Elon Musk Pleads with Advertisers to Return to Twitter, Outlines Plans for User Verification and Banking Features

Strategic Insights -

Elon Musk's hour-long Twitter Spaces session on Wednesday aimed to reassure major advertisers that his vision for Twitter is aligned with their values, despite concerns over erratic management and content moderation. The Twitter owner asked skeptics to give his platform a chance, while unveiling plans for user verification, content moderation, and even banking features. Musk emphasized the importance of improving the "signal-to-noise ratio" on Twitter and acknowledged the challenges of running a social media platform.

Key Takeaways:

  • Musk pleaded with advertisers to return to Twitter, citing the need for their participation to grow the platform's user base and advertising revenue.
  • Twitter will offer a blue check mark to users who pay $8 a month for Twitter Blue, but users will not be required to provide identifying information other than a credit card and a phone number.
  • The platform will default to displaying tweets from Twitter Blue subscribers, while tweets from non-paying users will be relegated to a separate page on the site.
  • Brands will be expected to foot the bill for their own verification on Twitter Blue.
  • Musk acknowledged brands' concerns about hate speech and other offensive content on the platform, promising to invest in ideas to address the issue.
  • Twitter is increasing its investment in ideas to battle hateful content, including warning messages and interstitials.
  • The platform is at work changing its existing codebase to support new features such as longform video.
  • Community Notes, formerly known as Birdwatch, will be a key feature for crowdsourced fact-checking on the platform.

Statistics:

  • Twitter has over 100,000 users tuning in to Musk's hour-long Twitter Spaces session.
  • The platform's Twitter Blue subscription service will cost users $8 a month.
  • Twitter will set up each user with an initial gift of $10 to test its payment system.
  • Background checks on users who agree to pay for Twitter Blue will not be performed, according to Musk.
  • Twitter has implemented many steps to address hateful content in the past, including warning messages and interstitials.

Sources:

  • CNN: Elon Musk to advertisers: "Just use Twitter" and see how it's doing
  • Twitter: Twitter Spaces session attended by representatives from Adidas, Chevron, Kate Spade, Nissan, and Walgreens
  • US Treasury Department: Financial Crimes Enforcement Network received Twitter's registration filing from Twitter Payments LLC on Nov. 4.