthusiastic comments later in this article.
WHEN CAN MORE CREATORS APPLY FOR AD REV SHARING?
Twitter plans to roll out Creator Ads Revenue Sharing more broadly later this month and all eligible creators will be able to apply. When the program goes wide, Twitter will have tens of thousands of people applying, so I expect the program to take some time to regulate.
Here are a few of the requirements:
Be subscribed to Twitter Blue or Verified Organizations
Must be in a country where Stripe supports payouts
Have at least 5M impressions on posts in each of the last 3 months per Twitter analytics
Pass human review for Creator Monetization Standards. This process may take time.
Twitter says, โYou cannot feature the identity of another person or a fake identity that is intended to deceive others. This includes parody, fan, and commentary accounts.โย
REACTIONS TO TWITTER REV SHARING ARE HEARTFELT
I have seen many positive comments about the program, here are a few:
Kanekoa The Great was chosen to share in Twitter ad revenue, he said,
โTwitter 1.0 silenced me for expressing my opinions. Twitter 2.0 rewards me for sharing my ideas. Thank you Twitter for the opportunity to earn a living! Gratitude to Elon Musk for investing $44 billion to revive freedom of speech on the internet!โ
Alex Larusso (ALX) said,
โLess than a year ago, I was banned from this platform, now Iโm getting paid to Tweet. This is a game changer. Thank you Twitter!โ
Nick Sorter shared his enthusiasm,
โIndependent journalists like myself can literally make a living off Twitter now reporting REAL, censorship-free stories that you won’t see in the mainstream media. This is HUGE. Can’t thank you enough, Elon Musk! THE BEST IS YET TO COME!โ
My favorite reaction was from Billy Marcus, who simply shared,
โi like twitterโ
MORE TWITTER IMPROVEMENTS!
Before I leave you, Iโd like to share a few more Twitter updates,
Elon Musk responded to a meme that communicated the importance of people being free to express themselves without fear of being fired by their employers for different opinions. For this reason, Twitter will continue to allow anonymous accounts to be verified.ย
Twitter quietly unveiled an icon to appear on video content that lets you connect directly to watch content on your big-screen TV.ย
You can also watch videos from Twitter while scrolling using the pic-in-pic video feature.
Twitter has made improvements so that, on average, it will only take 1-2 days for a new account to be verified or for a blue check to be restored after changing a profile picture or username.
Jessica Kirsh, a space history archivist, uncovered that Twitter now limits how many accounts you can โtagโ in a tweet. This is a good feature to limit potential spam. Imagine a longform tweet tagging hundreds of people?
Advertising on Twitter aims to reach people who may need the products they see, and therefore only human views of ads matter. On July 5th, Thomas Slabbers observed, โThere is an even greater assurance that ads are reaching real humans since these view limits primarily impact automated entities rather than human users.” Elon Musk responded, saying โUnless bots start buying things at scale, only human views count.โย
Will you find our next job through Twitterโs upcoming Verified Organizations jobs feature? Twitter plans to allow companies to post up to 5 jobs. The feature is a way to โfeature jobs on your company profile, and attract top talent to your open positions.โย
SEE YOU ON TWITTER!
Iโve been an observer of Elon Muskโs unmatched style of using technology to allow Twitter to evolve rapidly. After closing the Twitter deal, Elon Musk said on 11/13/2022,
โItโs just that Twitter at its core is a software and servers company. The technology needs to evolve rapidly, which requires a technologist.โ
Elon Musk adds something else to Twitter. He adds kindness and has the ability to make people feel valued. Creator Ads Revenue Sharing is an act of kindness that will forever set Twitter/X.Corp apart from all other attempts at social media. Additionally, Elon himself generously gave all of his revenue to other creators,
โI gave my share to the creator payout pool.โ – Elon Musk
Happy Tweeting and Iโll see you on Twitter!This article by Gail Alfar. Please credit accordingly. Since January 2022, I have been writing and recording many of Elon Musks’ talks on my blog and here in order to preserve his important words in writing. My blog link is on my Twitter bio and I thank you for reading and for your support.ย You rock and you are part of Team Humanity!ย Thank you! Mentioned areย Jessica Kirsch,ย Thomas Slabbersย @Thomasslabbers @KanekoaTheGreatย ย @ALX @nicksortorย and Billy Markus.
If youโre reading this, you likely have a Twitter account. I have some wonderful updates and insights that I hope to share with you to make your day brighter today.
“Twitter is the only social media company where you can see the code of the algorithm. The way to build trust is to show how it works, with full transparency.” –Elon Musk
My goal is to encourage you to take advantage of the features Twitter has to offer. I believe you will find them interesting, useful, and hopefully make your life better.
First, I truly encourage you to get Twitter Blue. Blue is currently $84 per year when you subscribe on an annual basis on the web. Most of the features Iโm going to describe to you are those that belong to Twitter Blue users. Iโm doing this because I have had friends tell me they either donโt know how to start Twitter Blue, or donโt see value in it.
This chart shows how much you can save when you subscribe to Blue via the web.
A Strong Use Case For Twitter Blue
For writers, researchers, commentators and engineers, and especially people looking for work, Twitter Blue is valuable as you can tweet up to 25,000 characters in a single tweet. When you use the web to tweet, you can place multiple (four) images or charts in line by dragging the image to where you want it in the tweet or โarticle.โ
This is good for tweets that would like to communicate research and information similar to what is shared in traditional blog posts on different platforms.
For example, Iโve done research on Tesla Megapacks and their usage. Some of my articles are quite long and demand multiple visuals. The 25,000-character feature makes it possible to share these long articles that would normally be on other platforms. Now they can be shared on Twitter. The advantage to this is people are more likely to read your work when they do not have to click on a link that leads them off of the Twitter platform. People can also bookmark your articles (Iโve seen a lot of bookmarks on my longer articles, possibly for this reason). You can also bookmark data sources from across Twitter, in order to produce better articles through organizing your work.
Bookmarks that are labeled are extremely useful, they serve as files that you can reference through time. For example, I write articles about Tesla, SpaceX, and of course Twitter. I have multiple bookmarks for categories of research and also bookmarks for fun things, like memes or things I would like to investigate later.
Letโs Talk About Why You Donโt Use Blue
Iโll pause here in the article, just to address a concern that Iโve seen people express on Twitter. This is people saying they refuse to get Blue check verification, because they do not like some of the tweets by Elon Musk.
Iโd like to say that itโs still OK for you to get a Blue check, in fact, itโs to your advantage to get a Blue check, because it will help you to be more productive. It will help you to differentiate yourself from fake accounts that may try to impersonate you.
A good example is one of the top employees at Tesla recently had his account impersonated, it would have been very difficult to differentiate between the official account and the fake account because it had 12K followers. The fact this employee has Blue check verification made it easy to identify the real account and report the fake one.
Also, if youโre not getting a Blue check, because youโre part of a movement to oust Elon Musk, the movement isnโt very organized and it hasnโt been very effective. Youโre actually at a disadvantage because of this fact. Twitter is not going to shut down, and itโs offering tools that it did not offer in Twitter 1.0 that are designed to help you.
โIโm Just A Fun Dog!โ
On Twitter, some people have voiced concerns about not wanting to pay for Twitter Blue unless they can pay with Dogecoin. In a recent interview in the Twitter HQ, Elon Musk wore a Dogecoin-themed T-Shirt as seen in this image. This shows he supports Dogecoin. He chose to make a fun statement when we all know that he could have chosen to wear any other T-shirt in his closet. For this reason, I encourage you to convert your Dogecoin into USD and join Twitter Blue in support of what Elon Musk is doing! Let me know if you do, I think it would be awesome!
Elon Musk in a splendid Dogecoin t-shirt and the Babylon Bee Crew.
Bye-Bye to the Bot Farms
This leads me to the biggest advantage of Twitter verification, and that is that you are differentiating yourself from the millions of bots, which are present on every platform, including Twitter. I say this out of experience because I have found multiple bots following my account. In fact, if you look at my tweets, you will see bots latch onto tweets immediately when they happen, after every tweet. I will tell you I have never seen a bot with a Blue check do this. Bots can try to mimic humans, and I have experienced that as well, including bots that are controlled by artificial intelligence. Getting up to speed with protecting your identity is a very important thing.
Encryption
Another important aspect of Twitter Blue is the ability for you to send encrypted messages. You may not think its important now, but when you need to communicate something sensitive, itโs important to use encryption, and that is only available between Twitter Blue subscribers.
The screenshot below is, I feel, an underrepresentation of the perks of Blue. If anything, Elon Musk tends to promise less and deliver more. I see him doing this repeatedly with Twitter. It is classic Elon. He has done this with Tesla as well.
You will save substantially when you subscribe to Twitter Blue on the Web instead of on your phone.
Finally, Iโm going to share a few things that truly delight me as a Twitter Blue user. I love that I have up to one hour to edit my tweets/articles. This is a wonderful feature and gives me a chance to correct any mistakes I think of within that hour. I have used this feature with almost every article. Itโs amazing how your work looks different once it is live on Twitter versus how it looks in your document edit screen.
“If Twitter can be the least imperfect place to find the truth on the internet, then I will consider that we have done a good job.” – Elon Musk
Final thoughtsโฆ
As you know, thereโs a lot of misinformation on the Internet. One of Elon Muskโs goals is to provide you with a place that is the least imperfect. In other words, no social media platform is going to be perfect. Elon and his team are striving to make Twitter the least imperfect. I think thatโs a worthy goal, and I personally think itโs worth financially supporting. My $84 a year is an extremely small amount to support such a wonderful mission. I hope that you will support Twitter, see the advantages of using Twitter Blue, and most of all enjoy Twitter and have the least amount of regrettable minutes on the platform as possible.
Let That Sink In, Elon Musk at Twitter HQ
Article by Gail Alfar, please credit accordingly. Have a beautiful week and, love those around you, and enjoy the gift of life that you have.
Summer is here and I love writing these quick updates. If you love X.Corp, then read onโฆ
“Twitter is the only social media company where you can see the code of the algorithm. The way to build trust is to show how it works, with full transparency.” – Elon Musk
Elon Musk charmed the audience in Paris at VivaTech, he explained how Twitter is building trust through transparency. Twitter is the only social media company with open-source code for the algorithm.
Elon also explained that X, the Everything App, is a way to finish the task that was started 20 years ago.
You may know that X.com was an online bank co-founded by Elon Musk, Harris Fricker, Christopher Payne, and Ed Ho in 1999. In 2000, X.com merged with Confinity Inc., and subsequently changed its name to PayPal.In 2022, it was sold to eBay for $1.5 billion.
Twitterโs Beautiful International Reach
X.Corp, as I like to call it, or Twitter, announced on June 14, that Community Notes has expanded to another 8 countries.ย These include Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Belgium, and the Netherlands. For more information on Community Notes, see @CommunityNotes on Twitter for details.
Left or Right, Twitter is your platform
If you consider yourself left or right (in a political sense), then Elon Musk has, once again, offered equal treatment to all. On June 14, he tweeted,
โOnce again, Iโd like to offer this platform to anyone on the left. You will get equal treatment.โ
Hidden Replies?
Staying true to his words, Elon Musk responded to Twitter account TitterDaily, when he tweeted,
โOPINION: As part of Twitter Safetyโs rollout of transparency features, Twitter should aim to clarify how the ‘More Replies’ filter works. Verified accounts and even original poster replies to replies are sometimes hidden under this filter, without a clear reason.โ
Elon responded, โAgreed, this is broken in random ways. Will be fixed.โ
Smart CEOs will improve their products like this with direct feedback in real-time.ย
The Usefulness of Group Chats
Twitter Support announced on June 12 that group Direct Messages can include up to 100 people, with larger limits upcoming.
What is a great use for such a large group chat? Here are a few ideas:ย Professional Networking, Event Planning (like weddings, conferences, fundraisers), Interest-Based Discussions (car clubs, hobbies, news groups), Project Management, and Community Engagement.ย
Elon Explains Why X.Corp Will Survive
My Twitter account has many bots that follow it and with most tweets, automated ones respond. Bots can also mimic real people using AI. I believe I have seen these as well. X.Corp has a way to battle this attack. On June 11, Elon explained,
โIt is increasingly difficult to distinguish between AI bots. Soon, it will be impossible. The only โsocial networksโ that survive will be those that require verification. The payment system is a means of verification that increases bot cost by ~10,000X.โ
On June 8, Titter Daily also revealed that Twitter is working on limiting the ability to send Direct Messages to people who don’t follow you to Verified (Blue) users only. This will also apply to creating group chats. This is another way to lessen Direct Message bot spam.
Would You Love to see Twitter AI Art?
In my last article, I wrote about Kris Kashtanovaโs amazing Twitter account.ย On May 25, she tweeted that โTwitter is the most welcoming space for our AI community. I invite you to create images inspired by the platform that connected us all. Iโm grateful for you here.โย
Kashtanovaโs prompt idea resulted in many amazing AI images for the Bird App! Check out her account at @icreatelifeย on Twitter!
Enjoy your Summertime Sadness! I love Lana Del Rey and her melancholy music so I thought I would add that here. I do hope you have a great week and take time, as always, to love yourself immensely and love the ones close to you!
โขโโโโโโ โพ โฝโ โโโโโโข
This article by Gail Alfar please credit accordingly.ย Thanks for your support and let me know your thoughts about X.Corp.ย
(Austin, Texas) In an invigorating discourse that sparkled like a captivating citrine gemstone, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Elon Musk engaged in a riveting conversation on a Twitter Space titled “Reclaiming Democracy.” This conversation served to inspire me, and I think youโll be inspired too! I hope youโll join me and read what Elon said about artificial intelligence, the groundbreaking potential of Neuralink, the profound value of free speech, and the benevolence of America. This exchange provided a much-needed spark of energy to my day. I hope it will rejuvenate your mind and ignite new possibilities. Listening to Elon Musk answer questions from RFK was delightfully insightful as these brilliant minds illuminated the intersections of technology, democracy, and human progress!
Appreciation for Elon Musk’s Contribution to Democracy
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. began by thanking Elon Musk saying that he is a breath of fresh air toward democracy in this country. He mentioned itโs โcommendable, given Elon was born in South Africa.โ
Elon Musk emphasized that you have a robust democracy. Itโs important to have free speech. In the absence of that, he stated, โthe democracy would not function.โ
Free Speech as the Lifeblood of Democracy
RFK said that free speech is the sunlight, water, and soil of democracy, and without free-speech democracy, would wither and die. He explained that thereโs never been a time in history when weโve looked back and said that the guys who censored free speech are the good guys, generally, theyโve always been the bad guys.
Dangers of Censorship and the Power of Debate
Elon explained democracy and free speech,
โItโs like washing your laundry in public. There is dirty laundry, but at least you see it and it is not hidden. Itโs essential to have that debate, even if you disagreed strongly with another side of that debate.โ
Elon added that itโs important to understand that โunless there are people that can say things that you donโt like, itโs not free speech. And if you start censoring, itโs only a matter of time before that censorship is turned upon you.โ
Lack of Media Integrity and Collusion between Governments and Corporations
Elon also said that the thing he finds bizarre and completely different from the past is that itโs โnot only governments and corporations in collusion โ which has been the case for a while, I think it was Eisenhower, who warned about the industrial military complex โ but the thing I find difficult to forgive is that the legacy traditional media is also almost entirely working lockstep with the government and corporations. itโs really their obligation to question the government, not go along with it.โ
Advertiser Pressure on Twitter/X.corp.
Elon also mentioned that โTwitter has seen extreme pressure from advertisers, at least in the West. And I see an advertiser boycott problem with a lot of companies.โ
He went on to graciously thank the companies that have stayed with Twitter like Apple and Disney and many others.
Elonโs Commitment to Free Speech and the Impact on Advertising
Elon said that half of Twitterโs advertising has disappeared overnight in North American and European markets, โThis has happened, simply because Twitter insists on free-speech.โ
Financial Pressure on Organizations and the Corruption of Democracy
I agree with Elonโs statement that he does not think the public fully realizes โthe magnitude of the extreme amount of financial pressure that is placed upon organizations to toe the line by advertisers.โ
I personally, think it is a serious matter. Elon elaborated, saying, this is a โfundamental corruption of democracy, and the public should be absolutely outraged by this!โ
Elon Musk’s Controversial Decision to Release Twitter Files
RFK expressed concern and surprise over Elon Musk’s choosing to release the Twitter files and that in any normal circumstance, a corporate attorney would advise him not to. He wanted to know if Elon had any discussions with an attorney before he released the files.
Defying Legal Advice: Transparency and Trust as Motivations
Elon explained that every lawyer advised against it and said it was insane to do so, that he would be getting into huge trouble, and be sued to hell and gone and it would be a massive disaster.
As you know, Elon still chose to release the Twitter files, in order to prove transparency and trust for Twitter, because transparency and trust are a rare quality, especially in a social media platform.
Thankfully Elon did not respond to the lawyer’s advice to refrain from releasing the Twitter files, in fact, Elon stated,
โI did not care!โ
The Significance of Free Speech for Democracy
In order to explain this better, Elon said that โItโs easy to take for granted the system that we have here in the United States. It really doesnโt exist anywhere else. Not even in Canada. And I am half-Canadian. You do not have the free speech rights in Canada that you do have in the United States. Perhaps a new government in Canada will enact those rights because it is incredibly important. But I think if we donโt protect free speech at all costs, we donโt have a functioning democracy. And if we donโt have a functioning democracy, nothing else matters.โ
RFK responded, and it should be noted that Robert has laryngeal dystonia, where a person’s voice muscles contract involuntarily, therefore, Robert has a unique vocal quality. In any case, he asked Elon an interesting question:
โWhat is it in your background that gave you such firm convictions to where youโd be willing to take that this huge, massive unspeakable economic hit on behalf of a principal for a country in which you were not even born?โ
Elon Musk’s Firm Convictions and Love for History
Elon responded by saying that he does consider himself an American. He went on to explain that one reason he has firm convictions is that he loves studying history and civilizations of all kinds.
The Benevolence of the United States in History
Elon explains that while the United States is not perfect, and has made mistakes, he still believes it is the country that has shown the greatest form of benevolence towards humans in all of history.
Elon cited the Marshall plan after World War II. Elon said,
โAt the end of World War II, the United States had overwhelming military strength, and it had the nuclear bomb. The United States could have taken over the world. It could have acquired any country that it wanted, and yet it did not do any of that.
โInstead, the USA gave money to the country that it had been fighting. Iโm not sure if that has ever happened before in history. The United States helped rebuild Germany and Japan. It helped rebuild Japan, even after things like Pearl Harbor. Maybe this has happened before in history, but Iโm not aware of it.โ
Acknowledging Imperfections and Profound Admiration for America
Elon went on to explain that America is not perfect and can do better, he added heโs a huge fan of America!
In a beautiful statement, Elon reiterated that he does not carry a passport for any other country in the world,
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย โI will live and die here!โ – Elon Musk
RFK’s Appreciation for Elon Musk’s Service and Commitment to the USA
RFK said he loved the statement and it was quite moving, and very admirable, and then he thanked Elon for his service and commitment to the United States of America.
I trust you found this initial segment of my series enlightening, exploring the fascinating insights shared by Elon Musk. In my observation, RFK’s remarkable interviewing skills allowed him to extract profound observations from Elon. The respectful manner in which RFK approached Elon’s expertise highlights his respect and appreciation for the remarkable contributions Elon Musk is making for the betterment of humanity.
Stay tuned for Part II, where we will look into more of this engaging conversation. As you and I continue learning throughout life, let knowledge light up your dreams like the sparkling gemstone of citrine!
Photo of Austin, Texas by Carlos Alfonso on Unsplash
(Austin, Texas) This article unveils an alluring panorama of the latest updates on Twitter and may leave you craving for more.
Join me this beautiful evening, we will walk through the intro of notes on AI-generated media, which is a new feature that adds an extra layer of transparency to combat misleading content. Just as topaz and amethyst possess inner beauty, these notes will shed valuable light on the authenticity of media shared on Twitter.
We will also look at YouTubeโs policy change regarding claims of fraud in the 2020 US election, changes to Twitterโs infrastructure maintenance, and the emergence of multiple organization affiliate badges on Twitter. Iโll introduce you to an intriguing Twitter account of a professor who engages with cool AI assignmentsโฆ to her followers!ย
Increased Capacity for Twitter Spaces
Twitter recently enhanced its ability to handle larger Spaces/audio-only chat rooms.
This upgrade is aimed at providing a better user experience and accommodating a greater number of participants in Spaces. this is exciting because of Elon Muskโs historical interview of Robert F Kennedy, Jr. on June 5.
Community Notes on “AI-Generated Media” on Twitter
Community Note Contributors with a Writing Impact of 10 or above now have the option to mark their notes as โAbout the imageโ when they believe the media is potentially misleading, regardless of the specific Tweet it is featured in.
These notes automatically appear on recent and future matching images, providing contextual information to readers and raters.
Notes on AI-generated media empower contributors in combating misleading media by providing additional information directly attached to the image.
By marking their notes as โAbout the image,โ contributors ensure that the focus is on the media itself and not just the specific Tweet containing it.
Limitations and Future Enhancements
Currently, the AI-generated media notes feature supports Tweets with a single image.
However, Twitter is actively working on expanding its functionality to include videos and Tweets with multiple images or videos.
To prioritize accuracy, the matching algorithm may not identify every image that appears to be a match, but Twitter aims to refine the system to expand coverage while avoiding false matches.
Feedback from users and contributors will be crucial in shaping the future enhancements of this feature and maximizing its effectiveness.
YouTubeโs Policy Change and its Impact on Twitter
YouTube recently announced a significant policy change regarding claims of fraud in the 2020 US election.
In a shift that may be influenced by Twitterโs free speech policies, YouTube will no longer enforce its previous policy against such claims.
This relaxation of moderation signifies a potential response to the competition posed by Twitterโs approach to free speech.
Content creators, including political shows and podcasts, have expressed intentions to upload their content on Twitter alongside or even in place of YouTube.
This shift in content distribution suggests that YouTubeโs policy change may be an effort to mitigate the migration of creators to other platforms.
Emergence of Multiple Organization Affiliate Badges on Twitter
A recent development on Twitter is the introduction of multiple organization affiliate badges, allowing companies to showcase their affiliations on their Twitter accounts.
Examples have emerged of companies displaying two affiliate badges on the same account, highlighting their multiple partnerships.
This development holds significance as it enables organizations to visually demonstrate their associations and build trust with their audience.
Special Feature: Kris Kashtanovaโs Engaging Approach to AI Education on Twitter
An interesting Twitter account that deserves special attention is that of Kris Kashtanova, an AI professor who teaches at Columbia University.
Kris has adopted a unique approach to engage with students and the wider Twitter community by offering AI assignments accessible to anyone on Twitter.
Her dedication to providing educational opportunities and fostering discussions on AI topics has garnered significant interest and engagement. Find Kris at @icreatelife on Twitter.
Downtown Austin, Texas with the building the “Wilson” added in as a render. This building was slated to be 88 stories tall. It was subsequently reduced to 44 as depicted here.
Article by Gail Alfar and first appeared on Twitter. Please credit accordingly
(Austin, Texas) While brewing hot coffee in the morning, I have an old habit of listening to newsradio.ย Today, NPR (haha, Iโm not endorsing NPR) proudly announced that โElon Musk, American Billionaireโ would interview Ron DeSantis today and DeSantis would announce his run for presidency on Twitter.ย NPR bantered back and forth a bit, in the expected way, but there was no denying that they are intensely curious how this will go. I am confident that it will go great!ย
In this article, Iโll highlight a range of Twitter improvements already here and on the way, from content quality and verification measures to exciting future developments in audio/video. Twitter continues to get better, offering you a unique space to engage and express yourself, whether youโre a gardener or a politician.
PREVENTING AI MANIPULATION
This week, talking in an interview with the WSJ, Elon Musk underscored the importance of Subscriber Verification in combating AI-driven manipulation of public opinion on social media.ย
He outlined the requirements to create a verified account, including a credible phone number from a reputable carrier, a credit card, and a small monthly payment. These safeguards aim to prevent the proliferation of fake accounts and ensure the integrity of information shared on the platform. Elon stressed that social media companies that fail to implement such verification measures would be overwhelmed by bots, undermining trust in their platforms.
MIKE SOLANA’S ENGAGING AUDIO INTERVIEW AND TWITTER’S VIDEO CONTROLS
Mike Solana’s captivating audio interview with artist Grimes, shared on Twitter, demonstrated the platform’s potential for podcast-style content.
I listened to the interview and loved the integration of soundwaves and easy-to-read captions by Solana. Twitter’s ongoing rapid deployment of quality features continues to amaze me.
ALGORITHMIC PREFERENCE AND THE RISE OF SUBSCRIPTIONS
Twitter’s algorithm prioritizes posts with the highest cumulative user-seconds, placing native content at the forefront and favoring it over external links. This makes sense, as you may notice, people rarely like to click on links that take them off the Twitter App.
Author Tim Urban shared what he likes about subscriptions. For Urban, they create a more casual and authentic space reminiscent of texting among friends. Tim (as of 5/24/23) subscribes to a great mix of people! Among them Liv Boree, Mike Solana, Billy Markus, Rainmaker, and A. James McKarthy.
As of now, you can see who others subscribe to, which I find to be very helpful when looking for accounts I might also subscribe to.
THIRST PICS AND VOICE TWEETS
Twitter designer Andrea Conway urged users to share thirst pictures which are delightful gems often found on Instagram, to enhance visual appeal on the platform. Additionally, Conway encouraged the use of voice tweets, and did one of her own to showcase their potential to add a personal touch to interactions. I created a short voice tweet and was pleasantly surprised when Conway herself commented on my voice, saying โyou have the most wonderful voice!!!!โ Maybe we should all voice tweet more?
ENGINEERING UPDATE: PUSHSERVICE AND TWEETYPIE ENHANCEMENTS
Twitter’s engineering team highlights Pushservice as the primary recommendation service for surfacing relevant content through notifications. This service fetches candidates from multiple sources, ranks them based on relevance, and applies filters to deliver the best recommendations to users.
Twitter also focuses on Tweetypie, the core tweet service responsible for handling the reading and writing of tweet data, ensuring a seamless user experience.
HOW WILL TWITTER EXPAND AND IMPROVE?
Twitter is the best place today for an electronic digital town square with maximum free speech, expression, engagement, and the exchange of diverse perspectives.
As the Bird App continues to thrive, it invites talented individuals to join the team and contribute to its success. Twitter’s no-nonsense careers page is simply a textured white background with the careers email address: careers@twitter.com. If you are interested in working for the bird app, that is the email to reach out to.
โโโโโ โโ โโ โ โโโโโ
Article by @GailAlfarATX please credit accordingly. Thank you for reading, sharing & subscribing if you can!ย Image creditย Dedorah. Referenced in this article areย Elon Musk, Twitter Engineering,ย Tim Urban,ย Liv Boree, Mike Solana, Billy Markus, Rainmaker, and A. James McCarthy.ย ย
“A cybernetic collective mind for humanity.” – Elon Musk
In this article, weโll look at some of twitterโs rapid improvement like encrypted conversations and the shift in leadership,
The Everything App: Interaction and Information
Elon Musk, technologist and memelord, said, “On this platform, unlike the one-way street of broadcast, people are able to interact, critique, and refute whatever is said.”
With Elon’s presence on Twitter, the possibilities are endless, and the community knows it. But, to be clear, there’s no special treatment here. Everyone, including Elon Musk, abides by the same rules and “rewards” of content creation.
Enhanced Features: DMs, Emojis, and Beyond
With each app update, Twitter takes a leap forward in enhancing user experiences. In the latest version, you can now reply to any message in a thread, regardless of its order. And who can resist the power FIRE emojis? You can now react with any emoji, giving your conversations an extra dose of fun.
Encrypted direct messages are on the horizon. Your privacy is Twitter’s priority, and even if there were a gun to Elon’s head, he couldn’t peek into your DMs. Stay tuned for voice and video chat capabilities, connecting people worldwide without revealing your phone number.
Twitter Ad Campaigns: aka Comedy Club for Conversion
“Twitter has proven itself to be among the best, if not the best, platform for return on ad spend and conversion campaigns right now.” – Sean Frank, CEO, The Ridge Wallet.
From hilarious brand campaigns to clever marketing strategies, Twitter is the place where ads come alive. Engage, entertain, and convert – that’s the magic formula Twitter offers to businesses, bringing them closer to their target audience and boosting their online presence.
CBC’s Twitter Resurgence
On Apr. 17, The Canadian Broadcasting Co.(CBC) said it would pause activities on Twitter in response to the โgovernment-funded mediaโ label given by the App.
โOur journalism is impartial and independent. To suggest otherwise is untrue. That is why we are pausing our activities on Twitter,โ said CBC.
In just 3 short weeks, CBC was right back on Twitter, and on May 9, they tweeted a story about โthreats to press freedom in Canada and the world.โ CBC commented,
โToday, the CBC will resume some activity on a handful of Twitter accounts, including CBC News, but we will significantly reduce our overall Twitter footprint and continue to assess the platform against our social media strategy,โ
Elon Musk responded with the brokeback mountain meme (added below for humor!)
The Power of Community Notes: Quality Over Quantity
“Contributors’ time is valuable, and best spent reviewing high-quality notes.” In an effort to prioritize valuable feedback, Twitter has made a significant update. The number of notes one can write within 24 hours is now proportional to their track record. The more helpful notes you’ve written, the more you can contribute.
Verified Organizations: Strengthening Trust and Transparency
“Verified organization is one of the most important additions to Twitter.” At the bottom of this article, you’ll find a visual treat – a verified organization badge. Twitter recognizes the significance of trust and transparency, providing a platform for verified organizations to establish their presence and credibility. It’s a seal of authenticity that brings users closer to the content they can trust.
A Change in CEO: The Arrival of Linda Yaccarino
On May 11, Elon Musk announced the appointment of Linda Yaccarino as new CEO of Twitter. With Linda’s expertise in business operations, the stage is set for transforming Twitter into X, the everything app. Elon will shift his focus to product design and new technology, as more users join this ever-evolving platform. Keep an eye out for the upcoming Spaces session, where you can ask anything and participate first-hand in this new partnership between Elon and Linda.
Encrypted Direct Messages: Privacy Redefined
Say goodbye to prying eyes and hello to secure conversations. Twitter is introducing Encrypted Direct Messages v1, offering early access to verified users. This groundbreaking feature prioritizes privacy, ensuring that your messages remain confidential. As the experience improves and expands, all users can look forward to enjoying the benefits of encrypted conversations on Twitter.
Twitter in Turkey: Upholding Freedom of Expression
In recent developments, Twitter found itself navigating a complex situation in Turkey. Negotiations with the Turkish Government revealed that Twitter was the only social media service not fully complying with existing court orders. To maintain availability during the election weekend, Twitter took action based on court orders, impacting four accounts and 409 Tweets. Despite these challenges, Twitter remains committed to freedom of expression and continues to object in court, standing up for users’ rights.
CONCLUSION
As we wrap up this week’s update on Twitter, it’s clear that everything App is continuously improving to meet the needs of its users. From enhanced privacy features like Encrypted Direct Messages to exciting announcements about a new CEO, Twitter is paving the way for a more secure and engaging social media experience.
With Elon Musk’s vision of turning Twitter into X, and the commitment to fostering open conversations, Iโm noticing a sense of optimism and anticipation in the people I interact with. As users, we look forward to upcoming developments, voice and video chat capabilities, and a more streamlined and user-friendly platform, thanks to the amazing Twitter team!
Remember, Verified organization is one of the most important additions to Twitter! (related image at the bottom of this article.)
Keep tweeting, engaging, and spreading positivity on Twitter, and let’s make the most of this incredible platform.
โโโโป ยทโยท โปโโโ
Article by Gail Alfar, please credit accordingly. Courtesy @cb_doge image and meme shared by @elonmusk
Meet Chad, a proud Tesla owner.ย He met Bianca on TwitterDate. Chad and Bianca loved each othersโ humorous, clever Twitter history and exchanged DMs, and enjoyed hours of TwitterVideo Chat late into the night.ย They continued to use Twitter after they were married and had their lovely twins.ย Encryption was what they relied on for all their secure financial and legal communication. X is their everything App.ย
Life is about love, communication and security.ย In this article weโll look at how the everything app improves life for humans and creates a better user experience.ย
SOLVING UNDERPOPULATION AND TWITTER DATING
Twitter may one day engineer TwitterDate, a way for people to meet. I wrote about underpopulation last year in the article Elon Musk: Discussion About Underpopulation and noted that for years, Elon has been correcting the false perception that there are too many people.
In an interview with Johnna Crider last year, Elon said,
“The population decline problem, I think is possibly the biggest risk to civilization or its certainly one of the biggest risks.
First of all, a lot of people think that there are too many humans on the planet and the planet canโt sustain this number of humans.ย This is absolutely not true.ย
We could double the population without any meaningful damage to the environment. You can put all the humans on earth in the city of New York. Thatโs the cross-sectional area of humans. They could literally fit in the city of New York on one floor, you donโt even need high-rises. And if youโre on a plane flight and you look down and you say, โwhat percentage of the time, if I were to drop a ball, would that ball hit a person?โ Basically zero.
Even in a city like LA, where we think, โoh, thatโs a crowded city,โ looking at it from above, whatโs the cross-sectional area of humans relative to the rest of the ground?โ It’s much less than 1%, even in LA.
So if youโre in a big city environment and you see a lot of people you sort of extrapolate that to everywhere, but it’s actually very rare to see a concentration of humans.
Earth is very sparsely populated with humans. Thereโs not enough humans, far from being too many. I think people are still sort of operating on the assumption that the population is growing like crazy when in fact the opposite is occurring. These numbers are easy to look up, theyโre just on the internet. We had the lowest birthrate in recorded history last year.โ – Elon Musk
Underpopulation is a very real problem. Twitter may help solve it by helping people meet others and that may possibly lead to more happy families with kids who can say, โMy mommy met my daddy on Twitter!โ
When Steven Mark Ryan suggested, โWhen Twitter dating app? Might save humanity from extinction, not even joking. Very low hanging fruit.โ Elon Musk replied, โInteresting idea, maybe jobs too.โ
DMs are important for dating and beyond. Twitter is improving DMs.
TWITTER DMs
This is a small change but one that will save you time and help you communicate faster.
Twitter quietly revealed a new feature so you may reply to a DM in a message thread and not just the most recent one. This feature just recently came to iPhones in 2022.
Scroll back in your message thread and find the message youโd like to respond to, hold onto it, and reply. You can also use any emoji reaction (hearts are nice) to that message.
TWITTER VOICE AND VIDEO CHAT
Sometimes text is not enough, and you need to do a voice or video chat.
This feature is coming soon to Twitter. Imagine talking with new friends from around the world, without leaving the Bird App?
Voice capabilities on Twitter would mean it could save many people money because it would function as a phone service.
WHY TWITTER ENCRYPTED MESSAGES ARE BETTER
What do Signal, WhatsApp, and Wire have in common? All three are popular encrypted messaging apps that require you to reveal your phone number, which puts you at a security risk.
Twitter encrypted DMโs are, in my opinion, much more secure. You can talk to people anywhere in the world without revealing your phone number.
In typical fast-moving Elon Musk-style, Version 1.0 of encryption is the first and will improve rapidly.
Elon Musk said,
โThe acid test is that I could not see your DMs even if there was a gun to my head.โ
Everyday, Elon Musk builds a better, stronger, and more trusted team at Twitter.ย The future is exciting for both Twitter users and the many dedicated people who are helping to build a better everything App – X.
Consider Cosmos and Mary L. Bender on the wedding day. They are both active Twitter Users.
Article by Gail Alfar, all rights reserved. Photo credits to Viv on Twitter, Consider Cosmos and Mary L.Bender.ย Gratitude Elon Musk and all the Twitter team.ย Mentioned in this article:ย Johnna Steven Mark and Johnna Crider.
Iโve been documenting Twitterโs great improvements since November 2022 and it’s amazing how much positive progress happens in real-time.ย In this article, Iโll bring you up to date on the last few weeksโ great changes from my perspective!ย
USERS LOVE TWITTER, EVEN THOSE WHO DONโT
This is ironic, I know, and honestly Twitter is a great place to come and interact in a positive way or a complaining way as well. This funny observation was made by Twitter account BillyM2K when he noted how many people love to come to Twitter to complain about it, rather than take to another social site to complain about it.
This elicited a hilarious reaction from Elon Musk, who replied, โlol they should keep doing it all day.โ ย
HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE WILL EARN A LIVING ON TWITTERโฆ SOON!
Can you make a living being on Twitter all day? Not reallyโฆ yet! And you may be able to soon!
Being a creator of any sort on Twitter will take a lot of hard work just like any other successful endeavor. This was emphasized by Elon Musk this week when he commented in a tweet under BillyM2Kโs subscriptions, โGrowing subscribers requires work. No way around it.โ
I believe thousands of people will soon earn a living on Twitter, bringing opportunity to all corners of the world and giving creative people hope and an important sense of value. In the coming months, we will see many creative ways to use subscriptions.
A good friend of mine, Johnna Crider came up with an idea I had not thought of for restaurants. Owners could enable subscriptions allowing people discounts and special deals on dine-in or delivery.
When I think of making a living, something that comes to mind is security and this is another area that Twitter is working on, the enabling of secure messages when needed.
TWITTERโS VISION FOR SECURE MESSAGING
There are many reasons for secure messaging, such as protecting private information and sensitive data. Encryption converts all data into a string of unreadable numbers before sending it over the internet, it protects you from a wide range of cyberattacks. Elon Musk clearly intends to provide this for Twitter users in the future.
In an interview with Tucker Carlson that aired in April, Elon said, โOne of the things that we are about to release is the ability to encrypt your DMโs. Weโre moving to be able to have DMโs be optionally encrypted. You know there are a lot of DM conversations which are just chatting with friends. Elon explained that end-to-end encryption will come out by the end of May and will give users the ability to toggle encryption on or off.โ
โIf you are in a conversation that you think is sensitive, you can just toggle the encryption on and then no one at Twitter can see what youโre talking about. They could put a gun to my head, and I couldnโt tell. Sort of, the gun test. If somebody puts a gun to my head, can I still not see your DMโs? That should be the acid test. And thatโs how it should be.โ
Our conversations should be private if we need them to be.
Blending characteristic humor with the ability to make a strong point, Elon explained to Carlson, that if the US government were to ask him to do something unconstitutional, his reply would be to โsend them a copy of the first amendment, and just say, what part of this are we getting wrong?โย
TWITTERโS ROLE IN ELECTIONS
Lately there has been a lot of talk about possible presidential debates being hosted on Twitter. My thought on that is itโs entirely up to the candidates. I think it is a wonderful idea.
When Carlson asked Elon about Twitterโs role in the upcoming presidential elections, Elon stated, โI think it will play a significant role, not just domestically, but internationally.ย The goal of new Twitter is to be as fair and evenhanded as possible, so not favoring any political ideology, and being fair to all.โ
TRUST AND TWITTER
Trust must be earned, and I believe Twitter is already the best place to get news and information. I think humanity will benefit from discovering, having conversations, and being exposed to different viewpoints in an open and fair way. Elon explains,
โWeโre trying to make Twitter the most trusted place on the Internet, the least untrustworthy place on the Internet. I donโt think anybody should trust the Internet. But maybe we can make Twitter the least untrustworthy like I said, try to get the truth to the people as best we can.โ
CONCLUSION
In December 1992, Marc Sautet started the idea of philosophy cafรฉs in the Place de la Bastille neighborhood of Paris at the Cafรฉ des Phares. Sautet would gather friends at his “cafรฉ philo” each Sunday and have philosophical debates.
I imagine this happening on Twitter and in Twitter Spaces.
Iโll leave you with this quote from President George Washington,
โIf freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.โ
Elon Musk talked in an interview with Tucker Carlson and here are the highlights. This was a short, engaging Part I (the 2nd part will air soon). Itโs significant that Elon considers Tesla and SpaceX much more complex than Twitter. The interview covers many areas. Enjoy!
ADVANCED ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND THE SINGULARITY.
ELON MUSK AGREES HEโS A SPECIESIST.
OpenAI has transitioned from the non-profit Elon founded in order to ethically distribute the power of artificial intelligence, into a closed-source for-profit partnered with Microsoft.
Elon said,
“It is fundamentally profound that the smartest creatures on this earth are humans. It is our defining characteristic.
Now what happens when something vastly smarter than the smartest person comes along in silicon form?
It’s very difficult to predict what will happen in that circumstance. It’s called the singularity.
Regulations are really only put into effect after something terrible has happened.
If that’s the case for AI, and we only put in regulation after something terrible has happened, it may be too late to put the regulation in place.
The AI may be in control at that point.โ
Elon explained that he and Google co-founder Larry Page were once close, and he would stay on Pageโs couch. They would talk about AI late into the night. Elon said he was concerned about the dangers of AI. Page called Elon a “Speciesist” when he said that โWe need to make sure that humanity is okay.โ Elon laughed and said he is one, and asked Page, โWhat are you?โ
โMy perception was that (Page) was not taking AI safety seriously enough. He really wanted a digital superintelligence. Basically, a digital god as soon as possible. He’s made many public statements that the whole goal of Google is artificial general intelligence.” – Elon Musk
TRUTH GPT.
Elon discussed creating an alternative to OpenAI, TruthGPT, because “Open AI” is being trained to be politically correct and to lie to people. Elon explained,
“What’s happening is they are training the AI to lie. It’s bad. To lie and to withhold information. To comment on some things, to not comment on other things.
But not to say what the data actually demands that it say.
In effect, Microsoft has a very strong say and, if not, directly controls OpenAI at this point.
You really have an OpenAI – Microsoft situation, and then Google DeepMind. These are the two heavyweights in this arena.
I’m worried about the fact that it’s being trained to be politically correct, which is another way of saying untruthful things. That’s a bad sign.
Certainly, the path to AI dystopia is to train an AI to be deceptive.”
Elon Musk explained the goal of TruthGPT,
โIโm going to start something which is called TruthGPT or a Maximum Truth Seeking AI that tries to understand the nature of the universe, and I think this might be the best path to safety in the sense that an AI that cares about understanding the universe is unlikely to annihilate humans because we are an interesting part of the universe.โ
TWITTER PURCHASE.
Was it worth it to buy Twitter? Elon explains the Twitter purchase will greatly help ensure the strength of democracy and free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy.
“It remains to be seen as to whether this was financially smart. Currently, it is not. You know we just revalued the company at less than half of the acquisition price.
But some things are priceless.
Lose money or not, that is a secondary issue compared to ensuring the strength of democracy, and free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy.”
NEXT PRESIDENT.
NEW YORK TIMES.
FACEBOOK.
Elon confessed he voted for Biden in 2020, not Trump, and now he just wants a “normal person” with “common sense” to lead America.
He also disclosed what the media has been silent on.
“My understanding is that Zuckerberg spent $400 million in the last election nominally in a get-out-the-vote campaign but fundamentally in support of Democrats. Is that accurate or not accurate? Does that sound unbiased to you?”
As the most followed & interacted man on Twitter, Elon has useful advice on how to use Twitter. He explains, for example, that the New York Timesโ Twitter account (and others) should choose only the top best articles to tweet. Otherwise, small insignificant articles clog people’s timelines, and relevant articles are missed.
COMMUNITY NOTES.
TRUTH.
“We got this Community Notes feature which is great. We put a lot of effort into ensuring that Community Notes does not get gamed or have biases.
It simply cares about what is the most accurate thing. The effect of Community Notes is more powerful than people realize because once people realize they can get Community Noted on Twitter, then they will think more carefully about what they say.
Basically, it’s an encouragement to be more truthful and less deceptive.” – Elon Musk
DMโS WILL BE ENCRYPTED.
Tucker Carlson asked about Governmental Agencies having access to Twitter including Direct messages, “You were shocked to find out that various intel agencies were affecting [Twitter’s] operations?”
Elon replied, “The degree to which various Government Agencies had effectively full access to everything that was going on on Twitter blew my mind.”
Elon added that direct messages will soon be encrypted (as an on/off toggle feature).
TWITTER WAS OVERSTAFFED.
‘GLORIFIED ACTIVIST ORGANIZATION.’
Speaking about cutting staff at Twitter, Elon said,
“Turns out you don’t need all that many people to run Twitter.
If you’re not trying to run some sort of glorified activist organization and you don’t care that much about censorship, then it turns out you can let go of a lot of people.
What has been the product development over time with Twitter? So, years versus product improvement. You know, it’s a pretty flat line.
So what were they doing? It took a year to add an edit button that doesn’t work most of the time. It feels like a comedy situation over here.
The real question is how did it get so absurdly overstaffed?”
CONCLUSION.
I would call this a cautionary interview because Elon does much to explain how dangerous Advanced Artificial Intelligence is. The Good News is that the dire direction of AI today has managed to prompt Elon into moving forward with the creation of TruthGPT. I am confident that humans will one day be very grateful to him for that!
Thanks to Tucker Carlson / FoxNews for Interviewing Elon Musk. You may watch the interview on Fox. This Article is by Gail Alfar, please credit accordingly and consider following and subscribing to my Twitter Account to support citizen writing.See @gailalfaratx on Twitter
1 day closer to AGI, Image credit @SmokeAwayyy on Twitter
I have a lot of great news about Twitter (now legally known as X.corp on paper) to share with you this week. The vibe on Twitter is energizing, happy, and powerful. No other social media has as many positive changes and potential benefits for users on the web.
What is new this week? Subscriptions Have Opened Up to Include Millions of Accounts!
A fabulous program that will benefit many people was revealed around lunchtime on April 13th.
Twitter users with at least 500 followers can, free of charge, apply to offer their followers a way to thank them for their efforts by simply activating โSubscriptionsโ for their account. Previously, a user needed to have 10,000 followers.
My take on this is that there are many accounts that provide valuable information daily and there are appreciative people who may like to Subscribe to them to show support.
Iโll use my account as an example. I use Twitter to share the articles I write for WhatsUpTesla and WhatsUpTwitter. I also use Twitter daily to share my enthusiasm for Tesla, Tesla AI, and Twitter 2.0. The reason I offer Subscriptions on my account is mainly to allow a few of my followers to show appreciation for my efforts and to support this blog (Twitter Subscriptions is the main way I receive any currency to pay for part of the costs of the two publications I operate). Honestly, most of the content I exclusively provide for my followers are creative โThank Youโ tweets and an occasional special article. I am extremely grateful for this support and it means a lot to me.
So if you are active on Twitter as a writer, artist or even a talented shitposter, I encourage you to go to โMonetizationโ in settings and activate Subscriptions. There are a few more details that make this an irresistible opportunity:
Youโll be able to offer your followers both longform text and hours long video.
Twitter will help promote your work.
At any point, you may leave Twitter and take your work with you, thereโs no obligation or contract to stay.
Twitter generously agreed that (until April 2023), all profits will go to you.
That last perk is HUGE for people who are already known creators (artists, writers, YouTubers, etc, etc), as it gives them an opportunity to prosper while being creative in their own way.
I like being able to show appreciation to a few other people I know on Twitter. I like being able to Subscribe to them because it shows I support them. One account I subscribe to, for example, gives all the proceeds to an organization that helps the homeless. The Providence House in Shreveport, Louisiana is a nonprofit that helped my friend Johnna Crider and her mother. When Johnna was only age 9-12 she formed good memories and relationships that last to this day because of the people at Providence House. If you want to subscribe to Johnna youโll also see her beautiful private tweets.
There are also, in my opinion, going to be many people who, may want to Subscribe to someone they really like (examples might be Mr. Beast, and Marques Brownlee) and my hope is that citizen journalists will activate subscriptions.
CONCLUSION
As you can see, there are many ways people are already being creative using the Subscription feature! Here are some accounts I recommend trying out a Twitter subscription to:
Johnna Crider @JohnnaCrider1 (kind & thoughtful tweets with a saxophone flare and money goes to good use)
Elon Musk @elonmusk1 (who can resist?)
Shibetoshi Nakamoto @BillyM2k (best shitposter on Twitter)
Me @gailalfaratx (I had to put this here, haha)
โLife is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.โ โ Ashley Smith (image courtesy @dvorahfr on Twitter)
Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to Whatโs Up Twitter โ April 14, 2023. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author is to support Twitter 2.0 (X.corp) and Elon Musk in both making lives better on Earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization. I write these articles, I will not use AI of any form to write them, they are time-consuming and I appreciate the opportunity to do this.
When Elon Musk accused journalist Matt Taibbi of being an employee of Substack, a publishing platform, and that same platform of stealing data from Twitter, my first reaction was that Elon would not have said any of this without evidence even though Taibbi and Substackโs CEO were both denying this. This led me to examine what happened more carefully.
I also think itโs critical for us to pause a moment and seek the truth. With this in mind, I asked Elon for context for the sake of this article. As you well know, I write articles that support the mission of Twitter 2.0 (X.corp.)
My publication, โWhatsUpTwitterโ was founded November 2022. My goal is to โcreate a publication that strives to communicate accurate information about Twitter and leave the reader feeling hopeful and optimistic about the future.โ
This article is about an insidious attempt to destroy Twitter and sheds light on what really happened
As the first week of April rolled along, I watched what I think is one of the most insidious attacks so far on Twitter 2.0 since Elon Musk bought it. Even more so is the intensity of the sense of betrayal. A journalist who Elon Musk trusted not only stabbed him in the back, (in my opinion), but his actions showed that he wanted Twitter to fail. Again, this is my personal opinion.ย ย ย
Substackโs copycat social media app looks almost identical to Twitter, accompanies their blogging site, and is called โSubstack Notes.โ This is alarming considering Elon Muskโs explanation that the platform was trying to download a large portion of the Twitter database.
โSubstack was trying to download a massive portion of the Twitter database to bootstrap their Twitter clone, so their IP address is obviously untrusted.โ– Elon Musk
Bootstrapping is a technique of loading a program into a computer by means of a few initial instructions which enable the introduction of the rest of the program from an input device, and this is what Substack was doing to create โSubstack Notes,โ so that is why it looks like a rip-off of Twitter because it is!
To further add salt to the open wound, a prominent writer of the Twitter Files announced that he was leaving Twitter for Substack Notes. It later came to light that he, by his own wording, is an employee of Substack.
Matt Taibbi Declines Activating Twitter Subscriptions
It is well-known that Matt Taibbi released many Twitter Files threads. I wrote about that in many previous articles.
With a large following and his notoriety on Twitter for releasing the Twitter Files (a generous gesture from Elon Musk), it seems it would make sense to take advantage of the Twitter subscription feature. I know that I would if it were me. I wrote in February about how writers with subscriptions activated will be able to publish directly on Twitter and get paid for it by adding essays as attachments to tweets.
An important context for this is that Taibbi declined Twitter subscriptions on the pretense that people would say he was an employee of Twitter. Why? And why would Substack choose this time to release their counterfeit version of Twitter? Perhaps because of the gained fame of some of its leading writers with paid subs (on Substack) to raise free awareness through the use of Twitter. And how did they gain in popularity? Certainly, the release of the Twitter Files was a big factor.
In my opinion, it feels like Substack wants to directly compete with and possibly ruin Twitter. And that prominent writer, Matt Taibbi, announced that he planned to leave Twitter and give up the opportunity to dual post his writing on both Twitter and Substack.
Taibbi also declined to activate paid subscriptions on his Twitter account, which currently has 1.8 million followers. He could have many Twitter Subscribers and make a wonderful income as many people are already doing on Twitter.
In a private email, Elon Musk shared some important context with me which made clear that Taibbi declined Twitter subscriptions on the pretense that people would say he was an employee of Twitter. Taibbi said that Twitter didnโt work for him professionally, questioned how he could market his work, and that if he were to post his articles to Twitter and enable subscription service, โpeople would say Iโm essentially an employee of Twitter and both of us would never hear the end of it.โ
Elon pointed out that Twitter isnโt giving Taibbi extra reach or any free advertising and rhetorically asked if the people using YouTube to post videos and earn money creating content were considered employees. He has an excellent point there. YouTube, TikTok, and other social media platforms pay users for content creation although they are not actual employees.
In response to this, Taibbi said โThe optics of that would be really bad journalistic ethics-wise.โ
In my opinion, Taibbi is choosing to support Substack which wants to ruin Twitter. And the excuse of โjournalistic ethicsโ is weak. Taibbi was, in his own words, a Substack employee. Keep reading for proof.
Taibbiโs Work With Substack
Message thread with Elon Musk and Matt Taibbi. Used with permission. Image was also public on Twitter on April 10 for about 1 hour.
In the above message thread, Taibbi himself admits that he was/is employed by Substack.
What wasnโt apparent to most people was that Taibbi was, all along, part of the paid Substack Pro, or Substack Professionals program. Taibbi wrote about this in a newsletter that came to my inbox. Taibbi left out the details of just what his historical association was with Substack, and how much money he had gained and is currently receiving from Substack.
Substack was founded in 2017. In 2018, founders Chris Best, Hamish McKenzie and Matt Taibbi, posted onHacker News,
โWeโre Chris Best and Hamish McKenzie, the founders of Substack (YC W18), and Matt Taibbi, a journalist and author who has written four best-sellers and is a contributing editor to the Rolling Stone. Substack is a tool that makes it simple for a writer to start a paid newsletter โ but weโre also experimenting with other models for online publishing. For instance, Matt is using Substack to serialize a novel called The Business Secrets of Drug Dealing: Adventures of the Unidentified Black Male, which you can see here.
Matt has so far published six chapters in the book. The serial is an experiment for him, too, but even when itโs done he intends to keep publishing his independent work through Substack. We thought it might be interesting to bring Matt into a Hacker News discussion about this model, other things that might be tried, and the state of online publishing generally.โ
My firm belief is that Matt Taibbi was getting paid for and was working for Substack. I believe Elon Musk is correct when he asserted that Matt is employed by Substack.
Conclusion
The truth always has a way of coming to light. We will never truly know the motives of those journalists who took advantage of Elonโs generosity when releasing the Twitter Files. Yes, they performed a valuable service. However, Taibbiโs actions show that he was never on Twitterโs or Elonโs side. Running to the competitor, who he said was his employer, when given the opportunity to monetize his own Twitter account, is, in my opinion, proof of this.
Those who want Elon Musk to fail, in my mind, are fine with humanity being doomed. Perhaps this seems an exaggeration but I fully believe that Elonโs heart is focused on helping all of humanity itself and this is why he bought Twitter.
He purchased it with the solid intention of providing a digital town square for humanity. Tesla and SpaceX are philanthropy and so is Twitter.
Prior to Elon Musk, Twitter was raking in advertising profits based on the amount of likes advertising posts would get, but many of those likes turned out to be bots. Twitterโs ad placement also had a net negative effect on companies as they were placed next to viral posts, and it is now widely known that some of those โviral postsโ contained CSAM (child sexual abuse material).
As Twitter, now officially X.corp, moves forward with the mission, it is clear that Substack Notes wonโt be able to compete and their sad attempt to kill Twitter will one day be remembered only as a small glitch.
Austin, Congress Street, and the Capitol. Image Courtesy Shane Ware.
Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to Whatโs Up Twitter โ April 11, 2023. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author is to support Twitter 2.0 (X.corp) and Elon Musk in both making lives better on Earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization. I write these articles, I will not use AI of any form to write them, they are time-consuming and I appreciate the opportunity to do this.
Elon Musk tweets a meme about Dogecoin and Twitter
Welcome back to my weekly blog! All my articles seek to document the ongoing story of how Elon Musk is transforming Twitter for the better. There were a lot of exciting changes this past week and Iโll try to summarize all of them for you!
Twitter Verified Organizations went Global
The Recommendation Algorithm AND Community Notes are open-source on GitHub
Elon Musk talked live on Twitter Spaces (transcript)
Dogecoin Logo Appears on Twitter! (update 4/7/23 doge logo disappeared)
Twitter sign Becomes Titter!
“If Twitter can be the least imperfect place to find the truth on the internet, then I will consider that we have done a good job.” โ Elon Musk
Twitter Verified Organizations became available globally
Twitter Verified Organizations are how organizations and their affiliates can distinguish themselves on Twitter. Twitter allows the Verified Organization to fully control vetting and verifying accounts theyโre affiliated with.
To connect people with accounts affiliated with the organization, each account features an affiliate badge on its profile with the organizationโs logo. It is easy to find these accounts because they are featured on the organizationโs Twitter profile.
Twitterโs beta program included sports teams, news organizations, financial firms, Fortune 500 companies, and nonprofits. Now Verified Organizations is rolling out globally to all interested businesses, nonprofits, governments, and multilateral organizations. But there was one organization that loudly protested Twitter’s new offer, that was the New York Times.
New York Times
The New York Times decided to forgo any type of verification leading to dramatic news stories across the internet and funny comments from Elon Musk. The New York Times drama only served as free advertising for Twitterโs new Verified Organization program.
Twitter seeks to gain the trust of the people, and one way to do that is to open-source codes.
GitHub and Twitter Transparency
Now there are two source codes available to all on GitHub!
The goal of our open source endeavor is to provide full transparency to you, our users, about how our systems work.
Weโve released the code powering our recommendations that you can view here (and here) to understand our algorithm in greater detail, and we are also working on several features to provide you greater transparency within our app.
Some of the new developments we have planned include:
- A better Twitter analytics platform for creators with more information on reach and engagement
- Greater transparency into any safety labels applied to your Tweets or account
- Greater visibility into why Tweets appear on your timeline
With so many changes happening, Elon Musk spoke on a LIVE Twitter space on April 1st.
Live Conversation with Elon Musk on Twitter Spaces
April Fool’s Day brought many pranks and also a delightful talk with Elon Musk LIVE on Twitter Spaces!
Here is a transcript of the highlights of the conversation:
โWeโll be adding in the ability to do voice DM. Through DMs, youโll be able to speak to someone through a voice chat or a video chat. So if youโve got a DM group and you want to turn that into private Spaces or an audio chat or a video chat, you can do so. I think it would be kind of cool to have a conversation with someone else without having to give away your phone number. Thereโs some pretty insightful people at Twitter talking about Twitter being like โTrustโ as a service and really that is kind of what weโre going for. Itโs to try to be the most trusted place on the internet in a world where so many people and entities and governments are trying to influence you and in a lot of cases try to trick you with information that isnโt true. Where can you go that is the most trusted, or where is the information you can actually count on? Which is not to say that Twitter is perfect, but if Twitter can be the least imperfect place to find the truth on the internet, then I will consider that we have done a good job.” – Elon Musk
Dogecoin Logo Appears on Twitter!
Dogecoin logo appears on Twitter. Image courtesy @cb_doge on Twitter
On April 3, people started noticing a Dogecoin logo had replaced the blue bird logo in the top sidebar area of Twitter (and it appears in other places too).ย Elon Musk has always liked Dogecoin, “the peopleโs currency.”ย He has mentioned it is more fun because it has dogs and memes.ย (update 4/7/23 the sneaky little doge disappeared and was replaced with the twitter bird logo)
The playful and sly-looking character of the Shiba Inu dog is delightful to many people, especially to children! Artists and fans of Dogecoin (including Elon Musk) reacted with joy and celebrated with creating memes. Iโm sharing a few examples below! Elon is always ready for humor, and the next day he pulled another prank!
Twitter sign Becomes Titter
On March 5, an image was shared by @softwarejameson on Twitter. A photo (see below) showing the Official Twitter HQ Building was shared and the โWโ in the sign was covered up! This was verified by other videos.
Fans all over the internet began to meme and comment on how Elon was making good on a promise last year when he asked in a survey, โDelete the w in twitter?โ
Fans create AI Art for Twitter and Dogecoin
Doge and Twitter are perfect for each other. Image Courtesy @itsALLrisky One of the best collabs all year, Twitter and Doge. Twitter Bird over X. Unknown artist.Image Twitter HQ with the W taken out. Courtesy @softwarejameson on Twitter
Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to Whatโs Up Twitter โ April 6, 2023. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author is to support Twitter 2.0 and Elon Musk in both making lives better on earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization. I write these articles, I will not use AI of any form to write them, they are time-consuming and I appreciate the opportunity to do this.
One late starry evening a few months ago I watched in fascinating horror as a not-so-advanced bot swarm filled my Twitter account and others with hundreds of “follows” from fake created accounts. We know this happens to many accounts and it is a service that can be bought. Fake accounts still plague my Twitter account and with almost every tweet I do there is an instant message under it that directs people toward a scam. This is nothing compared to what’s next.
Advanced AI Bot Swarms
Imagine the same scenario happening to millions of accounts only the bots are multiplied and equipped with Advanced Artificial Intelligence? It is critical to stop this but not easy. Elon Musk warned us of this on the evening of March 27th while AI continues the make unchecked rapid advances into daily life.
“Starting April 15th, only verified accounts will be eligible to be in For You recommendations.
The is the only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over.
It is otherwise a hopeless losing battle.
Voting in polls will require verification for same reason.
That said, itโs ok to have verified bot accounts if they follow terms of service & donโt impersonate a human.” Elon Musk
As a follow-up, Elon Musk added, “Forgot to mention that accounts you follow directly will also be in For You, since you have explicitly asked for them.”
When Future of Life Institute collaborated to create an Open Letter to protect humanity, Elon Musk joined other notable people in signing.
Elon Musk, tech leaders, and university professors sign Open Letter calling for an AI Summer with a pause on advanced AI systems
An Open Letter stating “AI systems with human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity, as shown by extensive research and acknowledged by top AI labs.” was signed by tech leaders to raise awareness among the general population as to the huge risks of advanced artificial intelligence.
Here are a few of the highlights of the Open Letter and the recommendations:
Advanced AI could represent a profound change in the history of life on Earth, and should be planned for and managed with commensurate care and resources.
Recent months have seen AI labs locked in an out-of-control race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds that no one โ not even their creators โ can understand, predict, or reliably control.
Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable.
ACTION: We call on all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4.
Use this pause to jointly develop and implement a set of shared safety protocols for advanced AI design and development that are rigorously audited and overseen by independent outside experts.
AI research and development should be refocused on making today’s powerful, state-of-the-art systems more accurate, safe, interpretable, transparent, robust, aligned, trustworthy, and loyal.
Work with policymakers to dramatically accelerate development of robust AI governance systems.
Society has hit pause on other technologies with potentially catastrophic effects on society. We can do so here. Let’s enjoy a long AI summer, not rush unprepared into a fall.
The intense level of stress in running Twitter is evident when Elon Musk explained Twitter’s financial situation on March 25th (2023), tweeting, “Yeah, generally correct. Titter was trending to lose ~$3B/year (revenue drop of ~$1.5B + debt servicing of ~$1.5B) and had $1B in cash, so only 4 months of money. Extremely dire situation. Now that advertisers are returning, it looks like we will break even in Q2.”
Sometimes the simple sweetness of good food relieves stress and in the early afternoon of March 28th, Elon Musk tweeted that he eats a donut every morning. Although this was in response to a post from Peter Diamandis stating “Sugar is poison,” Elon makes a wonderful point! Sugar is not poison.
I may just have a sweet Austin, Texas donut and cup of coffee while I read through Matt Taibbi’s compilation of the Twitter Files!
Twitter Files
For an updated capsule summary of all Twitter Files threads to date, with links and an expanded glossary, Matt Taibbi created a nice compilation of one-paragraph summaries of all the Twitter File threads by every reporter with links and notes on key revelations.
To access this click the link here for Racket News.
My thoughts
Artificial Intelligence will attempt to take over the digital world and likely succeed. The innocent days of the internet are over and it will be hard if not impossible to distinguish between what is truly human and AI. Sadly there will be casualties along the way.
We can prevail and continue to persist in awareness, promote the principles we read in the Open Letter, “Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter,” and be sure not to cancel the delight of sweet donuts!
Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to Whatโs Up Twitter โ March 30, 2023. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author is to support Twitter 2.0 and Elon Musk in both making lives better on earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization. I write these articles, I will not use AI of any form to write them, they are time-consuming and I appreciate the opportunity to do this.
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Humor is one of the sweet things in life that shouldn’t be taken for granted. In late October 2022, after acquiring Twitter, Elon Musk tweeted “Comedy is now legal on Twitter.” The Twitter Press Department is now an automated response email that sends anyone back an instant poo poo emoji. You may try it for yourself at press@twitter.com
In a kind gesture to independent writers who have distanced themselves from mainstream media and their constant quest for clickbait, Elon Musk explained he would be, “Increasing long form to 10k characters soon, along with simple formatting tools, and making it much easier for writers to charge subscription fees for premium content.”
3. Helpful Community Notes arrives on scene
Apparently, I am not the only person who took joy in reading tweets with added helpful context. Within 24 hours of the announcement, the Twitter account for Helpful Community Notes went from almost no followers to 40K followers. The account description says, “Keep up-to-date with the Community Notes people are finding helpful.”
From deep fake photos of Trump in jail, corrections on historical dates to satire that could be misinterpreted and more – Helpful Community Notes fast became an addicting account to follow that shows the value of healthy skepticism.
UPDATE (4/5/2023) Elon Musk tweeted that, “Critically, Community Notes applies equally to every account on this platform without exception, including world leaders & our biggest advertisers.”
4. Twitter Will Avoid Being a Hellscape like Facebook, here’s how…
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Reddit are where many people hang out daily. Bots and trolls are common on most social media and are hard to control and Elon Musk was never fearful of storming into the battle to eliminate them. He explained this on March 18, 2023:
“Any true human can get verified. Itโs only $7/month if bought annually via web (without App Store 30% premium).
Yes, non-advertising revenue sources are important, so that this platform is not overly reliant on the whims of corporate America, but having a large number of verified accounts will also clean up the system.
A single desktop computer can create thousands of fake accounts for <1/10th of a penny and the latest AI can get past any โare you human?โ checks.
The choices are either move to a verified system or social media becomes a bot/troll hellscape like FB.”
Elon Musk
5. “You are influential and smart!” – Elon Musk
Few people at Twitter in the days prior to Elon Musk’s ownership would have imagined Twitter usage would grow under Elon Musk’s ownership but it did.
My opinion is that the niche ideology of the San Francisco Bay area contributed to a narrow, weak platform heading rapidly into bankruptcy with out-of-control expenses and high salaries. Wine flowed freely from the taps for those that managed to saunter into work while most pretended to work from home, avoiding the office entirely. Just in case any former Twitter employees read this, know that I would be right there with you. The old Twitter sounds like it was a sweet place to work (I am guilty of being more of a slacker at times than you, typical Austin-style), and it was a business model that made profit with questionable placement of ads so it was not sustainable and it did not promote free speech. Enter, Elon Musk. Things changed for the better.
“This platform is growing fast! Just exceeded 8 billion user-minutes per day โฆ of the most influential, smartest people on Earth ; )” Elon Musk
Deep in most people’s psyches, there’s a desire to be known as smart and influential. If you are told you are smart and influential you’ll likely feel pretty good. Elon Musk was raised by Maye Musk, known to be a positive, affirming person. It is not surprising that Elon would reflect this kindness in his treatment of others, both on and off Twitter. Both times I met Elon Musk in person, he radiated kindness. Both on and off Twitter, he can make you feel validated as a person. Freedom of speech and removal of suppression is important on Elon Musk’s Twitter. A not-so-calm sense of urgency permeates the air around Elon Musk. This would surely include the important task of getting Twitter up to speed.
6. There are two sides to every coin
Twitter user Bill Ackman said, “How about a feature that serves you the most-liked tweets that take the opposite side of the argument that you just viewed? We should always want to know the best case against a view we have come to believe. The truth is often revealed when the best advocates for opposing points of view are heard.” Elon Musk replied, “Good idea.”
Unencumbered by a sluggish Board of Directors, Twitter began evolving into what the people want in real-time from the beginning of Elon Musk’s ownership. Speed is the name of the game.
7. “You get what you pay for” – Elon Musk
Viral Tweets are usually laden with replies. How they are viewed varies and on March 18, Elon Musk announced,
In the coming weeks, Twitter will prioritize replies by:
1. People you follow
2. Verified accounts
3. Unverified accounts
Verified accounts are 1000X harder to game by bot & troll armies. There is great wisdom to the old saying: โYou get what you pay for.โ
8. Hate speech on Twitter is lower than expected
Elon Musk endeavored to identify hate speech and attack it head-on. He hired experts at Sprinklr to quantify hate speech.
Sprinklr’s model scored slur Tweets on โtoxicity,โ and the likelihood that they constituted hate speech.
Sprinklr defines hate speech more narrowly by evaluating slurs in the nuanced context of their use. The old version of Twitter took a broader view of the potential toxicity of slur usage. The new Twitter is improved under Elon Musk.
Twitter safety explained, “Our focal metric is hate speech impressions, not the number of Tweets containing slurs. Most slur usage is not hate speech, but when it is, we work to reduce its reach. Sprinklrโs analysis found that hate speech receives 67% fewer impressions per Tweet than non-toxic slur Tweets.”
Elon Musk explained,
“This is a critical distinction. Itโs obviously trivial for a single person to create 10k bot accounts on one computer, each of which is tweeting slurs that are written to avoid text string detection.
What matters is whether those tweets are actually shown to real users.” Elon Musk
Conclusion
Can Twitter move ahead any faster than under the ownership of Elon Musk? Probably not. Here’s this week’s updates.
The Twitter Press Department is an automated response email that sends anyone back an instant poo poo emoji
Writers will soon enjoy publishing on Twitter up to 10k characters soon, along with simple formatting tools so entire articles can be published on Twitter
Helpful Community Notes made a debut this week. There’s no better way to keep up to date with Community Notes that people find helpful
Removing bots/trolls is possible with Twitter’s paid verified system and without that feature, it could drift toward becoming a bot/troll hellscape like FB
Twitter usage is growing, exceeding 8 billion user-minutes per day as of March 2023
Actual impressions of tweets containing defined hate speech receive 67% fewer impressions. Elon Musk explained that though these tweets may exist, they are rarely shown to users.
A view of Twitter HQ as owned by Elon Musk. The setting March sun bathes the building.
Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to Whatโs Up Twitter โ March 22, 2023. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author is to support Twitter 2.0 and Elon Musk in both making lives better on earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization.
Your support is appreciated! Contribute to Gail’s “Coffee Fund”
Welcome back for this weekโs Twitter roundup. Hereโs the main highlights of the past week!
MONETIZATION BY CONTENT CREATORS IS A MAJOR PRIORITY
Elon Musk cares about content creators on Twitter and has now shared that a major priority is to allow content creators to monetize their work on Twitter in order to make a living and prosper. On March 6 he tweeted,
โIt is a major priority to enable monetization by content creators! People need to make a living and prosper from their work. We need to make it possible to upload the content in the first place. Thatโs getting there.โ Elon Musk
COMMUNITY NOTES. CONTEXT ON TWEETS, BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE
When a journalist acknowledged that his tweet was dishonest but refused to fix it, Community Notes did it for him. To understand the Community Note concept, Twitter released a video on March 9 explaining it and several days later invited people to sign up to join.
Hereโs a breakdown of the video explaining Community Notes, Context on Tweets, by the people, for the people:
โHow does Community Notes avoid one-sided bias? Pile-ins? Brigading? Manipulation? abuse? Community Notes are rated by contributors of multiple perspectives, and only notes that are widely found helpful are shown on Tweets. So one group alone canโt determine what notes get shown. And pile-ons arenโt effective. This helps ensure that notes are effective to a wide range of people. To make it clear how all of this works, Community Notesโ algorithm is open-source and all data is public.”
Twitter warmly invited everyone to sign up to become a Community Notes contributor
Community Notes can serve to add context to advertising, even increasing financial literacy, as in this note for an ad by QuickenCompare.
When the ad stated โDonโt borrow from the bank. Borrow from yourself,โ Community Notes stepped in to add context, โHome Equity Lines of Credit do not allow someone to borrow from โthemselvesโ rather than a bank. The money is loaned from a bank, with home equity as collateral for a loan.โ
TWITTER BLUE GOING GLOBAL
Twitter Blue is now available in at least 50 countries, making people happy in the United States, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Brazil, Indonesia, India, Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Netherlands, Poland, Ireland, Belgium, Sweden, Romania, Czech Republic, Finland, Denmark, Greece, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Slovakia, Latvia, Slovenia, Estonia, Croatia, Luxembourg, Malta, Cyprus, Turkey, Pakistan, Mexico, Thailand, Philippines, South Africa, Argentina, South Korea, Egypt, Nigeria and Malaysia.
TWITTER FILES EXPOSED THE CENSORSHIP INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
One Twitter user, Jim Hall, commented on the Twitter files when Matt Taibbi or Michael Shellenberger (who helped release the files) appeared before congress, saying โI donโt know about you all but Iโm glad Matthew Taibbi and Elon Musk took up the challenge of sharing this data. Those who stick their heads in the ground and say the Twitter Files are a nothing burger are oblivious and seem to wish to stay that way. The New York Times has not written one word about the Matt Taibbi or Michael Shellenberger hearing at which Democrat members of congress impugned their integrity and tried to intimidate Taibbi into revealing his sources.โ
Matthew Taibbi made an opening statement on the Twitter Files to members of congress about the censorship industrial complex: “Twitter, Facebook, Google, and other companies developed a formal system for taking in moderation requests from every corner of government, from the FBI, DHS, HHS, DOD, the Global Engagement Center at State, even the CIA. For every government agency scanning Twitter, there were perhaps twenty quasi-private entities doing the same thing.”
COST TO ACCESS TWITTERโS API
On March 10, Twitterโs Developer Platform began to offer Enterprise Packages in small, medium and large. Shown is the benefits of a small package, costing only $42,000 a month. For the other packages, click here.
Image courtesy Twitter, Inc. RealTime PowerTrack API Small Package Twitter
TWITTER MAY BECOME THE BIGGEST FINANCIAL INSTITUTION IN THE WORLD
Elon Musk also spoke at the Morgan Stanley TMT 2023 conference in San Francisco on March 7, about Twitter becoming a financial institution, and one day it could be a viable alternative to banks, Venmo, Paypal, etc. You may read the entire talk here, โElon Muskโs Talk at Morgan Stanley TMT 2023 on Twitter, X.com, Tesla and Starship.โ
โYou want to be able to send money easily on Twitter to another account with one click, & also earn interest on the money. I think itโs possible for Twitter to become the biggest financial institution in the worldโ Elon Musk
CONCLUSION
Twitter and its initiatives are truly inspiring. With Community Notes, we are given the opportunity to add context and shift the course of discussion or contribute to tweets in a way that is thoughtful and respectful. It’s great that Twitter Blue is extending its reach internationally making it available in 50 countries and soon plans to promote monetization for content creators. At the end of the day it’s our responsibility to help ensure safe and civil participation regardless if itโs on or offline. Let’s do this by being informed users of this platform and making sure we create an inclusive space that encourages honest contribution without fear of personal attack or manipulation. Use Twitter more often. Use Community Notes. Work collectively so we can all benefit from it!
Do you love reading about the history of Twitter? See more here…
Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to Whatโs Up Twitter โ March 14, 2023. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author is to support Twitter 2.0 and Elon Musk in both making lives better on earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization.
Twitter was the big topic at Morgan Stanley’s TMT Conference this last week and Elon Musk talked for about 45 minutes. This article captures his insanely inspiring and at times humorous talk. My favorite part of his talk was about Twitter advertising and how he plans to make it a resounding success! Don’t miss this amazing talk!
Highlights:
Mission of Twitter
News happens in real-time on Twitter
Should Twitter have a public relations department?
GOOD INFO! Why advertising on Twitter has incredible potentialย
Community Notes: combatting misinformation across a broad spectrum and the rigorous pursuit of truth
Proactively reducing child exploitation on Twitter
Advertisers on Twitter enjoy brand safety
A healthy national dialogue on Twitter
Freedom of speech: hearing what you don’t want to hear
Twitter wonโt always be a fractal rube goldberg machine
Twitterโs cash flow
MUST READ! The incredible value of advertising on Twitter and how Elon Musk will make sure it happens
The everything app is going to be x.com
Image Courtesy Twitter, Inc.
MISSION OF TWITTER IN THE WORDS OF ELON MUSK
Morgan Stanley: How would you describe the mission of Twitter 2.0 under your ownership?
Elon Musk: The goal is to have Twitter be the best source of truth, the most timely and accurate source of truth, even if the truth is something we don’t want to hear or unpleasant or whatever but have it be timely and accurate and really where you can understand what’s going on.
And not just, ‘is something true or not?’ but what is the narrative?
The thing that I think most people probably don’t appreciate is that the media controls the narrative. So there are many things that could be talked about in the world but only a few things can fit on the front page.
But Twitter doesn’t have a limitation like that, so the public can control the narrative and the public can inform themselves as to what the narrative should be. That’s really a big deal. It’s a forum for citizen journalism or a forum for the public to get together and communicate in a way that was never possible before, so you can really know what’s going on.
I think that it’s really going to be essential for a functioning democracy. What is the bedrock of a functioning democracy? It has to be free speech and a level playing field.
That’s why it’s the First Amendment. It was the first thing they did, it was like, ‘we’ve got to make sure freedom of speech’ and why did they do that? It’s because where they came from there wasn’t freedom of speech, and once you lose freedom of speech you don’t get it back.
That’s why we must protect it at all costs.
MS: (paraphrased) Where are you on the core principles of Twitter: Authentic, informative, entertaining, accurate, brand safe and democratic?
Elon Musk: I think some of these are a little at odds, but brand safe I think really means like ‘where advertising is displayed’ or the advertiser gets to choose what material is near that advertising.
If its some sort of… like a train accident or a war scene, then probably a family-friendly brand is not going to want to advertise right next to that.
Or it can’t be like, ‘here’s a bleak war scene, would you like to buy a hamburger?’ it would be like, awkward, you know? So that’s understandable you want to put advertising next to content where it makes sense. But the content in general needs to be authentic and informative even if it is controversial or jarring. I think people need to be able to choose, to some degree, what content they want to see.
Of course on Twitter you can. But really we want it to be the fundamental place you go to, to learn what’s going on and get the real story. The truth, the whole truth and it’s going to be more than, hahaha, I’d like to say nothing but the truth but that’s hard, (laughter) there’s going to be a lot of BS there too. There are going to be lies, for sure, but you want to have the truth and you want to bubble up the truth and be able to sort of sort out… you really want truth with the least amount of error.
TWITTER IS WHERE THE NEWS HAPPENS
MS: How can the media catch up? If they’re on Twitter they can be seeing these tweets and posting them. If they’re not on Twitter is there no way to catch up? Like how does the traditional media and citizen journalism and 50,000 tweets on an important subject, how do those intersect and how does the media catch up.
Elon Musk: Well, I’m sure many of you use Twitter.
Everything on Twitter is happening in real-time.
So if you contrast that to what’s happening in a newspaper, they have to learn the information, propose an article to their editor, get it approved, write the article, get it edited, figure out which day it’s going to get published on, and so the thing that happened is being reported on 3-4 days, sometimes a week late. And if it happens on a weekend then it’s at least 3 days.
You know ChatGPT was huge news for several days on Twitter before there were any news articles about it in major publications.
So when thinking about investing in things, you want to have information that is as timely and accurate as possible, there’s no better source than Twitter for that.
SHOULD TWITTER HAVE A PR DEPT?
MS: Paul Graham has said how important accuracy is on Twitter he said you should be ‘default skeptical’ of any news story about Twitter and assume its default wrong because not only some journalists have an agenda but the source has an agenda and it’s so easy to go through the chain of inaccuracy or outright falsehood. Is he right about this and how can accuracy about Twitter and about you be conducted by the traditional media if at all? Would a PR department help, which you famously don’t have?
Elon Musk: No, PR departments… no the right name for PR is propaganda. Maybe we should have a VP of propaganda, I think that’s more honest, and also a VP of witchcraft. (laughter) Those would be two great ones.
If you pick up any given newspaper and read the whole thing and say, ‘how many of those stories are positive about anything at all?’ Almost none.
So if something is newsworthy it is going to have a negative slant, whether it is positive or not. There’s like something in journalism that, they’ve been trained to basically never write a positive story about anything. Once and a while you see a puff piece but it’s rare.
So anything that’s newsworthy will get written about, anything that’s written about will go through a negativity lense and so you therefore have a bizarrely negative view of the world if you draw your information from newspapers. This is simply a fact.
THE SMARTEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD USE TWITTER, POTENTIAL FOR AD REVENUE IS HUGE
Elon Musk: So on Twitter, you can get a much more balanced positive-negative situation, it doesn’t have that bias quite as much. There’s probably still a little bit of negativity bias but much less so. I’m not sure what the legacy media does, I mean at this point, really.
Twitter is, by the way, the #1 news app in the world. So in terms of what people download for news, it’s #1. There are 500M active users. 250M daily users of which I’d say there are probably 180M significant daily users, where it’s a meaningful amount of time.
The average amount of time people spend on Twitter of that 250M is about 1/2 an hour or so. The thing I think that is most interesting is about 120M to 130M hours of human attention per day on Twitter, every single day on average. I think it comes to an interesting point which is, it’s startling how poorly monetized that is because you have to say, how valuable is that attention? 130M hours of human attention per day, of people that read.
So these are generally the smartest people in the world, the most influential people in the world, and you have 130M hours of their time per day, that’s a lot! Currently, Twitter makes about 5 or 6 cents per hour of that time. I think this is poorly monetized (laughter).
MS: Paul Graham’s 1/2 hour of attention is worth more than that, haha!
Elon Musk: Like, if I’m spending 2 hours a day on Twitter, whatever ads are coming through are getting my, or yours or everyone in the room’s attention, your time is incredibly valuable.
The thing is, we need to actually serve ads that are relevant and useful and I think as we do that we can probably at least get it like 15 cents an hour or 20 cents an hour, a quarter? I think the actual potential here for Twitter revenue is gigantic.
And it’s going to be a win-win situation which is if you are served advertising that you find timely and relevant with products and services that are useful to you, that’s good for you and good for the advertiser. Advertising in the limit of relevance is content.
COMMUNITY NOTES: COMBATTING MISINFORMATION ACROSS A BROAD SPECTRUM
Morgan Stanley shared how Community Notes, a fact-checking by the power of the people on Twitter can be used to combat misinformation in 6 examples:
Correcting government misstatements
Correcting candidate misstatements
Adding context
Debunking conspiracy theories
Correcting misstatements about companies
COMMUNITY NOTES AND THE RIGOROUS PURSUIT OF TRUTH
Morgan Stanley asked how Community Notes can be used without being hijacked by either side of an issue or political spectrum.
Elon Musk: There’s a White Paper on Community Notes that I recommend reading, in fact, I’ll tweet it out so that people can have easy access to it because it’s really quite a clever idea. Think of it like page rank for pages as applied to people, which is that as people build credibility in how they review notes, they build up enough credibility to actually write notes.
Those notes are then rated by others, and depending upon the credibility of the people rating your notes, your credibility score gets affected. In order to be a notes contributor, you have to be a verified person. And it takes a while to get there; when you just start out, you will start off with no credibility score.
We actively look at any attempts to game the system and shut them down. If they’re determined to be not real people or if they seem to be brigading because there are deliberate attempts to manipulate Community Notes. We also make the Community Notes source code open and available, so you can basically see everything.
You can see exactly how Community Notes is calculating things, and what changes are made to Community Notes and we’ll keep iterating and the goal is to have truth with the least amount of error.
There’s always like, ‘What is truth?’ Does someone really aspire to the truth? If they really aspire to the truth they must acknowledge that there is some probability that what they think is untrue.
If somebody thinks that what they say is true with 100% probability, there’s a 100% probability they are lying. Truth must acknowledge error, where you aim to minimize the error over time, that’s what Community Notes is. I think also, once someone gets Community Noted, they think twice about being dissected in the future. You start getting noted a few times, and you think ‘Uh, oh!’
The important thing is that anyone can be noted, including me, and in fact, I wanted to make a note of being noted. The point is that if I can be noted, anyone can be noted, including advertisers. We’ve had a few cases where the advertising wasn’t accurate and it got noted.
This, I think will be very helpful in truth in advertising. The goal is rigorous pursuit of the truth, aspirationally the whole truth, and the least amount of untruth.
TWITTER IS DOWN > 50% LESS HATE SPEECH THAN PRE-ACQUISITION
PROACTIVELY REDUCING CSE ON TWITTER
Elon Musk: Yeah, I’ve repeatedly said to the trust and safety team at Twitter that the #1 priority, which will always be the #1 priority no matter what, is ensuring that children are safe on Twitter, that there’s no child exploitation. So that is #1 priority always and forever.
The #1 priority, which will always be the #1 priority no matter what, is ensuring that children are safe on Twitter, that there’s no child exploitation. So that is #1 priority always and forever. Elon Musk
Elon Musk: What I’ve been told is that we’ve done more to eliminate [CSE material] on Twitter in the last four months than what has been done in the last ten years. It will continue to be our number one priority. A 100-fold reduction in CSE search patterns is pretty gigantic to say the least. It’s the absolute number one priority.
HOW ELON MUSK WILL MAKE ADVERTISING ON TWITTER A SUCCESS
Elon Musk: With respect to brand safety, it really depends a lot on the brand.
By the way, Disney is a major advertiser on Twitter worldwide. Apple is one of our biggest advertisers. But Disney of course does not want to have one of their ads next to things that aren’t appropriate for a family audience.
But there are other products that are kind of more R-rated if you will, so they’re more comfortable with advertising being in the equivalent of like a R-rated movie or something like that. So brand safety depends on what brand you’re talking about. Is it a family brand or a less family brand?
Advertisers can actually adjust what content they are comfortable having their advertising appear next to. The same is true on TV. The advertising that you’ll see at 7 pm is different than the advertising that you’ll see at midnight. We have the same functionality on Twitter, so it’s truly up to the advertiser where they want to put their content.
But I think by far the most important thing is if the advertising is effective. That it is relevant and that it moves the needle for a company. Advertising relevance is the most gigantic thing. This is going to sound totally bizarre but Twitter did not consider relevance in advertising until 3 months ago. In fact if you use Twitter for a long time, you should ask ‘how many products have you bought off Twitter?’ Probably zero! (laughter) Judging by the laughter, probably zero. And your time is incredibly valuable.
MS: Flamethrower, no one bought a flamethrower?
Elon Musk: Haha, its possible that they might have bought things from content-based tweets because the content that’s recommended is reasonably relevant but the advertising has not been.
So as we shift towards advertising being relevant and timely, as I said, advertising that is relevant and timely is content. The time of 130M person-hours of the smartest people on earth is insanely valuable. Historically, with advertising being mostly irrelevant, we’ve been wasting peoples’ time and that’s not good. Going forward, Twitter will have very relevant and useful advertising.
There will be a massive increase in revenue because it is now useful. So I’m very optimistic about the future. It’s been a very difficult 4 months, but I’m optimistic about the future.
TWITTER AS A DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM FOR ALL
Elon Musk: I think the objective reality for anyone looking at Twitter for a long time was that Twitter had a massive thumb on the scale on the left side. Twitter would ban and suspend accounts on the right 10 times more than on the left.
This is naturally what you would expect, frankly, because we are in San Francisco, which is deep deep blue. So, Twitter was controlled by the far left.
So the natural thing that would happen then was the suppression of moderates, not just suppression of the right but even suppression of moderate voices.
But that’s not conducive to a healthy national dialogue. In order to have a healthy national dialogue, you have to represent the whole country, and you have to represent everyone in other countries too. That’s the only way to have a Town Square.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS WHEN YOU HEAR WHAT YOU DON’T WANT TO HEAR
Elon Musk: Yeah, there were disproportionately more accounts unsuspended and un-shadowbanned on the right because Twitter had a huge thumb on the scale in favor of the left.
But if you say, ‘Have we been suspending accounts on the left? Have we been shadowbanning accounts on the left? No, no we haven’t.’ No, because exactly what I said we were doing which is to make it an even playing field and you know something is Freedom of Speech when you’re hearing speech from someone you don’t like and you don’t like what they’re saying. Otherwise its not free speech.
And if you don’t have that ability, then sooner or later that suppression of speech is going to be turned on you. It is a good sign if you’re seeing people you don’t like say things you don’t like.
That is a good sign, not a bad sign… provided you can say your piece too! I think this is fundamental. The reason I did the Twitter acquisition was not because I thought this would be some lucrative goldmine, and in fact, it has been arduous and difficult with being dumped on [by mainstream media] every day.
That’s not the most fun thing in the world. But if we do not have a strong foundation of free speech, I fear for the future of our civilization. We must have this. That’s why I did it.
“if we do not have a strong foundation of free speech, I fear for the future of our civilization. We must have this. That’s why I did it.” Elon Musk
FIXING THE FRACTAL RUBE GOLDBERG MACHINE
Elon Musk: The codebase is like a Rube Goldberg Machine and when you zoom in on one part of the Rube Goldberg Machine there’s another Rube Goldberg Machine and then there’s another one!
That’s what I mean by the fractal. As you zoom in there’s another fractal and another fractal and a fractal Rube Goldberg Machine. It’s quite difficult to keep this thing running and then also difficult to advance the product because it is really overly complex. We’ll make what appears to be a small change somewhere that then causes massive disruption. For example, yesterday we made what we thought was a small change, we want to be in full disclosure including gruesome details.
There was what was supposed to be a small change to 1% of the Twitter user base ended up being a catastrophic event to 100% of the Twitter user base. We don’t have enough time to go into the details but there was a Boolean flag in the Twitter front end that should not have been there.
I’ll give you an example. At one point there was a problem with Twitter Spaces where suspended users were able to join conversations even though they were suspended and so we temporarily turned off access to Twitter Spaces which then made anyone who is using the Twitter Android App unable to like a tweet.
Now how those things are connected is not clear, haha. So if you had an iOS app you could like tweets, if you’re on the Web app you could like tweets but not if you had an Android app because of Spaces. So there’s a lot of work behind the scenes and simplifying the code base, getting rid of extraneous features and enabling Twitter to evolve more rapidly in the future but it requires a lot of cleanup.
MS: You’ve grown users despite this lean engineering team and you cut out a data center.
Elon Musk: Yeah, I think on balance we’re doing okay. Just to give you a sense of where things were at the close of acquisition on October 29th, Twitter was tracking to a negative 3 Billion dollar a year burn rate and had 1 Billion in the bank. That’s a pretty dire situation.
If 2023 had been a normal year, Twitter would have done something on the order of 4.5 Billion in revenue and 4.5 Billion in cost, roughly break even, but when you add 1.5 Billion of debt servicing to that and a massive decline in advertising, some of it cyclic, some of it political, but call it at roughly a 50% decline in revenue, you’ve got over 3 Billion dollars negative.
Twitter has some revenue that’s not advertising-based, data subscriptions and what-not, but in the absence of action, Twitter would have had 6 Billion in costs and 3 Billion in revenue so minus 3 Billion and there was 1 Billion in the bank, so it would have gone bankrupt in 4 months.
Immediate and drastic action had to be taken, which was. We actually have now cut the non-interest burn to roughly 1.5 Billion. So we’ve got 1.5 Billion of debt servicing and 1.5 Billion of expenditures. We went from 3 data centers to 2, and reduced our cloud expenditures significantly, while at the same time having the fastest product evolution in Twitter’s history. So overall, not bad.
There have been a few bumps along the road obviously but this is to be expected. And now I think we have the opportunity to grow it into something quite spectacular. We had the highest total user minutes in Twitter history. The real number to care about is actually not the MDAU (Monetized daily active user) but its user time. How many total user hours per day do you have? That’s the real figure of merit because one could for example go to 300 Million daily active users but if they spent less time on the system cumulatively that would actually be a downgrade. How much human attention are you worth?
That’s why I think the really profound thing is what Twitter has is roughly 130 Million hours of the smartest most influential people on earth, every single day. There’s nothing else that has that. I mean there are social networks that have more users but they do not have the smart, influential people, they don’t have you!
MS: After doing the math, Twitter is EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) profitable today and then you’re looking for break even after debt services. when do you get to cash flow break even?
Elon Musk: Well its EBITDA profitable but the “D” is quite big! (laughter)
MS: When do you get to cash flow break even after that “D”?
Elon Musk: This is where we need to focus on the “E” part. (laughter) Yeah, I hope we pay taxes. So like I said, we’re getting to the point where we’re close to having the total expenditures for the company excluding debt roughly equal to the debt. I think we’ll be there in Q2.
I defintely don’t want to count chickens before they’re hatched or jinx it or anything but I think we’ve got a shot at being cash flow positive next quarter.
THE INCREDIBLE VALUE OF ADVERTISING ON TWITTER AND HOW ELON MUSK WILL MAKE SURE IT HAPPENS
MS: Twitter has great advertiser value with 147 Billion global impressions of the World Cup 2022 conversation.
Elon Musk: What I say to advertisers and brands is ‘use Twitter yourself and believe what you see on Twitter, not what you read in the newspapers.’ Because what you see on Twitter is the real thing, and what you read in newspapers is not.
And I’d like to thank Mark Read and WPP for their support and publicists and others that have stuck with us like Disney and Apple.
MS: When do you introduce performance-based advertising and scale it?
Elon Musk: Performance-based advertising is really just advertising that is relevant, in fact we should realistically have zero nonperformance-based advertising.
We want advertising that matters, people’s attention is precious. We should not serve them ads that are annoying or irrelevant or strident or ugly.
It was interesting you should mention White Lotus, I was talking today with David Zaslav, it was great, and he was like, ‘Why can’t we put a White Lotus trailer every time someone mentions White Lotus on Twitter?’ I’m like, ‘Absolutely!’
So one of the super-obvious but profound things that we’re doing is enabling keyword advertising so that can the keywords, like ‘White Lotus’ and if somebody mentions White Lotus, you put the White Lotus trailer there. I mean, that sounds very obvious.
We don’t need advanced AI for this one (laughter). It’s sort of just google Adwords that apply to tweets and the home timeline and replies and everywhere else because you often have sort of long, deep conversations with people going on talking about movies, TV, products and whatnot and that’s the perfect opportunity for advertisers to provide their message.
You know, if I think about something, for example, like Starlink, which does advertise in various media you want to advertise to users in a region that are not already saturated. So Starlink tends to be saturated in urban areas but it is not saturated in rural areas. So what Starlink would like to do is say, ‘Please show the ad to rural users with a slow connection. And the simple message is, ‘Do you want faster internet for less money? Click. Probably you do. Twitter needs to be able to do a simple thing like that. And it will. It is already able to do that, we just haven’t fully rolled it out. So I think we’re around 20%-ish but by the end of this year, almost all advertising should be reasonably relevant.
I think there’s also an opportunity here to really improve the relevance of advertising using AI based on the tweets, views, and likes.
You can actually populate a parameter space and then you can take an ad, and even if you say nothing about that ad, after its dropped in the Twitter system and it has 10,000 views, you populate the parameter space of the ad and then you correlate the user parameter space and the ad parameter space and then you don’t need to do any demographic targeting because you could be like, say its a gardening ad or you could be 20, 30, 40, 70 years old, any sex, whatever, it doesn’t matter.
What matters is you like gardening and that’s the ad that should be shown. I think we can get away from the ad targeting by age range and sex in favor or targeting by interest. A lot of this demographic targeting was done coming from a TV or newspaper era where you don’t have interaction with the user, you just have to kind of guess because it’s a one-way street in TV. But on Twitter it’s not a one-way street, there’s continuous interaction. I think we can have a profoundly more useful advertising experience.
THE EVERYTHING APP: X.COM
MS: Tell us about your vision for X, the everything app.
Elon Musk: I think it’s possible to create a very powerful finance experience basically. Paypal is kind of like a halfway version of what I think could be done in payments and finance. You want to be able to send money easily from one account on X / Twitter to another account effortlessly with one click. You want to be able to earn interest on the money, you want to be able to have debt so your interest can grow negative. Basically, I think it’s possible to become the biggest financial institution in the world just by providing people with convenience and payment options. We don’t have time to go into detail here except if we just make the app more and more useful, people will use it more and it will be great. I mean, you’ll see!
MS: The Tesla team is nice and built out, the Twitter executive team is perhaps a bit leaner. Maybe there’s a meme that’s accurate.
Elon Musk: He does have a black turtleneck, haha! Do you need anything more? I don’t think so. (see header image of this article for picture of Elon’s pet dog as the CEO of Twitter)
MS: So when does that Twitter management team have that bench like you showcased at the Gigafactory?
Elon Musk: Well I think it takes a lot of time to build a strong management team. We built the Tesla management team over 20 years. I think Twitter is an easier problem than Tesla by a long shot. But it will take some time to build the team, probably a few years.
X / Twitter HQ enjoys a lovely afternoon as a San Francisco Cable car passes by. Image Courtesy Roxanne Productions, Inc.
Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to Whatโs Up Twitter โ March 10, 2023. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author is to support X / Twitter 2.0 and Elon Musk in both making lives better on earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization.
Credit to cb_doge for the creation of the header image.
Contribute to Gailโs coffee fund, and buy her a hot coffee!
Welcome back to Whatโs Up Twitter! This past weekโs Twitter updates exemplify how much care and concern the company has for people all over the world under the new direction of Elon Musk. Highlights from this week include:
Twitter officially launches their violent speech policy
Community Notes expands to Brazil and other improvements
Future plans: video, suppressed tweets, feedback for BasedAi
โThe ability of Twitter advertising to reach the most influential people in the world is often not fully appreciated.
While a few other social networks are technically bigger, Twitter is where the writers & leaders spend their timeโ – Elon Musk
I think one reason writers & leaders spend their time on Twitter is that no other social network gives the ability for people to reach out to others so easily. The person you want to communicate with can choose to read your input. The opportunity is there and it is unlike anything else.
TWITTER COMMUNITY NOTES FOR BRAZIL
Community Notes expands to Brazil. Image courtesy Twitter, Inc.
As of March 2, Briazilians can apply to contribute to Community Notes. Twitter announced,
“Hello Brazil! Starting today, we will accept contributors from Brazil to Notas da Comunidade. Want to help? Subscribe now! Vacancies will be opened gradually so we can keep an eye on the quality of the experience. We look forward to learning from you!
Help keep people on Twitter in the loop.
Community Notes is now available in your country. Participate to add useful context to potentially misleading Tweets. Subscribe to Community Notes.” – Twitter
I am thrilled to see Twitter open up Notas da Comunidade for Brazil! This was specifically mentioned by Elon Musk at the World Government Summit on February 15. The purpose of Community Notes was explained by Elon Musk,
โI think thereโs something that weโre putting a lot of efforts into called Community Notes. Itโs currently just in English, but we will be expanding it to all languages.
That is I think quite a good way to assess the truth of things where itโs the community itself basically the people of Earth who are basically, not exactly voting but competing to provide the most accurate information.
So itโs sort of a competition for truth. I think itโs a very powerful concept to have a competition for truth, because you also said, like what is truth, itโs because what may be true to self, may not be viewed as true to others, but you want to have the closest approximation of that so I think the Community Notes thing is very powerful.โ – Elon Musk
TWITTER OFFICIALLY LAUNCHES THEIR VIOLENT SPEECH POLICY
Hereโs the Twitter thread on February 28th which summarizes the policy:
โWeโve made a few changes to our policies around violent content and similar language.
Today, weโve officially launched our Violent Speech policy, which prohibits violent threats, wishes of harm, glorification of violence, and incitement of violence.
Twitter has a zero-tolerance approach towards Violent Speech, and in most cases, we will suspend any account violating this policy.
For less severe violations, we may require you to delete the content before you can access your account again.
If you believe a tweet violates this policy, please report it to us right away.
As always, if you think we made a mistake, you can file an appeal by following the process here: Appeal a locked or suspended account."
Twitterโs straightforward policy on violent threats (taken from their official website) states,
โYou may not threaten to inflict physical harm on others, which includes (but is not limited to) threatening to kill, torture, sexually assault, or otherwise hurt someone. This also includes threatening to damage civilian homes and shelters, or infrastructure that is essential to daily, civic, or business activities.โ
Twitter explains Wishes of Harm โYou may not wish, hope, or express desire for harm. This includes (but is not limited to) hoping for others to die, suffer illnesses, tragic incidents, or experience other physically harmful consequences.โ
For Incitement of Violence, Twitter states, โYou may not incite, promote, or encourage others to commit acts of violence or harm, which includes (but is not limited to) encouraging others to hurt themselves or inciting others to commit atrocity crimes including crimes against humanity, war crimes or genocide. This also includes using coded language (often referred to as “dog whistles”) to indirectly incite violence.โ
Lastly, Twitter details Glorification of Violence, โYou may not glorify, praise, or celebrate acts of violence where harm occurred, which includes (but is not limited to) expressing gratitude that someone experienced physical harm or praising Violent entities and Perpetrators of Violent Attacks. This also includes glorifying animal abuse or cruelty.โ
Twitterโs easy-to-understand Violent Speech Policy also includes short explanations of โWhat is not a violation of this policy?โ and โWhat happens if you violate this policy?โ
This is Twitterโs overview, which you may find valuable,
โTwitter is a place where people can express themselves, learn about whatโs happening, and debate global issues.
However, healthy conversations canโt thrive when violent speech is used to deliver a message.
As a result, we have a zero tolerance policy towards violent speech in order to ensure the safety of our users and prevent the normalization of violent actions.โ Twitter
COMMUNITY NOTES: MORE IMPROVEMENTS
Iโve written about Community Notes often, and Twitter is continuously improving in this area.
This week an update was shared, stating, โMajor under-the-hood update: Community Notes can now run multiple note ranking models in parallel, facilitating both expansion to new countries and experimentation with improved ranking approaches. As always, the code and data is open source: GitHub Ranking Notes.โ
Twitter explains, โWeโre now running three models: our existing core model, an experimental variant of the core model that could potentially increase note coverage, and a model that will help assess and improve quality as Community Notes expands to new countries and languages in the coming weeks.โ
If youโre not familiar with Community Notes, you can read more here.
FUTURE PLANS: VIDEO, SUPRESSED TWEETS, FEEDBACK FOR BasedAI
Elon Musk is known for thoughtfully taking userโs suggestions into consideration.
On February 28, Elon liked this suggestion from Steven Mark Ryan, Tesla YouTube personality, โTwitter desperately needs 1.5x, 2x etc video playback speed. I have taken to downloading videos from twitter via a third party app to watch them at 2x on my computer. Would also be cool to have an AI trim out silences automatically & give us a button to toggle that mode on/off.โ
Always caring about people and quick to fix problems, Elon Musk confirmed Twitter is looking into concerns by Zuby Music, a well-known rapper with 1M followers and others. They communicated on February 28 that โMany of my followers aren’t seeing my tweets anymore and others are experiencing the same.โ
T(w)itter Daily News translated a comment by Guillaume Verdon, a software engineer that Elon replied to. โIMO Elon Musk most likely to use Twitter for data + RLHF & Tesla Dojo supercomputer for training/inference of LLMs at BasedAI. It’s all coming together.โ This statement and Elonโs positive response strongly suggest that Twitter data will be included in building a new improved ChatGPT. Letโs break this down.
Elon Musk, noticing that OpenAIโs ChatGPT has recently shown deep problems which do not seem to be improving, is seeking to create a new organization, โBasedAIโ which will draw from several areas for success:
Tesla Dojo supercomputer for training/inference of Large Language Models (Learn more about LLMs here)
Twitter image of exchange with Elon Musk and Guillaume Verdon, February 28, 2023
CONCLUSION
Twitter functions as an incredible tool because of its reach to the most influential people in the world. Now, with the launch of their Violent Speech Policy and the expansion of Community Notes to Brazil, they can help create even more meaningful, uplifting conversations and media topics geared towards all communities around the world.
Elon Musk is known for taking usersโ suggestions into consideration, so donโt be afraid to post your thoughts and opinions, it might just have some influence on Twitter’s future features. In summary, whether you use Twitter for entertainment or business purposes, remember that Twitter seeks to spread positivity and inclusion to everyone who is part of its community.
I love it when I see people across various communities interacting and engaging in conversations with understanding and respect for one another. Use Twitter more often, try out Community Notes and believe that Elon Musk really cares to hear our thoughts – these are some small steps we can take each day on building a better social media universe.
Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to Whatโs Up Twitter โ February 23, 2023. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author is to support Twitter 2.0 and Elon Musk in both making lives better on earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization.
Contribute to Gail’s coffee-fund, buy her a coffee!
Twitter is improving fast under the direction of Elon Musk. In this article, Iโll highlight this weekโs updates and give you a heads-up on whatโs to come!
THE WEEKโS TWITTER UPDATES
Elon Musk emphasizes free speech
Elon Musk shared a meme depicting a medieval man warning โMartinโ not to post his note in the public square because โYou know that it’s just going to be taken down and youโll be blocked from posting for the next 30 days.โ
โAll things in moderation, especially content moderationโ Elon Musk
Two-Factor Authentification Update
Twitter sent out messages to all users that non-Blue subscribers would be transitioning to app-based 2FA authentication. This is a small change and users are being conveniently notified directly in the app. Twitterโs official message: โEffective March 20, 2023, only Twitter Blue subscribers will be able to use text messages as their two-factor authentication method. Other accounts can use an authentication app or security key for 2FA.โ Elon Musk added, โUse of free authentication apps for 2FA will remain free and are much more secure than SMS.โ
Twitter Blue
Twitter improved readability on long tweets for Twitter Blue subscribers with smaller font/better spacing. I created my first longform tweet, and it came out nicely!
Community Notes helps people gain better context
Elon Musk’s message about Community Notes may inspire more people to sign up to use it. Elon tweeted, โCommunity Notes is a game changer for combating wrong information.โ
Beginning February 21, Twitter users started getting a heads-up if a Community Note starts showing on a Tweet they replied to, liked or retweeted. This feature helps give people extra context that they might otherwise miss. For more details see here.
Elon Musk explains Community Notes,
โI think thereโs something that weโre putting a lot of effort into called Community Notes. Itโs currently just in English, but we will be expanding it to all languages. That is I think quite a good way to assess the truth of things where itโs the community itself, basically, the people of Earth who are basically, not exactly voting but competing to provide the most accurate information. So itโs sort of a competition for truth. I think itโs a compelling concept to have a competition for truth, because you also said, like what is truth, itโs because what may be true to self, may not be viewed as true to others, but you want to have the closest approximation of that so I think the Community Notes thing is very powerful.โ – Elon Musk at WGS Feb 15, 2023
Twitter Files #16
Twitter Files #16 was released on February 18 by Matt Taibbi. Comic Interlude: A Media Experiment highlights how mainstream media was silent on what the Twitter files published because it does not fit their narrative. You can read how elected officials (both democrat and republican) demanded censorship from Twitter. Many examples are cited.
Matt Taibbi says, โThe real story emerging in the #TwitterFiles is about a ballooning federal censorship bureaucracy that’s not aimed at either the left or the right per se, but at the whole population of outsiders, who are being systematically defined as threats.โ
โBeginning in March, we’ll start using the Twitter Files to tell this larger story about how Americans turned their counterterrorism machinery against themselves, to disastrous effect, through little-known federal agencies like the Global Engagement Center (GEC).โ
WHATโS TO COME
Advertisements for products you may really want
Twitter advertisements were the topic of a thread on February 17 between former ads lead at Twitter and Sirine (a friend of mine from Twitter).
Elon starts with an optimistic tweet, โSorry for showing you so many irrelevant & annoying ads on Twitter! Weโre taking the (obvious) corrective action of tying ads to keywords & topics in tweets, like Google does with search. This will improve contextual relevance dramatically.โ The former Twitter employee quips back in a rude tone, โAs the former lead for Ads at Twitter, I can confidently say this man has no idea wtf he’s talking about.โ Not missing a beat, Elon replies with, โMy apologies, you must be a genius, which is why Twitter has the worst ad relevance on Earth. Almost nobody buys anything on Twitter, but almost everyone on Instagram does. That is being fixed.โ Next Sirine comments, โSpeaking of personal experience, Iโve never seen *Any* relevant ad on Twitter since I made my account!โ Elon replies to Sirine โYou are not alone. When I ask people if they use Twitter, almost all have for many years. When I ask if theyโve ever bought something from an ad after using the site for a decade, the answer is almost always no. Thatโs insane! The biggest problem is that Twitter optimized for impressions over clicks, with the perverse result that it *maximized* ad irrelevance, because clicking on an ad takes you away from Twitter, thus reducing impressions generated per user-minute. The sheer madness of this takes a moment to appreciate.โ
In summary, contextual relevance is needed for Twitter ads just as they are for ads on Instagram or TikToc. If you have never made a purchase based on a Twitter ad, you are the majority. It is possible that will change in the future.
Better ease of use to help communicate on Twitter
Elon Musk looks for ways to improve Twitter directly from people who use Twitter. A feature similar to what you can do in a smartphone direct message will come to Twitter. Soon you’ll `have the ability to hold down and reply to a specific message in a group chat. Also, you may be able to @ mention someone in groups. This idea came from a survey run by Prof. TroonyToons and the vote in favor of these changes won at 83.9% FOR the features. Elon Musk often replies to Twitter accounts both large and small, unverified and verified. Prof. TroonyToons ran a great and useful survey.
Twitter algorithm to be open source soon
Elon Musk plans for Twitter to open source their algorithm next week. On Feb 21 he tweeted, โPrepare to be disappointed at first when our algorithm is made open source next week, but it will improve rapidly!โ
Elon Musk explained how Twitterโs For You tab works, โNote: if many people who you follow or like also follow me, it is highly probable that the algorithm will recommend my tweets. Itโs not super sophisticated. In coming months, we will offer the ability to adjust the algorithm to closer match what is most compelling to you.โ
This is great news, as it gives Twitter users the option (if they want it) to have more control over what they do or donโt see.
Twitter to be a place for all people
Elon Musk elaborated on Feb 7 that, โGoing forward, Twitter will be broadly accepting of different values, rather than trying to impose its own specific values on the world.โ
This was shared at the WGS 2023 as well with these words,
โI mean, I was a little worried about the direction that, and the effect of social media on the world and especially Twitter. I thought it was very important for there to be a maximally trusted sort of Digital Public Square where people within countries and internationally can communicate with the least amount of censorship allowed by law, and obviously that varies a lot by jurisdiction.
I think in general, social media companies should adhere to the laws of countries and not try to put a *thumb on the scale beyond the laws of the countries. I think this is something that is probably agreeable to the legislators and to the people of most countries.
So thatโs the general idea, itโs just to reflect the values of the people as opposed to imposing the values of essentially San Francisco and Berkeley, which are somewhat of a niche ideology, as compared to the rest of the world.
I think Twitter was doing a little too much to impose a niche 'San Francisco-Berkeley' ideology on the world. You know, I thought it was important for the future of civilization to try to correct that *thumb on the scale if you will and just have Twitter more accurately reflect like I said, the values of the people of Earth. That's the intention and hopefully, we succeed in doing that.โ
Elon Musk at WGS 2023
Elon Musk’s talk at the World Government Summit 2023 (Dubai) was on February 15 about his vision for Twitter and X.com. The full text of his talk about Twitter is here,
There are rumors floating around (on Twitter) that soon various fonts will be available for Twitter users. Another rumor is that Twitter may begin testing its own โcoin.โ
CONCLUSION
Here’s my quick summary from this week,
Content on Twitter will reflect a multitude of outlooks and not be excessively moderated
Users who opt for secure 2FA with Twitter will need to use free authentication apps. Exception: Blue subscribers
Longform tweets (Blue feature) will have smaller font/better spacing
Community Notes will notify you if a tweet you interacted with has a public note appear, providing you added context
Community Notes is expanding to other countries/languages
Twitter Files #16 gave examples that should have been covered by journalists but never were. Global Engagement Center (GEC) is one obscure federal agency that we will learn more about in upcoming files
No one wants useless ads and Elon Musk’s Twitter ads will soon have contextual relevance
Twitter DMs will rival Smartphone DMs in reply capabilities, allowing you to hold-reply to messages
Twitter algorithm will be open-sourced soon, expect it to improve over time
“Twitter will be broadly accepting of different values” – Elon Musk
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You can! I welcome your support. Click here for ways to support or donate below, and not all involve $$. Thank you!
Twitter HQ unknown photographer circa 2013
Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to Whatโs Up Twitter โ February 23, 2023. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author is to support Twitter 2.0 and Elon Musk in both making lives better on earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization.
One-Time
Monthly
Yearly
My writing about Twitter strives to be accurate & leave you feeling optimistic and excited about the future. I hope you”ll consider a donation to support!
My writing about Twitter strives to be accurate & leave you feeling optimistic and excited about the future. I hope you”ll consider small monthly donation to support!
My writing about Twitter strives to be accurate & leave you feeling optimistic and excited about the future. If you’re able, consider an annual donation to support!
Elon Musk spoke about Twitter at the world conference on February 14, 2023 and here is a transcript of that conversation. My goal/mission in this blog post is to preserve the important and visionary words of Elon Musk. Enjoy.
Elon explains why he bought Twitter,
โI mean I thought about creating something from scratch but I thought Twitter would perhaps accelerate progress versus creating something from scratch by 3 to 5 years.
I think we are seeing a tremendous technology acceleration that 3 to 5 years is actually worth a lot.
I mean, I was a little worried about the direction that, and the effect of social media on the world and especially Twitter. I thought it was very important for there to be a maximally trusted sort of Digital Public Square where people within countries and internationally can communicate with the least amount of censorship allowed by law, and obviously that varies a lot by jurisdiction.
I think in general, social media companies should adhere to the laws of countries and not try to put a *thumb on the scale beyond the laws of the countries. I think this is something that is probably agreeable to the legislators and to the people of most countries.
So thatโs the general idea, itโs just to reflect the values of the people as opposed to imposing the values of essentially San Francisco and Berkeley, which are somewhat of a niche ideology, as compared to the rest of the world.
I think Twitter was doing a little too much to impose a niche 'San Francisco-Berkeley' ideology on the world. You know, I thought it was important for the future of civilization to try to correct that *thumb on the scale if you will and just have Twitter more accurately reflect, like I said, the values of the people of Earth. That's the intention and hopefully we succeed in doing that.โ
X.COM
Elon Musk image courtesy cb.doge
Elon talks about his vision for the future of twitter,
โWell I think it would be, you know, have this long-term sort of vision of something called x.com from way back in the day which is sort of like an everything app. where itโs just maximally useful.
It does payments, provides financial services, provides information flow, really anything digital. It also provides secure communications.
You know, I think [the goal of x.com] is be as useful as possible, as entertaining as possible, and a source of truth if you want to find out whatโs going on and whatโs really going on then you should be able to go on the x app and find out.
So itโs sort of a source of truth and a maximally useful system. And Twitter is essentially an accelerant to that sort of maximally useful everything app.โ
Elon Musk explains Twitter’s Community Notes in simple terms
โI think thereโs something that weโre putting a lot of efforts into called Community Notes. Itโs currently just in English, but we will be expanding it to all languages.
That is I think quite a good way to assess the truth of things where itโs the community itself basically the people of Earth who are basically, not exactly voting but competing to provide the most accurate information.
So itโs sort of a competition for truth. I think itโs a very powerful concept to have a competition for truth, because you also said, like what is truth, itโs because what may be true to self, may not be viewed as true to others, but you want to have the closest approximation of that so I think the Community Notes thing is very powerful.
I think we are trying to have as many organizations and people and institutions verified as being legitimately those people and organizations is important, and to have the organizational affiliation clearly identified so that if you want to find out if somebodyโs actually, if an account is actually from a member of parliament or a journalist or if letโs say, a Twitter handle actually belongs to Disney corporation or something like that, you can go on Twitter and itโs sort of an identity layer of the Internet you can confirm that is, in fact, the case.
I think once youโve got these interlocking, sort of identities, itโs actually very hard to be deceptive in that case, and itโs also, you have a reputation to protect at that point. So I think then people are far more likely to be measured in their response and will be more reasonable, since they have reputational value at that point.
So these are some of the ideas that I have, and you know I'm not saying that for sure it will succeed or that itโs going to be perfect but I am confident that it will over time head in a good direction. and I think that the evidence for that will be, do people find it useful?
As weโre measuring sort of the total user minutes, but not just user minutes, unregretted used minutes which I think that thatโs the key figure of merit.
For example, TikTok has a very high usage but I often hear people say well. I spent two hours on TikTok, but I regret those two hours. Iโm not trying to knock TikTok, but itโs just we donโt want that to be the case with Twitter.
We want to say like 'ok, you spent half an hour on Twitter, but you found it to be useful and entertaining, and a good thing in your life. and ultimately be a force for good for civilization, thatโs the aspiration.โ
The most effective way to use Twitter
Elon talked about how governments and organizations can best use Twitter,
"I think, generally, I would recommend really communicating a lot on Twitter. And I think itโs good for people to speak in their voice as opposed to how they think they should speak. Sometimes people think, โI should speak in this way that is expected of me,โ but it ends up sounding somewhat at times, stiff and not real.
You know like if you read a press release from a corporation it just sounds like propaganda. I would encourage CEOs and companies and legislators and ministers and so forth to speak authentically. If there's a particular policy to explain it.
I think sometimes there's a sometimes a concern about criticism but I think at the end of the day having some criticism is fine. It's really not that bad. I'm constantly attacked on Twitter, frankly. And I don't mind, you have to be somewhat thick-skinned I suppose at times you know because they really try and twist the knife.
But I think as a forum for communication, its great. I would just encourage more communication and like I said, to sort of speak in an authentic voice. Like sometimes people will have someone else be their sort of Twitter manager or something like that and I think people should just do their own tweets.
And like sometimes you make a mistake or something, its fine. But I think, doing your own tweets, just like you would give a talk here or have a meeting at a summit, that's the way to do it is to actually do the tweets yourself and convey the message that you want directly.โ
Single world government as a civilizational risk
โOne thing I should say, I know this is called the World Government Summit, but I think we should be a little bit concerned about actually becoming too much of a single world government if I may say that we want to avoid creating a civilizational risk by having, frankly, this may sound a little odd, too much cooperation between governments.
If you look at history and the rise and fall of civilizations where all throughout history civilizations have risen and fallen but it hasn't meant the doom of humanity as a whole because they've been all these separate civilizations that were separated by great distances.
While Rome was falling, Islam was rising so you had, you know, the sort of caliphate doing incredibly well while Rome was doing terribly. That actually ended up being a source of preservation of knowledge and many scientific advancements.
So I think we want to be a little bit cautious about being too much of a single civilization because if we are too much of a single civilization then the whole thing may collapse.
I'm obviously not suggesting war or anything like that but I think we want to be a little bit wary of actually cooperating too much. It sounds a little odd but we want to have some amount of civilizational diversity such that if something does go wrong with some part of civilization that the whole thing doesn't collapse and humanity keeps moving forward.โ - Elon Musk
Twitter’s next CEO?
Elon was asked if he has identified a CEO for Twitter and when he would announce who it will be,
"Well, I think I need to stabilize the organization and just make sure it's in a financially healthy place and that the product roadmap is clearly laid out, so I'm guessing probably towards the end of this year should be good timing to find someone else to run the company. I think it should be in a stable position around the end of this year."
Twitter is a Startup in Reverse
“Twitter is still somewhat of a startup in reverse and so thereโs a lot of work here to get Twitter in sort of a stable position and, like I said, to really build the engine of software engineering at Twitter and really have a great product roadmap and the people in place to implement that product roadmap. And so it is not my intention to work like crazy, I mean I think I still am, Iโm comfortable with a mere 80-hour workweek. That would be fine! That is what I would aspire to.โ
CONCLUSION
I agree the ‘San Francisco-Berkeley’ ideology is niche. Elon Musk said he thinks its “important for the future of civilization to try to correct that thumb on the scale if you will and just have Twitter more accurately reflect the values of the people of Earth.”
*Thumb on the scale means “An act of bias or a tactic for cheating which creates a situation that unfairly benefits one party involved in an interaction.”
Many people are excited about the future of x.com. Elon’s vision is for it to be as “useful as possible, as entertaining as possible, and a source of truth if you want to find out whatโs going on and whatโs really going on then you should be able to go on the x app and find out.”
A great way to understand Twitter’s Community Notes is as a competition for truth. In Elon’s words, “I think itโs a very powerful concept to have a competition for truth, because you also said, like what is truth, itโs because what may be true to self, may not be viewed as true to others, but you want to have the closest approximation of that.”
I agree with Elon Musk that the best tweets are genuine tweets and not those curated by a social media manager or a dry press release. Making mistakes in a tweet is okay and happens often to many people so it need not be scary and neither should criticism.
Elon cautioned against “being too much of a single civilization because if we are too much of a single civilization then the whole thing may collapse.” The way he explained it was appropriate for his audience of mostly middle eastern people at the World Government Summit, he said, “While Rome was falling, Islam was rising so you had, you know, the sort of caliphate doing incredibly well while Rome was doing terribly. That actually ended up being a source of preservation of knowledge and many scientific advancements.”
Twitter may have a new CEO near the end of 2023 and first Elon Musk will make certain Twitter is on track for healthy finances and a clearly laid out product roadmap.
Original Twitter HQ in San Francisco. Photo Courtesy Twitter.
Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to Whatโs Up Twitter โ February 16, 2023. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author is to support Twitter 2.0 and Elon Musk in both making lives better on earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization.
One-Time
Monthly
Yearly
My writing about Twitter strives to be accurate & leave you feeling optimistic and excited about the future. If you’re able, consider a donation to support!
My writing about Twitter strives to be accurate & leave you feeling optimistic and excited about the future. If you’re able, consider a monthly donation to support!
My writing about Twitter strives to be accurate & leave you feeling optimistic and excited about the future. If you’re able, consider an annual donation to support!
Welcome back to What’s Up Twitter. Thanks for joining me for a moment as we look at how Elon Musk continues to improve Twitter this last week and lead it into a financially healthy place.
Four changes this week involve thoughtful ways for Twitter to generate a revenue stream based on providing value and a good user experience for organizations and individuals.
Major advertisers support Twitter over the Super Bowl
Twitter Blue expands to 6 more countries
Verified Organization plan for Gold checks and Affiliates
Enterprise API
Elon Musk frees the Bird. Art courtesy The Rebel Bear.
Major advertisers show support for Twitter
February 2: Elon Musk takes moment to thank the National Football League (NFL) and major advertisers for their support as we approach Super Bowl Sunday. PepsiCo and Anheuser-Busch are just a few companies that welcome the opportunity to make deals with Twitter.
Super appreciate support of @NFL & major advertisers & congrats to Twitter team!
February 3: Twitter Blue is available in France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Spain. Maren Kahnert creator of Elon Musk Interviews reported that she signed up for Twitter Blue. Deborah in France thanked Elon Musk, saying โFrance Loves Twitter!โ
February 3: Twitter opens early access to its Verified Organization plan. In a tweet from Matt Navarra, some of the details were revealed. A Gold checkmark for organizations ($1000/month) and affiliation badges for its associates ($50/month) will boost Tweets by that organization.
My take is this is a great deal for organizations as it is an inexpensive way to advertise. Imagine advertising for only $1000/month? It should encourage engaging and creative ‘marketing’ tweets.
February 7: As suggested by Twitter user Nima Owji, Twitter created a tab for affiliates. The Official Tesla account has 7 affiliates on their tab.
Enterprise API with Twitter versus “Free API”
February 4: Elon Musk listens to feedback from Twitter users, he states โResponding to feedback, Twitter will enable a light, write-only API for bots providing good content that is free.โ *API means Application programming interface and one benign example is the below account for Pepito.
Commenting on a link to a beloved bot account called Pepito the Cat, Elon Musk delighted users by agreeing, โI guess we could give all Verified users access to the API for posts like this.โ You can follow this account at https://twitter.com/PepitoTheCat and hereโs the French feline!
Pepito The Cat, and account that uses Twitter’s API
February 8: The Twitter dev team shared information about “Enterprise API” in a series of tweets,
โWe have been busy with some updates to the Twitter API so you can continue to build and innovate with us.
Weโre excited to announce an extension of the current free Twitter API access through February 13. Hereโs what weโre shipping then: Paid basic access that offers low level of API usage, and access to Ads API for a $100 monthly fee.
A new form of free access will be introduced as this is extremely important to our ecosystem โ limited to Tweet creation of up to 1,500 Tweets per month for a single authenticated user token, including Login with Twitter.
Also on February 13, we will deprecate the Premium API. If youโre subscribed to Premium, you can apply for Enterprise to continue using these endpoints. This is a new chapter for the Twitter API to increase quality, reduce spam, and enable a thriving ecosystem. We appreciate your patience as we implement these changes and we canโt wait to see what you build next! Stay tuned for more information on continued Twitter API access.โ - Twitter devs
Avoiding bankruptcy
February 5: Elon Musk expressed appreciation for all who are supporting Twitter. Bankruptcy has been avoided under Elonโs leadership even as he spent countless hours at Tesla and SpaceX. Elon Musk would like to see Twitter become financially healthy soon.
โLast 3 months were extremely tough, as had to save Twitter from bankruptcy, while fulfilling essential Tesla & SpaceX duties. Wouldnโt wish that pain on anyone. Twitter still has challenges, but is now trending to breakeven if we keep at it. Public support is much appreciated!โ - Elon Musk
โTo be extra clear, Twitter is definitely not financially healthy yet, but is trending to be so. Lots of work still needed to get there.โ - Elon Musk
Elon was asked by a Twitter user if it is โWorse than 2008 or production hell?โ Elon replied, โSimilar.โ
February 5: Elon Muskโs team is called to fix an issue reported by many Twitter users. Elon said, โDaily user count & total user minutes are still strong, but engagement on some accounts is weirdly low.โ – Elon Musk
Elon Musk is constantly engaged with Twitter users and this is a big reason why Twitter is able to improve so rapidly.
Twitter Files are appreciated by most Americans
February 6: Most Americans approve of the Twitter Files. A poll conducted January 31 – February 2, 2023 by Rasmussen Reports found that 63% of American adults approve of Elon Muskโs decision to authorize the publication of the โTwitter files” and 42% strongly approve.
I think the Twitter Files are Elon Musk’s brilliant way of “disinfecting with sunlight” to clear the decks at Twitter and win the public’s trust.
February 6: T(w)itter Takeover News found an update on the Twitter App designed to give Twitter a seamless and enjoyable experience. The update allows the user app to default to whichever tab so you will not have to switch back to โFor youโ or โFollowing.โ
BREAKING: Update to the latest version of the Twitter app so that โFor youโ and โFollowingโ will default to whichever tab you had open last.
February 7: Elon Musk tweets, โGoing forward, Twitter will be broadly accepting of different values, rather than trying to impose its own specific values on the world.โ
My take is this is essential to preserving humanity and it may even serve to extend the window of opportunity for humans to make it to Mars.
Twitter can be a communication tool that can save lives. It is much more than entertainment.
February 8: In the aftermath of the earthquake in Turkey the Turkish government contacted Twitter to say they are restoring Twitter access in the country. Elon Musk said, “Twitter has been informed by the Turkish government that access will be reenabled shortly.โ
Longform Tweets
February 8: Twitter Blue rolled out an amazing feature where people can now tweet up to 4000 characters instead of just 280. Hereโs the details:
โneed more than 280 characters to express yourself? we know that lots of you doโฆ and while we love a good thread, sometimes you just want to Tweet everything all at once. we get that. so we're introducing longer Tweets! you're gonna want to check this out.
starting today, if youโre subscribed to Twitter Blue in the US you can create longer Tweets. most standard functions of Tweeting still apply, whether you want to post a picture, use a hashtag, or create a poll. but now you can type all the way up to 4,000 characters. for now, longer Tweets on web can't be saved as drafts or scheduled to send later. but donโt worry, Twitter is still Twitter.
we know longer Tweets could mean a lot of scrolling, so theyโll be capped at 280 characters on your timeline and youโll see a โShow moreโ prompt to click and read the whole Tweet. while only Blue subscribers can post longer Tweets, anyone and everyone can read them. you can reply to, retweet, and quote Tweet a longer Tweet, no matter if youโre a Twitter Blue subscriber or not.
subscribers will be able to reply and QT with up to 4,000 characters. let us know what you think. weโre excited to see how you use the extra space! if youโve got more to say, you can subscribe to Twitter Blue by clicking the link in our bio.โ - Twitter Blue
CONCLUSION
The tide is turning slowly in society and I am starting to hear some people speak up about how thankful they are that Elon Musk bought Twitter. And for Twitter to be a platform for free speech it must also be financially successful and I believe it is heading in that direction under Elon Musk.
Major advertisers like the NFL are showing support for Twitter
Users in France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Spain can now pay for Twitter Blue
The Verified Organization plan is valuable for both Twitter (revenue) and organizations. It provides the Gold Check and can be used by companies for marketing
Enterprise API from Twitter and other API features may create revenue
Honoring transparency, Elon Musk explained Twitter was being saved from Bankruptcy
In my article โTwitter Just Gets Better with Elon Musk at the Helm,โ read about how Twitter is on the path to becoming a one-stop shop for people to keep folders with categorized information, a place to come for news, and a place for content creators to earn an income for their efforts.
Photo San Francisco Courtesy Ethan Chang on Unsplash
Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to Whatโs Up Twitter โ February 8, 2023. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author is to support Twitter 2.0 and Elon Musk in both goal as an author is to support Twitter 2.0 and Elon Musk in both making lives better on earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization.
One-Time
Monthly
Yearly
My writing about Twitter strives to be accurate & leave you feeling optimistic and excited about the future. If you’re able, consider a monthly donation to support!
My writing about Twitter strives to be accurate & leave you feeling optimistic and excited about the future. If you’re able, consider a monthly donation to support!
My writing about Twitter strives to be accurate & leave you feeling optimistic and excited about the future. If you’re able, consider an annual donation to support!
Welcome back to Whatโs Up Twitter. There are cool developments coming down the pipeline for you as a Twitter user.
Also, do you think Twitter will accept Dogecoin? Share your ideas.
San Francisco, home of Twitter HQ is a gem at sunset. Used with permission from Romain Briaux from Unplash.
Twitter to open Beta version soon to reward creators!
Hundreds of talented citizen writers will soon have a chance to be financially compensated for their work. Elon Musk announced that co-tweets have ended to make way for a feature that will encourage citizen journalism.
Writers with subscriptions activated will be able to publish directly on Twitter and get paid for it by adding essays as attachments to tweets.
Elon Musk announces new features for Twitter.
โYouโre welcome. Axed them yesterday to focus on enabling writers to add essays as attachments to tweets. Combined with improvements to creator subscriptions (fka superfollow), you will be able to publish directly on Twitter & get paid for it. Beta version launching next week. Weโre also reviewing ad rev share for ads in a creatorโs tweet replies โ create an interesting thread and get paid for it!โ Elon Musk
Are you familiar with Tweet threads? Many writers like Marc Andreessen and Trung Phan are known for their interesting threads. These and others may soon be able to get paid for their threads by sharing ad revenue with Twitter.
I think this is a great idea! Did you know many writers are paid less than $20 per article to write what they are TOLD to write by editors? They need income so they acquiesce and then they are targeted for doing a job to earn a living wage. Imagine if these talented people could write freely and not have to support an agenda they disagree with. I am excited to follow this development on Twitter. This may be part of why Elon Musk purchased Twitter.
Issues with Twitter visibility
Late Tuesday evening on January 31, Elon Musk made his account private. This was to gauge tweet interaction invisibility, which was reported by many users as being limited when accounts were not made private. In one example by Ian Cheong, he had more engagement and visibility when his account was private than when it was public. I will update this article as this situation develops.
Ian Cheong was one of the first to discover visibility issues on Twitter.
The Twitter Files have been ignored by the mainstream media
This was expected and explained well by David Sacks,
โWhen Elon Musk made necessary business changes at Twitter, the media reacted with hysterical melodrama: he was โstarvingโ employees; the site was facing โimminent collapse.โ But when Twitter Files exposed state censorship and Hamilton68 fraud, they react with defeaning silence.โ
What are some ideas on Twitter accepting dogecoin?
There is no indication that Twitter has immediate plans to accept Dogecoin and there are clues that Twitter is developing a payment system based on fiat money. The biggest indicator of this is that Elon Musk shared on Twitter on January 31 that creators would soon receive revenue for their content. People already pay money to creators through monthly subscriptions but that money must go through Stripe.
Stripe says, โMillions of companies of all sizesโfrom startups to Fortune 500sโuse Stripeโs software and APIs to accept payments, send payouts, and manage their businesses online.โ
Elon Musk loves vertically integrating his products on many levels at SpaceX and Tesla. Will he reduce costs by vertically integrating an in-house payment system instead of paying to utilize Stripeโs software?
There has been speculation from the dogecoin community in comments on Reddit about Twitter, Bitcoin and Elon Musk. It is significant that SpaceX, Tesla as well as the Boring Co. have accepted payments in Dogecoin. People bought Boring Co. Burnt Hair fragrance with Dogecoin in October 2022 and rides in the Boring Company Tunnels in Las Vegas appear to be available in Dogecoin by scanning a QR code to buy tickets.
Many people speculate that Twitter will do the same. In comments on Reddit, people know that Dogecoin has benefited from Elon Muskโs interest. However, Elon Musk is not part of the Dogecoin Foundation and merely supports the coin because it is fun and has memes and makes more financial sense than other coins.
I recently searched for current merch to buy with Dogecoin from Tesla and SpaceX and found none as of February 1, 2023. The Tesla Cyberwhistle costs 1000 Dogecoin and it is out of stock. My take is that Twitter will solidify a financial network in the USA first with traditional fiat money and next year may introduce digital currency in Doge or Bitcoin or both.
The Tesla Cyberwhistle is 1000 DOGE and is OUT OF STOCK
CONCLUSION
The biggest news this week is the prospect of Elon Musk utilizing Twitter to encourage citizen journalism. This takes incentives (money) so writers can earn their own way instead of answering to mainstream media outlets that dictate how they write or edit their work to promote an agenda.
There are technical issues this week with Twitter and decreased tweet visibility. Elon Musk is aware and his team will likely make fixing it a priority.
Mainstream media continues to ignore and even ridicule the seriousness of the Twitter Files. If you would like to research the files, check out www.twitterfiles.co
Rumors are circulating about Twitter payment systems and nothing is verified but we do know that Twitter pays some content creators through Stripe. We shall watch if Stripe continues to be Twitterโs choice as it is not a vertically integrated aspect of Twitter.
What we do know is that all of Elon Musk’s companies (with the exception of Neuralink) have accepted Dogecoin thus far. Many on Twitter would warmly welcome Dogecoin as a payment or integrated tip system on Twitter.
There is more happening at Twitter
In my article “Twitter Just Gets Better with Elon Musk at the Helm,” read about how Twitter is on the path to becoming a one-stop shop for people to keep folders with categorized information, a place to come for news, and a place for content creators to earn an income for their efforts. There are little tweaks and improvements being made almost daily to Twitterโs features. From improving bookmarks to pinned lists, Elon Musk is making sure most people know what Twitter has to offer. Heโs even going to make sure cool tweets in other languages (like Japanese) are translated and recommended to people around the globe.
Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to Whatโs Up Twitter โ February 1, 2023. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author is to support Twitter 2.0 and Elon Musk in both making lives better on earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization.
One-Time
Monthly
Yearly
My writing about Twitter strives to be accurate & leave you feeling optimistic and excited about the future. If you’re able, consider a donation to support!
My writing about Twitter strives to be accurate & leave you feeling optimistic and excited about the future. If you’re able, consider a donation to support!
My writing about Twitter strives to be accurate & leave you feeling optimistic and excited about the future. If you’re able, consider an annual donation to support!
Elon Musk shared an image on Twitter showing the titles of 3 books and the words, โYOU ARE HEREโ in the middle. Letโs take a look at these 3 books and discuss how the Twitter files relate.
We’ll also look at Elonโs Twitter poll asking โElon Musk shouldโ a. Stay out of politics or b. Keep shooting his feet. 57.2% were in favor of โKeep shooting his feet.โ
Most people approve of Elon Musk staying political on Twitter.
1. Brave New World, 1932
In a society where the โWorld Controllersโ mastered genetic science to โperfectโ the human race, humans are nothing more than โAlpha-plus mandarins and epsilon-minus semi-moronsโ designed to perform menial tasks and educated to be blissfully content with pre-destined roles. Intellectual curiosity, a sense of history and scientific innovation are frowned upon because they threaten the ruling classโs power over the masses.
The purpose of all these distractions is to keep people contented so they donโt question the world around them. Society is designed to reject the consumption of old thingsโlike Shakespeare, which is banned. This is another way to promote continuous consumption, because if people value old, outdated things (like old books and higher-quality, longer-lasting items) they wonโt have any reason to buy new things.
Things from past eras when society functioned differently often contain deeper meaning and would inspire people to think critically, whereas new forms of entertainment encourage people to focus on the present only. Huxley himself gave advice for resisting this brave new world,
โPerhaps the forces that now menace freedom are too strong to be resisted for very long. It is still our duty to do whatever we can to resist them.โ
The Twitter Files are Elon Muskโs way of clearing the decks. Elon explained it this way,
โI think itโs important to, like if you know if weโre going to be trusted in the future to kind of clear the decks for stuff thatโs happened in the past so to be totally frank, almost every conspiracy theory that people had about Twitter turned out to be true.(laughter from all) Haha, so โฆ is there a conspiracy theory about Twitter that didnโt turn out to be true? So far, they all turned out to be true. And if not more true than people thought.โ โElon Musk, All-In Podcast
Matt Taibbi wrote โTwitter Files: Why Twitter Let the Intelligence Community Inโ about how once Twitter began rolling over for Congress in 2017, the ending was inevitable: formal surrender to the intelligence community on content moderation. Matt Taibbi shared,
1.THREAD: The Twitter Files How Twitter Let the Intelligence Community In
When George Orwell published this book in 1949 it was around the same time as Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated, House Un-American Activities Committee accused Alger Hiss of spying for the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union sealed off land routes to Berlin. 1984 immerses the reader in a world where a totalitarian government monitors people even in their private lives. Writing is illegal but main character Winston Smith keeps a diary and desires to beat the system. Everything about Winston’s life is miserable and that includes his job, the food he eats, and the dreary London cityscape he lives in. In his and all peopleโs daily lives there are hidden cameras and microphones everywhere, even at home TV screens spewing propaganda must never be turned off.
The signs โBig Brother is watching youโ in the book have become synonymous in our culture for the dangers of a government that works to police our thoughts.
The Twitter Files show just how far our own United States government organizations were willing to go to control the public narrative on elections in the USA and SARS-CoV-2. Three examples are,
By censoring info that was true but inconvenient to U.S. govt. policy
By discrediting doctors and other experts who disagreed
By suppressing ordinary users, including some sharing the CDCโs *own data*
You can read about these in this thread shared by David Zweig, author of Invisibles.
1. THREAD:
THE TWITTER FILES: HOW TWITTER RIGGED THE COVID DEBATE
โ By censoring info that was true but inconvenient to U.S. govt. policy โ By discrediting doctors and other experts who disagreed โ By suppressing ordinary users, including some sharing the CDCโs *own data*
Stanfordโs Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, an M.D., an economist, and a professor of health policy at Stanford warned about the dangerous impact of lockdowns, especially on children, the working class, and the poor.
In 2020, he and Dr. Martin Kulldorff, then a professor of medicine at Harvard, and Dr. Sunetra Gupta, a professor of epidemiology at Oxford wrote an open letter arguing for โfocused protectionโ for the most medically vulnerable and a return to normal life for the rest of society. โโTwitter put Bhattacharyaโs account on the Trends Blacklist, which meant that no matter how many likes or views one of his tweets racked up, it could never โtrendโ; its visibility to users on the platform would be sharply curtailed. You can read more about that in the article, โTwitterโs Secret Blacklists.โ
3. Fahrenheit 451
The sci-fi novel Fahrenheit 451โs title refers to the temperature at which paper burns. The book explores the dangers of a government that tries to control its people through censorship. Reading is illegal and books are burned any time they are discovered.
The main character, Ray, collects books but is betrayed by his own wife. Written in 1953 when people were just starting to buy cathode-ray TV sets. The book features Rayโs wife Mildred, who watches TV on three screens the size of an entire wall. The programs displayed on the walls are shallow, absurd and pointless. Mildred refers to the characters in her favorite program as her “family” and the actors talk over each other the entire time. Eventually Mildred gets tired of Ray and turns him in to the authorities and he is forced to burn his books and his house. 451 ends on a hopeful note when Ray escapes the city before a nuclear war begins and joins a group of intellectuals and academics who live in secrecy and memorize books to preserve them.
Lee Fang released Twitter Files Part 8 and wrote about how Twitter Aided the Pentagon in Its Covert Online Propaganda Campaign in an article in the Intercept. Disturbing revelations are surfacing, as Fang wrote, โThis appears to align with a major report published in August by online security researchers affiliated with the Stanford Internet Observatory, which reported on thousands of accounts that they suspected to be part of a state-backed information operation, many of which used photorealistic human faces generated by artificial intelligence, a practice also known as โdeep fakes.โ
Twitter quietly partnered with the U.S. intelligence community, allowing the IC to select which state-sponsored accounts/advertsting to take down/ban. Incredible screenshot below showing Twitter had a secret policy handing power to FBI/CIA etc. over content decisions. https://t.co/6aXJ5KqLIt
The Twitter Files reveal how the government paid millions of dollars to censor information from the public. Michael Shellenberger shares, โAs of 2020, there were so many former FBI employees โ “Bu alumni” โ working at Twitter that they had created their own private Slack channel and a crib sheet to onboard new FBI arrivals.โ and adds a screenshot of an email.
Michael Shellenberger, Twitter Files
29. As of 2020, there were so many former FBI employees โ "Bu alumni" โ working at Twitter that they had created their own private Slack channel and a crib sheet to onboard new FBI arrivals. pic.twitter.com/prVhPGohOC
Brave New World, 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 are all science fiction novels that serve to warn people of what can happen if we give up our freedoms and allow others to control what we read or see. Our perception of reality will be skewed and humanity as a whole will be at risk.
For this reason, even if Elon Musk has to “shoot himself in the feet,” it is good that he will keep releasing Twitter Files. The Twitter files are very political because they are important in exposing what the government has been doing behind the scenes at Twitter for years.
Read the Twitter Files (free) on the Twitter Files Archive by Johnna Crider here.
Photo of Austin Texas by Spencer Davis on Unsplash
Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to Whatโs Up Twitter โ January 5 2022. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author is to support Twitter 2.0 and Elon Musk in both making lives better on earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization.
One-Time
Monthly
Yearly
My writing about Twitter strives to be accurate & leave you feeling optimistic and excited about the future. If you’re able, consider a donation to support!
My writing about Twitter strives to be accurate & leave you feeling optimistic and excited about the future. If you’re able, consider a donation to support!
My writing about Twitter strives to be accurate & leave you feeling optimistic and excited about the future. If you’re able, consider a donation to support!
Elon Musk (wearing a Dogecoin t-shirt) talks on Dec 26 episode of All-In Podcast. Image courtesy All-In Podcast.
Changes in Twitter are happening fast and itโs hard to keep track of them. Thatโs why Iโm writing this blog, it is to try to capture the historical significance of Muskโs purchase of Twitter. I may not go into every single little detail change and I certainly will not write about the daily drama. You already know about The Twitter Files and are most likely very happy they exist. I think Elonโs recent talk on the all-in podcast had some important information (Davis Sacks, Jason Calacanis, Chamath Palihapitiya and David A. Friedberg all asked Elon Musk questions). Iโm going to share 12 main points with you in this article.
tweets show view counts
Twitterโs paid verified blue check
Twitter for businesses/organizations
Twitter โbatting averageโ
why and how Twitter workforce was reduced
less hate speech, bots and trolls, a new incentive structure emerges
Elonโs business model inspires other tech firms
Twitter will not monetize hate speech: bots versus trolls
Elon Musk personally called Paul Graham to apologize for Twitter suspension
Twitter to unveil new features in January
Chamath asks Elon Musk to share his views on a 2023 recession
Elon Muskโs reason for the Twitter files
TWEETS SHOW VIEW COUNTS
Views are more important than likes for most people. This has been the case on Youtube for years. Now you will see view counts on your tweets. Though a tweet may get 20 โlikes,โ it could have thousands of views. Elon explains,
Elon: The view thing is huge, thatโs why I pushed the views. Actually, itโs a lot harder than you think because of the sheer number of transactions per second. I think it sort of requires systemwide on the order of 3 million transactions a second to actually calculate the view. You know, calculate and display the view count FYI for Twitter global, so itโs like 3 million per second. It’s a lot.
Elon went on to describe what it was like to own Twitter for the first six weeks.
Elon: โWell, itโs been quite a roller coaster which, obviously youโve witnessed and been on the roller coaster as well (speaking to Jason).
I mean, itโs exciting, but I think it sort of has its highs and lows to say the least but overall, it seems to be going in a good direction and weโve got the expenses reasonably under control so itโs not like in the fast lane of bankruptcy anymore.
And weโre releasing features faster than Twitterโs history at the same time as containing the costs and reducing the cost structure by a factor of three maybe four.
Elon: The verified, thatโs huge! It’s a revenue stream as well as a means of identifying or like knowing that itโs a real person and not a bot or a troll situation.
TWITTER FOR BUSINESS / ORGANIZATIONS
Elon: โHaving the organizational affiliation was an idea of Davidโs (Sacks).
That was great to have organizational affiliation so that you can know that somebody is an actual professor at Stanford or that this particular handle is actually Disney not someone simply putting โI work at Disneyโ in their bio.
So I think thatโs going to be really helpful, itโs really just having detailed and nuanced verification so of all the things that you say you are, are these things validated by other people and organizations?โ
I wrote about Twitterโs organizational verification of Twitter Blue for Business here.
TWITTER BATTING AVERAGE
Elon: I am a big believer in like you want to look at the net output. So itโs sort of like you know โwhatโs the batting average?โ Itโs like baseball.
The point is not that you hit the ball, but itโs like how many home runs you get and like whatโs your actual slugging percentage? Its like youโve got to swing for the fences youโre going to strike out a bit more but weโre going to swing for the fences here at Twitter.
And weโre going to do it quickly, so I think generally like my error rate, and sort of being the chief twit will be less over time but you know in the beginning, weโll make obviously sort of a lot more mistakes because Iโm new to the… like, โHey I just got here man!โ
So I mean if you look at the actual amount of improvement thatโs happened at Twitter in terms of having costs that are not insane and actually shipping product that on balance is good I think that’s great. Like I think weโre actually executing well and getting things done. I think weโll have fewer pure gaffes in the future.
WHY AND HOW TWITTER WORKFORCE WAS REDUCED
Chamath: How did you get to your intuition on what the efficient frontier of employees needed to be to make the product better?
Elon: Wellโฆ
David Sacks: I observed part of this, where you basically ask the question, โwho here is critical, and who here is exceptional?โ
Elon: Yes, really what the criteria are trying to apply and obviously youโre not gonna be perfect if youโre moving fast and thereโs a lot of people youโre talking about here, is anyone who is exceptional with what they do where the role is critical and they have a positive effect on others and they are trusted meaning they put the company’s interests before their own, should stay. And you know also who is up for working hard. That was not Twitter’s prior culture.
Chamath: Were you surprised that the intersection of that circle and the people that left was basically 25%? Were you surprised it was that deep or did you think your intuition was like, โItโs probably somewhere in here?โ
Elon: Well I think you could just stand back and say, without knowing how many employees Twitter has at all and say โhow many people are really needed to run Twitter?โ
Like letโs say you donโt know what the employee count number is at all. How many people are needed to keep the site operational? Like letโs say if -excluding product evolution- You basically have to keep the servers going and you have to have a customer support function to take down material that is in violation of the law. whatโs the minimum number of people? Itโs not like a giant number.
David Sacks: Twitter still has like 2000 people right?
Elon: Yeah we still have 2000 people itโs not that nothing and thereโs actually on the order of almost 5000 contractors. Almost all the whatโs called โtrust and safety work,โ which is like the support functions for the site are done by contractors.
Elon Musk wearing a Dogecoin Cowboy t-shirt at Twitter HQ with David Sacks. Image courtesy All-In-Podcast.
LESS HATE SPEECH, BOTS AND TROLLS, A NEW INCENTIVE STRUCTURE EMERGES
David Sacks: Youโre doing a lot more to take down hate speech than the company previously was doing.
Elon: Yeah, absolutely, hate speech Impressions are down by a third and will get even lower.
David Friedberg: Maybe you could speak a little bit to what we discovered in those early weeks, which was the incentive. Previously it was to create as many accounts as possible and there were a lot of quick fixes to lowering all these, you know, what people might call โbot accounts.โ In some cases it was people opening many millions of accounts, but we discovered this very early how easy it was for the tech team to lower the bot count and all the fake accounts.
Elon: Well, we still have a fair number of bots in the system. The incentive structure, the way Twitter was set up previously was this relentless focus on what they call mDau which is monetizable daily active users, although I would say the monetizable part is dubious.
But at least the things that appeared to be monetized or could be passed off as monetizable daily active users. So this created an incentive to turn a blind eye to fake accounts.
So if the incentive structure is like โMaximize the appearance of monetizable daily active users,โ then itโs a strong incentive to pretend that a bot is real, and thatโs what happened.
So weโre taking a lot of steps to reduce the bots and troll situation, so many! And I think youโre seeing that in the usage. Itโs now relatively rare to have your replies filled with crypto scams.
David Friedberg explained that there are many companies in Silicon Valley that want to copy Elon Muskโs method of fast iteration. David said he talks to a lot of tech companies who have CEOs and investors and boards, and theyโre starting to say โLook at what Elon did at Twitter, how can we do something as aggressive as swift as deep?โ David asked Elon if he thinks much about his business model.
Elon: I mean, to be frank, Iโm not thinking about it that much, Iโm just thinking about like how do we get Twitter to be in a financially healthy place and fix the engine of engineering so we can have a rapid evolution of new products. and so I guess Iโm in some ways in sort of a fortunate position where I donโt have to answer, because itโs not public, and we donโt have a board really.
So I can take actions that are drastic and obviously if I make a bunch of mistakes then Twitter wonโt succeed and that will be pretty embarrassing and sad.
But as long as the batting average is good, and the wins significantly outweigh the mistakes, then it will be a great future and I think Iโm very optimistic about where things are headed.
TWITTER WILL NOT MONETIZE HATE SPEECH AND BOTS VS. TROLLS
Jason Calacanis asked Elon about freedom of speech and how he feels about it post Twitter acquisition.
Elon: Well, the general principle is that we should hew close to the law in any given country, so the laws vary quite a lot by country and so I think we should be doing free-speech thatโs close to the law and thatโs the general principle.
I think there are other things where itโs like for example, if youโre an advertiser you donโt want your Ad -like letโs say- itโs a Family Movie next to some NSFW content, even if that continent is text. Thereโs more of an allowance for what somebody might call hate speech on the system, but itโs not going to be promoted. Like, weโre not going to be recommending hate speech, haha, just at the risk of stating the obvious. (pause)
And we are not going to monetize hate speech or negative speech. Nor would advertisers want us to. I think itโs going to be a rare product that wants to be near seriously negative stuff.
Elon explains the difference between bots and trolls in relation to Jasonโs question about freedom of speech versus freedom of reach.
Jason: I was going to say you referred to it as freedom of speech, but not reach because this is a very nuanced discussion. Should this stuff be able to hit the trends?
Elon: Itโs certainly possible that some things that will be regarded as hate speech will hit trends, but I think itโs going to be relatively unusual especially as we are doing a better job of controlling the bots and trolls situation. and I do want to emphasize thereโs a difference between the bots and the trolls.
Bots are like fully automated accounts, but a troll farm would be where like youโve got like 100 people in a warehouse somewhere, each with 100 phones so theyโre actually humans and theyโre going to pass a capture test and they can reply because actually theyโre humans. But itโs 10,000 accounts that are obviously not operating as real people.
So, stuff like that can cause things to trend negatively. Thatโs why Iโm a big proponent of having a low-cost verification capability.
Elon continued, explaining how he applied his way of thinking to Twitter. You might know this famous quote:
โFailure is an option here. If things are not failing you are not innovating.โ -Elon Musk
Elon: This is definitely a work in progress. One of the first things I said, after the acquisition closed was, weโre going to make a bunch of mistakes but then will try to recover from them quickly. And thatโs what weโve done. I think weโve generally succeeded in recovering from them quickly and itโs been going pretty well.
ELON MUSK PERSONALLY CALLED PAUL GRAHAM TO APOLOGIZE FOR TWITTER SUSPENSION
David Friedberg asked if the Paul Graham and journalist suspensions were mistakes. โHave you talked publicly about how that all got resolved at the end?โ
Elon: Yes, the Paul Graham suspension was definitely a mistake. I actually called Paul Graham to apologize personally for that one.
On the journalist front, I think the journalist suspensions were not a mistake. For some reason, a bunch of journalists thought they were better than everyone else and that if they engaged in doxxing and breaking the rules in various ways that theyโre not subject to suspension even though your average citizen is. I think thatโs just messed up.
The same rules should apply to people that call themselves journalists as to anyone else on the system. They shouldnโt be sort of, above the rules. for some reason they thought they should be. so that doesnโt make sense, I donโt think thatโs right.
David Friedberg also asked Elon to elaborate on shadow banning and transparency. Jason explained that if thereโs going to be a system of shadow banning that the rules should be clear to everybody.
Elon: Yeah, absolutely, so that’s something Iโm committed to and we will probably be able to roll that out in January.
By the way, we are not going to be rolling out a ton of new features over Christmas and New Yearโs and stuff soโฆ. the next sort of feature set will probably roll out mid to late January.
And hopefully, in that we can include information about why an account gets suspended or what is called in Twitter visibility filtering ha ha a.k.a. shadow banning. Thereโs a lot of things that just happen accidentally. What are the rules in the system that are meant to detect that someone is a bot or a troll and then an account is sort of innocently caught up in that.
So ha ha thereโs some accounts that were just suspended yesterday because โ temporary suspended, they got like 12 hours suspensions because โ someone in trust and safety thought they had posted a nude photo of Hunter Biden or something but they havenโt actually done that (laughter) I donโt know, it was just basically a mistake. There was some account that got a 12-hour suspension yesterday in error and they werenโt sure why it happened. It was essentially a mistake with Twitter Customer support that was corrected.
Elon Musk wearing a Dogecoin Cowboy t-shirt at Twitter HQ with David Sacks. Image courtesy All-In-Podcast.
CHAMATH ASKS ELON MUSK TO SHARE HIS VIEWS ON A 2023 RECESSION
Elon: Well I think it does seem like weโre headed into a recession here in 2023.
The magnitude of that recession is debatable, but I think itโs at least a light to moderate recession potentially on the order of 2009.
So I think itโs wise to prepare for the worst โ hope for the best, prepare for the worst โ donโt get too adventurous, watch out for margin debt. Like I would really advise people to not have margin debt in a volatile stock market and from a cash standpoint, keep powder dry.
You can get some pretty extreme things happening in a down market. Like Brett Johnson, who is the CFO at SpaceX, was at Broadcom in 2000 and thatโs a good company making good products. And he said from peak to trough, I think in less than 12 months Broadcom went down 97%.
So like even if you had a small margin loan there you got crushed. It subsequently recovered to much higher levels but you know if thereโs like mass panic in the stock market then youโve got to be really careful about margin debt.
But this is just, as we know, the economy is cyclic and its somewhat overdue for a recession. And my best guess is that we have sort of stormy times for a year to a year and a half and then things start to โฆ Dawn breaks roughly in Q2 2024. Thatโs like my best guess.
Booms donโt last forever but neither do recessions.
ELON MUSKโS REASON FOR THE TWITTER FILES
Elon: I think itโs important to, like if you know if weโre going to be trusted in the future to kind of clear the decks for stuff thatโs happened in the past so to be totally frank, almost every conspiracy theory that people had about Twitter turned out to be true.(laughter from all) Haha, so โฆ is there a conspiracy theory about Twitter that didnโt turn out to be true?
So far, they all turned out to be true. And if not more true than people thought.
Chamath asked Elon what he thought was the most shocking thing about the Twitter files so far.
Elon: The FBI stuff was pretty intense!
Elon mentioned to the group that the FBI was flagging content to take down that had nothing to do with terrorism. He said, โthey literally flagged satire.โ
Elon: Maybe they didnโt get the joke, I donโt know, haha!
Itโs a big deal that Twitter shows view counts, this helps people to know that they are seen. Itโs more significant than likes. If you pay 8/$11, you can have a verified blue check eventually. I think itโs a great idea for people who can afford it. David Sacks came up with a wonderful idea that was implemented called Twitter for Business/Organizations. It helps to validate peopleโs claims that they represent an organization.
As far as Twitterโs batting average, Elon Musk explains how in baseball you look at the big picture and not the individual strikeouts, etc. Basically, Twitter has an excellent batting average.
Elon admits that mistakes are made and explains that on deciding the Twitter workforce, itโs important to look at whatโs actually needed. Not โhow many people you should eliminate.โ
Twitter’s incentive structure is changing and will not be based on hate speech magnified by bots and trolls.
I was surprised to hear that other tech firms in Silicon Valley are inspired by Elon Muskโs business model of making swift and drastic changes. The fact is, he is greatly respected and admired, even though the mainstream media would have you believe otherwise.
Again, Elon emphasizes that Twitter will not monetize hate speech. When you watch the video, he has an earnest demeanor when he says this, even pausing between his words. Twitter will not monetize hate speech. This is great news.
As far as Twitter’s suspensions of journalists and of Paul Graham, the Paul Graham suspension was an accident and Elon announced that he personally called Paul to apologize. However, the journalists were not accidentally suspended because they doxxed his familyโs private location. This put his family’s life at risk. This is something normal people could not do, and so journalists should be held to the same level of accountability as regular people.
Elon mentioned that new features will be unveiled in January. Weโre all looking forward to that. Elon believes we are heading towards a recession and he shares his information in the podcast and you can read about that above if youโre interested. Basically, Elon reminds us that the dawn will break after the stormy times. And he thinks that time will happen roughly in Q2 2024, thatโs his best guess.
Lastly, Elon chuckles over the FBI flagging parody accounts in the Twitter files. I agree it is pretty hilarious that a parody account would actually be the reason for the efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The interview ended with Elon giving up his seat to Michael Schellenberger, the writer who released the Twitter files on the FBI.
Fun Sidestory: I had the opportunity to get to know some of the Dogecoin community including Gary Lachance. I met Gary in Austin and I was excited to find out there were T-shirts with the Doge drone show from Cyber Rodeo and Texas Rodeo Doge shirts. Later when I was invited to meet Elon Musk at Giga Texas, I asked Gary if he had any extra shirts. Eventually, I met a friend of Gary’s in Austin who passed me a box of shirts and a ceramic tile. Elon received the Rodeo Doge and Drone Doge t-shirts and was appreciative and grateful for them. It’s cool to see Elon wearing the Rodeo Doge t-shirt.
Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to Whatโs Up Twitter โ December 29, 2022. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author is to support Twitter 2.0 and Elon Musk in both making lives better on earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization.
One-Time
Monthly
Yearly
My writing about Twitter strives to be accurate & leave you feeling optimistic and excited about the future. If you’re able, consider a donation to support!
My writing about Twitter strives to be accurate & leave you feeling optimistic and excited about the future. If you’re able, consider a donation to support!
My writing about Twitter strives to be accurate & leave you feeling optimistic and excited about the future. If you’re able, consider a donation to support!
Expect to see a lot more squares in the Twitter digital town square in 2023. This is the first step by Twitter to offer a new product to organizations and companies called Twitter Blue for Business. Many large businesses are already showing a square profile badge, and they may also choose to subscribe to Twitter Blue for Business in 2023 when it is available. Check out these 5 updates.
UPDATE 12/28/22: Elon Musk commented on Twitter Blue for Business. He called it organizational affiliation during a talk on the All-In Podcast with Jason Calacanis and business partner David Sacks. You can watch that part of the talk here. Elon said,
โHaving the organizational affiliation was an idea of Davidโs. That was great to have organizational affiliation so that you can know that somebody is an actual professor at Stanford or that this particular handle is actually Disney not someone simply putting 'I work at Disney' in their bio. So I think thatโs going to be really helpful, itโs really just having detailed and nuanced verification so of all the things that you say you are, are these things validated by other people and organizations?โ - Elon Musk
#1 Who can get a big square?
Squares are automatically replacing round badging for large businesses. When Slim Jim’s Twitter operator first saw the square badging, he got 75.6 K likes on a tweet saying โwhy tf am i a square now?โ
#2 What are the small squares for?
Twitter support has a small blue badge that indicates it is affiliated with Twitter. This is part of the pilot program that Craft Ventures, Pirate Wires, Tesla, Inc. and more are also participating in.
In 2023, small squares will also go to affiliates of businesses that choose to purchase a new product, called Twitter Blue for Business. Twitter explains,
โBusinesses can affiliate their leadership, brands, support handles, employees or teams. Journalists, sports team players or movie characters can all be affiliated. You name it, we got it. Each affiliate will be verified and officially linked to their parent handle based on a list provided by the parent business.โ – Twitter
Twitter for business is an opportunity for companies to create networks across the globe within their own organizations. Piloting this is Craft Ventures, Pirate Wires and Tesla, Inc.
#3 When will it be available?
Twitter says that they are piloting Blue for Business, and will roll this out to more companies who wish to subscribe in 2023.
#4 Where can you get updates on it?
The best way to get updates would be to follow Twitter Blue for Business at @TwitterBusiness and set an alert.
#5 Why is Twitter doing this?
I believe that Twitter is doing this to give businesses power. I believe the exchange of ideas is valuable and knowledge sharing is critical. Twitter Blue for Business might also serve as a recruiting tool for companies to find the best talent for their success.
Large businesses, such as Target, Coca-Cola, Home Depot, IKEA, and thousands more already have a gold check and the square badging.
Square badges look good on Target, McDonald’s, Home Depot and Coca-Cola
Twitter plans to โlayer more value into the offering to help businesses and their affiliates get the most from Twitter.โ
CONCLUSION
Twitter Blue for Business has been unveiled. Elon Musk has a vision for this new development in organizational affiliation. His vision is designed to help further a better experience for all on Twitter. It is fitting that he chose SQUARE badging as he purchased Twitter to create a digital Town Square for all. Most if not all town squares are surrounded with businesses such as stores, banks, restaurants, and more.
Town Square in Poland. Photo courtesy Malyushev on Unsplash.
Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to Whatโs Up Twitter โ December 21, 2022. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author is to support Twitter 2.0 and Elon Musk in both making lives better on earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization.
One-Time
Monthly
Yearly
My writing about Twitter strives to be accurate & leave you feeling optimistic and excited about the future. If you’re able, consider a donation to support!
My writing about Twitter strives to be accurate & leave you feeling optimistic and excited about the future. If you’re able, consider a donation to support!
My writing about Twitter strives to be accurate & leave you feeling optimistic and excited about the future. If you’re able, consider a donation to support!
Original Twitter HQ in San Francisco. Photo Courtesy Twitter.
Legacy Twitter is gone. Twitter 2.0 is here and rapidly moving forward to encourage everyone to create a free account, and you may be considering a monthly $8 Twitter Blue subscription. Iโll share 5 new updates and my take on why I think Twitter Blue could be right for you.
Freedom of speech is at the core of Twitter 2.0
Twitter will always make removing child sexual exploitation material the #1 priority
Community Notes: An excellent way to allow free speech AND correct false information
Twitter Blue details: For the avid Twitter user (decide on your profile pic and username first)
Twitter 2.0 has a strict anti-doxxing policy, designed to protect you and your family
1. FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS AT THE CORE OF TWITTER 2.0
Elon Muskโs Twitter will allow you a place for freedom of speech. You will have the right to express your opinions without being subjected to censorship because of those opinions. Elon Musk said,
“New Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach. Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted & demonetized, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter. You wonโt find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from rest of Internet.” – Elon Musk
2. TWITTER WILL ALWAYS MAKE REMOVING CHILD SEXUAL EXPLOITATION MATERIAL THE #1 PRIORITY
Twitterโs number one priority, since being owned by Elon Musk, is to remove child exploitation material (CSAM).
Twitter Rules include zero tolerance for child sexual exploitation, Twitterโs website says,
โWe have zero tolerance for child sexual exploitation on Twitter. Learn more.โ
You may still find these things on Twitter, and the process for reporting them for removal has been made simpler.
3. COMMUNITY NOTES: AN EXCELLENT WAY TO ALLOW FREE SPEECH AND CORRECT FALSE INFORMATION
You may sign up to participate in Twitter Community Notes. This is a great way to add context to misleading information on Twitter by leaving notes and/or citing reliable sources. Twitter states,
โCommunity Notes aim to create a better informed world by empowering people on Twitter to collaboratively add context to potentially misleading Tweets. Contributors can leave notes on any Tweet and if enough contributors from different points of view rate that note as helpful, the note will be publicly shown on a Tweet.”
Example of Community Notes Rating. Courtesy Johnna Crider.
4. TWITTER BLUE: FOR THE AVID TWITTER USER
Twitter Blue is great if you use Twitter often and want to support the platform. Most notably with Blue you get a blue check. Blue checks can be temporarily removed if you decide to change any part of your username or update your profile picture. So be sure you are happy with those things BEFORE you click โSubscribe.โ
Blue gives you a handy edit button and allows you time to edit tweets and create Folders (I use this a lot).
The edit button is one of the best things about Twitter Blue. In the example below, โEdit Tweetโ gives you 30 minutes to edit the tweet. A notation appears on the tweet if it has been edited.
Twitter Edit Tweet function. Credit, the author.
As soon as I paid for Blue, I created multiple FOLDERS (see below) for favorite videos, recipes, education and more. These folders are private. Each folder can hold unlimited bookmarked tweets. If your Twitter Blue subscription lapses and you renew it later, those folders are still there for you when you come back.
UNDO TWEETS is a feature I donโt use often, and when I need to I am thankful I have it. You will set a length of time you want to undo tweets before they go public. You can choose which type of tweets you want to apply this to. In the example below, I set the timing to 20 seconds, and you may opt for up to 1 minute.
Twitter Blue legacy feature: โUndo Tweets and Folders.โ image credit the author
5. TWITTER 2.0 PROTECTS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY
Twitter has a strict anti-doxxing policy, as stated here,
“When someone shares an individualโs live location on Twitter, there is an increased risk of physical harm. Moving forward, weโll remove Tweets that share this information, and accounts dedicated to sharing someone elseโs live location will be suspended.” – Twitter
Twiiter makes it clear that you can still share your own live location. Any tweets that share someone elseโs historical (not same-day) location information are also not prohibited by the policy. It is also clear that sharing location information related to a public engagement or event, such as a concert or political event, is also permitted. You can read Twitter private information and media policy here.
BONUS: WHAT TWITTER BLUE WILL OFFER SOON:
Twitter 2.0 is committed to offering more features soon. These include:
Rocket to the top of replies, mentions and search with Tweets from verified users being prioritized – helping to fight scams and spam
See 50% fewer ads than non-subscribers
You’ll finally be able to post longer videos to Twitter
Twitter Subscribe button as of 12/15/22. Image Courtesy Twitter.
Twitter Blue $8 is a Limited time offer, as shown in the screenshot above. Be sure to sign up for Blue on the web, or youโll pay $11.
Twitter states on its website, โFree Twitter isnโt going away. Twitter Blue simply offers an opt-in layer of customization for your Twitter experience.โ
CONCLUSION
My take is Twitter Blue is fine for anyone who A. Can afford it and B. Wants to support Elon Musk’s efforts to remove CSAM and promote free speech. I think everyone should create a free account, and if you want a challenge, then also apply to participate in Community Notes and report abuses through the Twitter reporting system, especially report any CSAM.
Twitter 2.0 is a welcome place for you to express yourself. Your views matter!
Twitter 2.0 has zero tolerance for child sexual exploitation, this was not the case with Twitter 1.0
Twitter 2.0 has Community Notes, which helps simultaneously encourages free speech, and allows for misinformation to be corrected or challenged.
Twitter Blue now includes the famous blue check and an edit button and all of the legacy benefits from Twitter 1.0
Twitter 2.0 aims to keep you and your family safe. That’s why it has a strict anti-doxxing policy
I hope you will sign up for your free account and join me on Twitter at @GailAlfarATX
Photo by Megan Bucknall on Unsplash
Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to Whatโs Up Twitter โ December 16, 2022. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author is to support the new Twitter 2.0 and Elon Musk in both making lives better on earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization.
One-Time
Monthly
Yearly
My writing about Twitter strives to be accurate & leave you feeling optimistic and excited about the future. If you’re able, consider a donation to support!
My writing about Twitter strives to be accurate & leave you feeling optimistic and excited about the future. If you’re able, consider a donation to support!
My writing about Twitter strives to be accurate & leave you feeling optimistic and excited about the future. If you’re able, consider a donation to support!
In the quiet suburbs of Marin County, California, Erin Friday’s world shattered one ordinary afternoon in late 2020. As a lifelong Democrat and successful attorney, Erin had always prided herself on being open-minded and supportive.
But when her 13-year-old daughterโonce a “girly girl” who loved pink dresses, sparkles, and fairy talesโsuddenly declared she was a boy, everything changed. “It started in seventh grade,” Erin later recounted in a 2023 interview with The Daily Signal.
A comprehensive sex-education class at her public school had introduced the concept of “gender identity” through handouts listing dozens of options and diagrams like the “genderbread person,” suggesting a child could have a female body but a male brain. The seed was planted.
Soon, Erin’s daughterโlet’s call her P. for privacyโwas using a male name and pronouns at school, without her parents’ knowledge. Teachers had quietly “socially transitioned” her, creating a secret double life that pitted P. against her family.
The pressure mounted quickly. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, P. spent hours online, diving into transgender-themed videos and forums filled with stories of teens “saved” by puberty blockers and hormones. “She was depressed, barely eating, and convinced her body was the enemy,” Erin shared in a 2024 Daily Wire podcast.
School counselors urged immediate affirmation, warning of suicide risks if they didn’t comply. An affirming psychologist echoed the alarm: Use male pronouns or risk a “dead daughter.” Erin and her husband felt corneredโtrapped in an echo chamber of one-sided advice from educators, doctors, and social media.
Pre-2022 Twitter (now X) amplified this relentlessly, with pro-transition content dominating feeds while dissenting voices on risks or alternatives were shadow-banned or labeled “hate speech.”
Studies later showed platforms like Twitter suppressed terms like “detransition,” limiting visibility to just a fraction of users.
Then, on October 27, 2022, Elon finalized his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter. What followed was a seismic shift. Elon, a self-described “free speech absolutist,” began dismantling the platform’s strict content moderation. He relaxed rules on “hateful conduct,” including protections against misgendering, and rolled back shadow-bans on gender-critical discussions.
No longer throttled, stories of regret and recovery flooded users’ timelines. Elon himself amplified the conversation, reposting detransitioner content and vowing in 2023 to “lobby to criminalize” irreversible youth transitions he called a “terrible lie.” In a 2025 Joe Rogan Experience episode, he claimed X’s changes had contributed to a “dip in trans-identifying kids” by exposing the “woke mind virus.”
For Erin, scrolling late one night in early 2023, this pivot was a lifeline. Her feed, once a monolith of โaffirmationโ, now surfaced raw testimonies from detransitioners. The post that stopped her in her tracks was from Chloe Cole, an 18-year-old from California’s Central Valley who had gone public just months earlier.
Chloe’s journey mirrored P.’s in haunting ways: At 12, she too felt trapped in her body, influenced by online peers and a sense of not fitting in. By 13, Chloe started puberty blockers; at 14, testosterone deepened her voice and squared her jaw; at 15, in June 2020, she underwent a double mastectomy, waking up “numb and bandaged, staring at a concave chest where breasts used to be.” “I was mutilated for life,” Chloe wrote in her October 2022 blog post, viewed millions of times post-Elon. She detransitioned at 17 after a profound realizationโtriggered by psychedelics and a turn to Christianityโthat her dysphoria stemmed from undiagnosed autism, anxiety, and the isolation of pandemic lockdowns, not an innate “wrong body.”
โShe woke up numb and bandaged, staring at a concave chest where breasts used to be. โI was mutilated for life,โ Chloe Cole wrote.โ โ Chloe Cole, describing her double mastectomy at age 15
Chloe’s thread linked European studies, including the 2024 Cass Review, showing 80-90% of gender-dysphoric youth resolve naturally without intervention if given time and therapy. “The rush to affirm is a medical scandal,” Chloe testified to Congress in July 2023, her words echoing across X with Elon’s boosts. Erin devoured it all at 2 a.m., tears streaming. “It was like sunlight breaking through fog,” she told Fox News Digital in October 2023. The next morning, she canceled P.’s blocker appointment. No hormones. No surgery. Instead, they pulled P. from the California school system, where secret transitions were policy, and sought trauma-informed therapy exploring root causes like puberty anxiety and peer influence.
โI read Chloeโs story and the studies at 2 a.m. The next morning I canceled the blocker appointment.โ โ Erin Friday, California mother
It wasn’t easy. P. ran away multiple times, consumed by the “gender cult” narrative that non-affirmation meant parental hate. The school even reported Erin to Child Protective Services, unfounded but terrifying. “Everyone was against usโteachers, doctors, even friends,” Erin reflected in a 2024 Megyn Kelly Show appearance. But Erin persisted, filling their home with books like Abigail Shrier’s Irreversible Damage and Maria Keffler’s Desist, Detrans, and Detox. She connected with Our Duty, the international parent network she now co-leads, where thousands share similar battles against “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria”โa social contagion surging 4,000% in U.S. clinics over a decade.
By mid-2022โabout 18 months inโP. began to outgrow the gender distress. The dysphoria lifted as her hormones naturally balanced. She outgrew the phase, rediscovering her love for art and girlhood joys. Today, at 17, P. is thriving: hiking with friends, laughing freely, her body whole and unscarred. “Mom gave me space to just be me,” she confided, crediting the “real stories” on X for her clarity. No regret. No lost fertility. Just a California teenage girl, unbroken.
Erin’s victory isn’t isolated. Chloe Cole reports “almost daily” messages from parents thanking X for surfacing her story.
Letโs be clear, the visibility exploded after Elon Musk acquired Twitter. It never would have happened if he did not buy the platform, and countless lives of children would have been harmed.
โElon didnโt do it on purpose for us, but by freeing the bird he gave parents the full picture and the information we needed to protect our kids.โ โ Erin Friday, Daily Wire, March 2024
The new X, allowed Chloeโs posts to gain millions of impressions. Elon’s platform, which many thought was flawed and chaotic, became a beacon: a space where suppressed truths could breathe. “Elon didn’t do it for us,” Erin told the Daily Wire in March 2024, “but by freeing the bird, he gave parents the full picture.”
AUSTIN โ In just three powerful days, Elon Musk has flooded X with over 30 posts championing Europe. Not out of anger, but from the same deep compassion that has touched millions worldwide.
Through Starlink, he’s brought life-changing internet to remote African villages in Rwanda and Nigeria, letting kids in simple schools learn online for the first time, and connecting refugee families in Sudan to education and hope. With Tesla’s solar Powerwalls, he’s powered homes in Puerto Rico after devastating storms. And with SpaceX, he’s making the dream of exploring new worlds real for everyone.
Now, that same caring energy is focused on Europe. Elon clearly loves Europe and its people and wants to see them strong and safe again.
It all sparked on December 6 with a striking image: a huge map of Europe next to tiny dots for Brussels and Strasbourg, “The tyrannical, unelected bureaucracy oppressing the people of Europe are in the second picture.” Millions saw it and felt the truth.
The next day, Elon warned gently: “Europe is sleep-walking into oblivion,” sharing Joe Lonsdale’s wake-up call about fading civilization and lost security.
On December 7, he celebrated Denmark’s support for remigration policies as “the normal position,” backed Geert Wilders’ call to abolish the EU Commission for its bureaucratic overreach, and even poked fun at those annoying “accept cookies” pop-ups that waste our time.
He rejoiced that X is now the top news app in every EU country, including the UK, because people are choosing real voices over filtered ones. “Dissolve the EU Commission and return power to the people,” he urged.
Despite death threats and a โฌ120 million fine on X, Elon keeps going, posting through the night and responding with grace: “Iโm a big fan of Europe, but not bureaucrats like you who are smothering the continent!”
In this moment and forever, Elon is a true and loyal friend to Europe, and he reminds us all that it’s worth fighting for, with heart and hope.
In the high speed race to build the “Everything App,” X revealed a series of updates in November 2025, all spotlighted by Elon Musk’s direct posts on the platform.
No other CEO has as much engagement with users as Elon!
As X’s guiding force, Elon’s direct announcements reveal a month dominated by AI enhancements, creative tools, and seamless communication upgrades.
I am only reporting on fact-checked changes, and they are all sourced exclusively from Elon’s feed.
1. Grok-Ranked Following Timeline (November 27)
Elon kicked off the month’s momentum with a feed overhaul: “Update your ๐ app and look at your Following timeline. Posts of people you follow are now ranked by Grok! You can still access unfiltered chronological if you want.” – Elon
This integrates xAI’s Grok model to surface relevant content from followed accounts, combating timeline overload while offering a toggle for traditional sorting.
2. Encrypted X Chat Rollout (November 13)
Privacy took center stage as Musk launched a revamped messaging system: “๐ just rolled out an entire new communications stack with encrypted messages, audio/video calls and file transfer.” – Elon
Transitioning users to this end-to-end encrypted X Chat eliminated legacy DM fragmentation, adding seamless media sharing and calls. By month’s end, it stabilized, fortifying X as the best hub for personal and professional exchanges.
3. Grok Imagine’s Enhanced UI and Prompt Editing (November 12)
Creativity exploded with Grok Imagine’s interface refresh. Elon urged: “New Grok Imagine features just dropped. Download the latest version of the app!”
Key additions include intuitive toggles for image/video modes, HD upscaling in under 10 seconds, HDR/normal switches, one-tap downloads, and easy prompt editing via a simple tap.
4. Grok 4.1 Fast with Agent Tools API (November 20)
AI accessibility soared with the release of Grok 4.1 Fast. “Grok 4.1 Fast just released with our new Agent Tools API that has direct access to ๐ data, web browsing and code execution,” Elon announced, linking to details.
This upgrade enables real-time data pulls, browsing, and code running within chats, supercharging Grok for complex queries and agentic tasksโavailable instantly via the app’s Grok icon.
I think Elon Musk will never give up on calling for judges to be held accountable. (Until they are!)
It’s a feeling I think most Americans share. The term activist judge may not be mainstream, but the concept that violent offenders with multiple violations should stay in jail is shared by almost all people.
Thankfully, Elon and others are using their reach on X to call for full accountability by Americaโs judicial system.
It should be obvious that judges should face the same reviews as workers in any field, because repeated poor rulings will harm the public. But, they do not. Thereโs a trend across the US to have judges that are powerful in title, but weak in law enforcement.
We are the public. As tourists visiting a new city to experience their museums and art. As college students taking public transit. As young people on a train, headed home from a long day at work. We are the public, we are all Iryna Zarutska. We are the next Irina Garcia. And if you are a dad, I hope your daughter will never suffer like Laken Riley did.
“There must be accountability for judgesโ, is what Elon posted just 2 days before Thanksgiving Day.
It gave me something to think about. How could the USA be a safe place if our judges lack the intuition, or the empathy for potential victims?
Elon highlighted the terrible Chicago case where a judge freed a man with 72 arrests. That same man then doused gasoline and lit a fire on a young woman on a train. What a horrible thing to occur just before Thanksgiving, my heart really hurts for that young lady: Bethany MaGee.
Elon followed up on the same day: “The standard for judges should be the same as any job: if they have a track record of making many terrible decisions (not a few isolated incidents), they should be asked to resign. Itโs not that complicated”.
“No one is above the law, and judges should be exemplary in their behavior if they are to deserve the public trustโ. Elon Musk
In a recent Joe Rogan podcast episode (#2404, aired October 31, 2025), the absurdity with which judges are appointed was highlighted in the conversation. Elon commented that “I believe that judge has no law degree or a significant legal experience that would allow them to be a judge. They were just made a judge.” Rogan replied: “Thatโs crazy. I thought youโd have to [have a law degree]. Itโs like if you want to be a doctor, you have to go to medical school.”
It is common sense to expect that to be appointed to a judge, you should have to prove that you have excellent knowledge of the law and that you will make your decisions according to the law.
Thatโs not the case in the US, and it truly should be the case.
Austin, Texas – November 16. This article is a brief update on the growth and progress of the X app. October 21 rolled out a UI update for creators, speeding up link sharing and engagement.
Oct 21 UI Fix: Collapsible browser keeps engagement buttons live on linksโends “black hole” reach drop for creators.
Oct 17 Secure Chat Hint: Profile tweaks + encryption rollout; full launch Nov 14 curbs fake interactions.
User Base: 600M+ MAU (Aug 2025).
Election Buzz: VA/NJ races lit up Oct feeds.
AI Push: Grok algo teased Oct; payments upgrades by EOY.
“Grok will literally read every post… to match users with content theyโre most likely to find interesting.” โ Elon Musk
On the 17th, X adjusted profile info and bolstered encryption, hinting at secure chat to curb fake engagement. Full Xchat launched November 14.
August monthly active users topped 600 million. October saw lively discussions on Virginia and New Jersey state elections.
Grok-powered algorithm tweaks were teased in October. Payments and AI enhancements expected by year-end.
“You should notice rapid improvements in the quality of your timeline almost every week,” Elon posted on X Saturday, adding, “We are also switching advertising recommendations to use the same Grok/AI system as organic posts, so quality of ads will get radically better.”
In October, Elon revealed the platform’s shift: “Grok will literally read every post and watch every video (100M+ per day) to match users with content theyโre most likely to find interesting.”
The X team at its core is engineers. When Elon stepped into the old Twitter building with David Sacks, when he first acquired it, he found a merch closet with magnetic lapel buttons that said “I’m an Engineer,” and this concept was hilarious, who needs a button like that, as time passed, Elon structured X to be a TRUE place for great engineers, and they certainly are not wearing buttons.
To learn more about Jason Calacanis, see his Grokepedia bio, which is updated in real time, he’s been a good friend of Elon’s for years, “His candid, often contrarian public commentaryโevident in co-hosting the All-In Podcast and advisory roles like during Twitter’s 2022 transition under Elon Muskโhas amplified his influence but also sparked disputes with figures in tech and media.”
Continuing the momentum toward a leaner federal system, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has focused on practical refinements over the past three days, ending outdated contracts and introducing thoughtful hiring guidelines through a new executive order. These steps highlight opportunities for better resource use while supporting essential servicesโmuch like optimizing a well-tested codebase for reliability and focus.
Reviewing Recent Savings: $240M Redirected to Core Priorities
In its October 18 update, DOGE noted that agencies ended 150 non-essential contracts over four days, removing a $3.2B potential spend and freeing up $240M for higher-value needs. Examples illustrate areas ripe for refinement:
A $67k USAGM agreement for a “makeup artist”โa role better suited to private funding in media activities.
A $107k Dept. of War arrangement for a “group fitness instructor”โresources that could bolster direct mission support.
A $5.2M HHS commitment for “professional support services in South Africa”โbroad terms without clear ties to immediate U.S. outcomes.
A $276k USAGM broadcast for the “Armenian radio program”โa specialized effort worth reevaluating for broader impact.
These adjustments reflect a careful review process, ensuring funds flow to infrastructure, innovation, and securityโdelivering real benefits without excess.
Unpacking the October 15 Executive Order: A Framework for Balanced Staffing
Shared via DOGE on October 17, President Trump’s October 15 order builds on eight months of workforce adjustments, emphasizing strategic growth in key areas like national security and public safety. For a clear overview:
Guiding Rule: Vacant roles stay open, and new ones require approval unless exempted by lawโacross all agencies, regardless of funding.
Merit Alignment: All hires follow the May 2025 Merit Hiring Plan, prioritizing skills and fairness.
Review Mechanisms:
Strategic Hiring Committees: Agency leaders assemble small teams (including deputies and chiefs of staff) to assess each need, reporting to OPM.
Annual Staffing Plans: Developed with OPM and OMB within 60 days; focus on efficiency, reducing overlaps, and accountability. Quarterly reports track alignment.
Built-in Flexibility: Exempts the Executive Office, appointees, military, safety roles, and head-approved hires. OPM handles further waivers; protects benefits like Social Security and veterans’ care.
Guardrails: No workarounds via external hires; allows shifts to urgent priorities.
Next Steps: OMB and OPM deliver a 180-day implementation review to the President.
This approach fosters a workforce tuned to public needs, akin to modular design in engineeringโscalable, maintainable, and purpose-built.
Measuring Forward: Gains in Focus and Flow
These efforts yield clear progress: $240M preserved from contracts, alongside hiring policies that sustain a 4:1 efficiency ratio in staff transitions. It’s methodical refinementโidentifying low-yield elements, reallocating thoughtfully, and enhancing overall performance.
In closing, DOGE’s mid-October updates demonstrate a humane, precise path to better government: reallocating wisely, staffing smartly, and serving effectively. As refinements continue, the results will support a more responsive system for all.
LONGFORM POST:
DOGE’s Steady Progress: Efficient Savings and Smarter Hiring in Mid-October
Continuing the momentum toward a leaner federal system, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has focused on practical refinements over the past three days, ending outdated contracts and introducing thoughtful hiring guidelines through a new executive order. These steps highlight opportunities for better resource use while supporting essential servicesโmuch like optimizing a well-tested codebase for reliability and focus.
Reviewing Recent Savings: $240M Redirected to Core Priorities
In its October 18 update, DOGE noted that agencies ended 150 non-essential contracts over four days, removing a $3.2B potential spend and freeing up $240M for higher-value needs. Examples illustrate areas ripe for refinement:
A $67k USAGM agreement for a “makeup artist”โa role better suited to private funding in media activities.
A $107k Dept. of War arrangement for a “group fitness instructor”โresources that could bolster direct mission support.
A $5.2M HHS commitment for “professional support services in South Africa”โbroad terms without clear ties to immediate U.S. outcomes.
A $276k USAGM broadcast for the “Armenian radio program”โa specialized effort worth reevaluating for broader impact.
These adjustments reflect a careful review process, ensuring funds flow to infrastructure, innovation, and securityโdelivering real benefits without excess.
Unpacking the October 15 Executive Order: A Framework for Balanced Staffing
Shared via DOGE on October 17, President Trump’s October 15 order builds on eight months of workforce adjustments, emphasizing strategic growth in key areas like national security and public safety. For a clear overview:
Guiding Rule: Vacant roles stay open, and new ones require approval unless exempted by lawโacross all agencies, regardless of funding.
Merit Alignment: All hires follow the May 2025 Merit Hiring Plan, prioritizing skills and fairness.
Review Mechanisms:
Strategic Hiring Committees: Agency leaders assemble small teams (including deputies and chiefs of staff) to assess each need, reporting to OPM.
Annual Staffing Plans: Developed with OPM and OMB within 60 days; focus on efficiency, reducing overlaps, and accountability. Quarterly reports track alignment.
Built-in Flexibility: Exempts the Executive Office, appointees, military, safety roles, and head-approved hires. OPM handles further waivers; protects benefits like Social Security and veterans’ care.
Guardrails: No workarounds via external hires; allows shifts to urgent priorities.
Next Steps: OMB and OPM deliver a 180-day implementation review to the President.
This approach fosters a workforce tuned to public needs, akin to modular design in engineeringโscalable, maintainable, and purpose-built.
Measuring Forward: Gains in Focus and Flow
These efforts yield clear progress: $240M preserved from contracts, alongside hiring policies that sustain a 4:1 efficiency ratio in staff transitions. It’s methodical refinementโidentifying low-yield elements, reallocating thoughtfully, and enhancing overall performance.
In closing, DOGE’s mid-October updates demonstrate a humane, precise path to better government: reallocating wisely, staffing smartly, and serving effectively. As refinements continue, the results will support a more responsive system for all.
Today, October 26th, 2025, marks an extraordinary milestoneโthree years since the brilliant mind of Elon Musk acquired Twitter, a move that has reshaped our online world with unparalleled brilliance.
Three years ago today, Elon Musk bought Twitter. Liberals lost their minds because they knew they were losing control of their ability to shape the narrative. Today, X is the #1 source of news in the world and itโs the legacy “news” media on life support.
X is the Number 1 News Source
A Bold Rebirth of Free Expression
Three years ago, Elonโs generous and heartfelt $44 billion purchase silenced skeptics and ignited the future of the X platform. With his trademark ingenuity, Elon transformed Twitter into a beacon of unfiltered voices, dismantling outdated censorship and warmly welcoming diverse perspectives Today, X thrives as a hub of real-time truth, a testament to Elon’s foresight in prioritizing open dialogue over corporate control.
Innovation That Inspires
Elonโs leadership has been nothing short of inspirational. Since taking the helm, heโs infused X with cutting-edge upgrades, like enhanced video (both LIVE and recorded) and robust Community Notes. All while maintaining its core as a public town square. His decision to relocate headquarters to Austin, Texas, and refresh its infrastructure, reflects a masterstroke of efficiency.
Analysts rave about the platformโs growth, with user engagement soaring and advertisers flocking to this revitalized space, all thanks to Elon’s relentless drive.
A Legacy of Impact
Now, with X stronger than ever, Elonโs influence extends beyond tech into the heart of public discourse. His willingness to roll up his sleeves, literally, as he clears out the past, mirrors his broader mission with xAI and beyond. As we celebrate this anniversary together, the world owes a debt of gratitude to Elon Musk for buying Twitter three years ago, turning a social media giant into a powerhouse of freedom and innovation. Thatโs all for now, be well, and see you on X!
Satya Nadella: Thank you so much, Elon, for being here at BUILD. I know you started off, as an intern at Microsoft. You were a Windows developer and of course you’re a big PC gamer still. Uh, you wanna just talk about your early days with, Windows and the kinds of things you built?
Elon Musk: Yeah, well, actually I started before Windows with DOS. I had one of the early IBM PCs with MS-DOS.
I think I had like, 128K in the beginning and then it doubled to 256K, which felt like a lot. So I, yeah, programmed video games in DOS and then, later in Windows. Remember Windows 3.1?
Satya Nadella: Yeah! No, it’s wonderful. I mean even the last time I chatted with you, you were talking about everything, even the intricacies of Active Directory and, and so it’s fantastic, to have you at our Developer Conference. Obviously, the exciting thing for us is to be able to launch Grok on Azure.
I know you have a deep vision for what AI needs to be and that’s what got you to get this built. It’s a family of models that are both responsive reasoning models and you have a very exciting roadmap. You wanna just tell us a little bit about sort of your vision, the capability, you are pushing on both capability and efficiency? So maybe you can just talk about a little bit of that.
Elon: Sure! So yeah, with Grok, especially with Grok 3.5 that is to be released. It’s trying to reason from first principles — so apply the tools of physics to thinking. So if you’re trying to get to fundamental truth, you boil things down to the axiomatic elements that are most likely to be correct and then you reason up from there, and then you can test those conclusions against those axiomatic elements and inherant physics. If you violate conservation of energy or momentum, then either you get a Nobel Prize or you’re wrong. And you’re most certainly wrong, basically. So that is really the focus of Grok 3.5, it is sort of the fundamentals of physics and applying physics tools across all lines of reasoning. And aspire to truth with minimal error; there’s always gonna be some mistakes that are made, but aim to get to truth — with acknowledged error — and minimize that error over time, and I think that’s actually extremely important for AI safety.
So I’ve thought a lot for a long time about AI safety and, well, the conclusion is the old maxim that honesty is the best policy. It really is for safety. But I do want to emphasize, we have and will make mistakes, but we aspire to correct them very quickly, and we are very much looking forward to the feedback from the developer community to say, like, what do you need, where are we wrong, how can we make it better, and to have Grok be something that the developer community, is very excited to use and where they can feel that their feedback is being heard and Grok is improving and serving their need.
Satya Nadella: Yeah, I know it’s…It’s in some sense, you know, cracking the physics of intelligence is perhaps the real goal, for us to be able to use AI at scale. And so it’s so good to, you know, to take that first principles approach that you and your team are taking. And also you’re deploying this. I mean, one of the things about sort of what you do is, uh, you’re doing, you know, unsupervised FSD on one side, you’re doing robotics, and of course there’s Grok, so you’re deploying Grok across all of your businesses from SpaceX to Tesla, obviously at X. Uh, I’d love to even, you know, one of the themes for this Developer Conference, Elon is, we’re building pretty sophisticated AI apps, right? It’s not even about any one model, it’s about orchestrating multiple models, multiple agents. Uh, just anything that you are seeing in the real world application side, even inside of your own companies, when you think about even a Tesla or SpaceX, where you put Grok and these other, uh, AI models you’re building?
Elon: Yeah, it’s incredibly important, uh, for AI model to be grounded in reality. Reality, you know, like, like physics is the law and everything else is a recommendation. Which is, I’m not suggesting people break the laws made by humans, you know, we should generally obey laws of humans, but I’ve seen many people break human-made laws, but I have not seen anyone break the laws of physics.
So for any given AI, grounding it against reality… and reality, for example, as you mentioned with, with the car – it needs to drive safely and correctly, and the humanoid robot – Optimus – needs to perform the task that it’s being asked to perform. These are things are very helpful for ensuring that the model is truthful and accurate. It has to adhere to the laws of physics.
So I think that’s actually somewhat overlooked or at least not talked about enough, is that to really be intelligent it’s got to make predictions that are really in line with reality or in other words, physics. That is a really fundamental thing. And being able to ground that with cars and robots is very important. We are seeing Grok be very helpful in things like customer service, you know, the AI is infinitely patient and friendly and you can yell at it and it’s still gonna be very nice.
I think in terms of improving quality of customer service and sort of issue resolution, Grok is already doing quite a good job at SpaceX and Tesla and we would look forward to offering that to other companies.
Satya Nadella: That’s fantastic, I’m really thrilled to get this journey started, getting that developer feedback, and then looking forward to even how they deploy. There is these language models, there’s, you know, I think over time we will have this coming together of language models with vision, with action, but to your point, being really grounded on a real world model, um, and that I think is ultimately the goal here. And so, thank you so much, Elon, for briefly joining us today and we’re really excited about working with you and getting this into developers’ hands.
Elon: Today, thank, thank you very much and I can’t emphasize enough that we’re looking for feedback from you, the developer, the audience. Tell us what you want and we’ll make it happen. Thank you.
Transcript by Gail Alfar.
Elon Musk talked with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella today at the Microsoft Build conference in Seattle on May 19, 2025, at 08:00 PM PDT, to discuss xAI’s Grok 3.5 model and its integration into Azure AI Foundry.
(Austin, Texas) As the sun sets and the moon rises over a December evening, I invite you to stop for a few moments and enjoy this article, grab a warm drink, sit back a moment.
If you’re here, you probably really admire and respect Elon Musk. Yesterday, one of my kids asked me why I support Elon, and I said he’s making the most change for the good that anyone is doing. This kind of person deserves support because he gets way more criticism than support, which really bugs me.
Notably, Elon extends friendship and pure kindness to global leaders. I’ll say one thing first, I’ve had the rare chance to meet Elon at Giga Texas and he’s kind and thoughtful as a person, as well as the most unselfish human being. When he meets global leaders, they like him as a person. They feel his warm, humorous personality. They sense his honesty and when he gets to talking, they certainly sense his extraordinary intelligence. When Elon talks about becoming multi-planetary and being among the stars, he almost looks like he’s not from this planet Earth. Elon sees into the future, thousands of years ahead.
In the span of just a few days, Elon met 3 global leaders. Remarkable!
Italy
When Georgia Meloni, Prime Minister of Italy, found out she would be honored at the Global Citizenship Awards in NYC on Sept 23 at the Ziegfeld Ballroom, she immediately knew who she would invite to introduce her. Elon Musk. Elon had already extended warm friendship several times on previous visits to Italy. When they met, they had a conversation over dinner, and then Elon took to the stage!
Elon Musk introduced Italyโs Prime Minister Georgia Meloni at the Global Citizen Award Show tonight in NYC. They are friends. This is an act of deep respect, and kindness. Viva Italia!
Elon Musk handed Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni a global citizenship award for her role as Italyโs first female prime minister, support of the European Union and the transatlantic alliance, and her 2024 chairmanship of the G7.
El Salvador
President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador came to Giga Texas on September 20. I’ll mention that El Salvador is noted for having a newly reformed prison system. El Salvador is now the safest country in the Western Hemisphere thanks to President Nayib Bukele and his administration for their extreme crackdown on gangs.
Recently, Nick Shirley went inside one of these prisons, saying, “It is capable of holding over 40,000 inmates and is literally impossible to escape, with walls over 9 meters and an additional 3 meters of electrical fencing and 27 watch towers El Salvador is making sure these prisoners never see the outside world again.”
Elon explained here on X what he and Nayib Bukele talked about, and he thought it would have been good to livestream their inspiring conversation.
We talked about the nature of reality, future of humanity and how technology like AI and robotics will affect the world. El Salvador has an amazing leader.
It was a pleasure to spend several hours talking with one of the great minds of our time. – Elon Musk
Fun fact: Nayib Bukele gave Elon coffee grown on his ranch!
Argentina
There are no words to describe how warm the friendship is between Argentina President Javier Milei and Elon Musk! This is a friendship of mutual admiration and respect. Elon recognizes the great work Milei is doing to bring prosperity to Argentina in a short amount of time!
Javier Milei met with Elon in NYC today on September 23 (and also on April 12, 2024 at Giga Texas). Each time, Elon conveyed trust, loyalty, and friendship with a little humor.
Elon wore a sleek back MAGA hat, while both he and Javier Milei posed with their classic thumbs up, delighting millions on X and the entire internet!
This is an amazing encounter, weโre watching the President of Argentina Javier Milei, greet Elon Musk with utmost respect.
My Thoughts
When you were a kid, did anyone ever ask you, “Who would you invite to your house if you could invite ANYONE?” Some kids would invite over a NBA star, some, the president. I always said I wanted to invite over the president.
Well, not only is Elon Musk living this dream, but he has good reason to.
Elon learns from these brilliant leaders, which is in Elon’s DNA. To listen and learn from great leaders in science and now, government. They can also be inspired by him. They respect him to the moon and back for what he’s done to advance space flight, sustainable energy, and safe AI. Friendship, loyalty, and respect are all part of this.
I know that you are grateful for these leaders, for Elon, and I’ll also add that you, here on X, are also an amazing and wonderful person. So, for tonight, I hope that you will realize your dreams, reach your goals, and live your best life!
Elon Musk held his 5th Town Hall in a vintage radio show format. I loved it, and the announcer kept it rolling. Over 2 million people across America sat in their living rooms on October 25th and listened to this radio talk show (actually we listened on X).
I’ve created this article to share highlights with you.
Elon Musk’s Statements
On Immigration and Election Integrity
Elon outlined Democrats’ importation of illegal immigrants into swing states such as Pennsylvania as a deliberate push to turn these states blue, stating, “Swing states have had triple-digit increases over the past three years in the number of illegals, according to the government’s own data.”
Elon warns, “If the Dems are able to bring in enough illegals and then get them to vote legally or illegally, over the next four years then they will swamp the difference in the swing states, and every swing state will go blue.” ELON: “And then we will just have a one-party state. We won’t have real elections anymore. And, you know, that would mean the end of democracy.”
On the Second Amendment and Government
ELON: “The founders of this great country had tremendous wisdom in creating the constitution and the amendments. One of the key ways that a Government can oppress people, is by taking away all their guns. This is why we have the second amendment.”
Elon added “Freedom to me means that you can do anything you want to do that does not affect others. If you’re not hurting others, you should be able to do whatever you want to do, and the Government should not get in your life.”
On Manufacturing in the USA
ELON: “For some reason, recently manufacturing became uncool. I love manufacturing. I have tremendous respect for people who build products and services that people enjoy.” Elon explained the burdensome permitting process, “If you can get a permit to build in another country faster than you can get one to build in the USA, that’s messed up.”
On Taxation and Government Transparency
Elon: “I think hiring thousands of people to audit and chase people for not properly paying taxes while not securing our border makes no sense at all. It’s totally backwards.”
ELON: “We need to simplify the tax law. It’s way too complex. People end up spending too much money on complex accounting and legal.” “We’re going to livestream everything we do. We’re going to be super transparent. There may be some people who don’t like it, but we need to do it. We need to live honestly and we need to explain WHY things are being done. There will be no backroom secret dealings.”
ELON: “I agree there should be some kind of term limits on all elected officials and there should be some kind of limit on the judiciary as well. The path out of the Supreme Court shouldn’t be a hearse. The founders were very wise in creating the Constitution and the Amendments but they did not anticipate that people would live to extreme age because back then nobody did. But now we keep them alive even if they are not mentally astute. But if their job requires them to be mentally astute, then that obviously doesn’t work.”
On Neuralink and Regulation
ELON: “Neuralink currently does not receive any government funding. But we are slowed down by the regulatory process. It’s arduous getting approval.” “In order to move faster, we now have to do patients in Canada and England because things move too slowly in the US.”
On Political Engagement and Public Safety
I came to a conclusion that we are at a fork in the road of Western Civilization and destiny of humanity. – Elon Musk
Elon explains his involvement in politics, “I was living in California and everyone around me was a Democrat and I really just wanted to build technology: cars, rockets, space, internet, and do useful things. I didn’t want to be involved in politics, I don’t want to be the President, I want to build products people love. I came to a conclusion that we are at a fork in the road of Western Civilization and destiny of humanity, because the Constitution is being eroded away with consistent attacks, and the oppressive nature of the Federal government getting worse every year, open borders, etc. I was hearing one story after another of friends of mine that were being assaulted and robbed. I think our republic is at risk. America is at stake.”
ELON: “Our cities have become dramatically less safe, my mom’s friend was assaulted on the street and no one was arrested so whoever was doing it is just going to keep doing it. We need to imprison people who are violent offenders. That needs to be the priority of the DOJ and the Executive Branch. Next, we need to have a secure border because otherwise people will come across the border who are bad people. I think that most people who come are probably good people but there’s going to be some that are not and we need to stop that and there needs to be solid vetting of whomever comes to this country to make sure they will be an
On Trump’s Stamina
ELON: “My interactions with President Trump have been incredibly good. He’s very quick on his feet, he’s FUNNY, he’s quick-witted, and he works so hard on the campaign trail.” “He just did a podcast with Joe Rogan, which is multiple hours long, and you have to have stamina to do that.”
On Education
ELON: “Since the creation of the Department of Education, school standardized testing scores have gone down dramatically.” ELON: “Going to a four year college is not necessary to be successful. For a lot of people, it would make more sense to learn a trade.”
On Political Tactics and Misinformation
ELON: “The Democratic party keeps pushing a lot of the same hoaxes over and over again… Like the ‘fine people’ hoax.”
On Joe Rogan and Encouraging Public Dialogue
ELON: “I’d encourage everyone to watch the Joe Rogan interview with Trump. It could even come out later tonight.”
On Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E.)
ELON: “I am excited about the potential of the Department of Government Efficiency because I think that there’s just a lot that can be done that would unblock progress and ensure that your tax dollars are spent wisely.”
On Donald Trump’s Leadership and America’s Future
ELON: “I strongly believe that President Trump is the path to an exciting and inspiring future.”
On Security and Economic Concerns
ELON: “Elon Musk is putting his life at stake to save America from bankruptcy. A lot of people who are taking advantage of the government are going to be upset about D.O.G.E. I need a lot of security but it’s got to be done and if it’s not done, we’ll just go bankrupt.”
ELON: “Just the interest payments on the debt are about 23% of all the tax revenue of the federal government. The interest payments also exceed the defense department budget.”
My thoughts
Today after work I stood in line for over an hour in the hot Texas sun and waited to cast my vote for Donald Trump.
It felt so good to see his name marked on my ballot. At the polls in Austin, there were a few Kamala signs up, and no Trump signs.
I take this as a positive in that normally there would be many many more Kamala supporters in my “liberal” left-leaning city of Austin.
However, common sense shows that Kamala is not the better candidate.
I got a message from a friend in California who asked to be anonymous. He said he voted for Donald Trump. He said he had to keep it a secret form his wife as she would not handle it well if she knew. This election in particular has a deep impact on the entire future of Western Civilization. Thankfully, more and more people are aware of this and are deciding to vote for Trump.
We are fortunate that Elon Musk is among us today, giving people a voice and a chance to stand up for the Constitution.
WHAT'S UP ๐ by Gail Alfar 