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Fidelity marks down the value of Twitter stake again

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According to a monthly declaration released by the investment company on Sunday, a Fidelity fund has reduced the worth of its holding in Twitter for the third time after Elon Musk paid a total of $44 billion to acquire the social networking site in October.

As of April 28, the market value of the interest of Fidelity Blue Chip Growth Fund in Twitter, which is currently managed by Musk’s X Holdings Corporation, was close to 6.55 million dollars, down from 7.8 million dollars on January 31 and relatively close to 8.63 million dollars at the end of November.

Fidelity
Image Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com

As Twitter is struggling to recover from a decline in revenue from advertising alongside navigating a reorganization that entailed large job cuts, Musk selected previous NBCUniversal advertising head Linda Yaccarino as the brand’s new chief executive officer of Twitter a few weeks ago.

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Elon Musk would be shocked to learn that over fifty percent of the original Twitter Blue customers who paid eight dollars each month are currently not subscribing and have stopped using the Blue Ticks.

Out of the initial 150,000 or more Twitter Blue users, merely around 68,157 have persisted in keeping their paid memberships as of April 30 based on a Mashable report.

According to the study, few Twitter Blue subscribers continue about after signing up, using data gathered by freelance researcher Travis Brown.

The report’s statistics have not yet received any comments from Musk or Twitter.

A total of 150,000 people initially subscribed to Twitter Blue during a short period after its November rollout, according to reports from the previous year.

The micro-blogging platform also temporarily disabled new signups for about a month “shortly after those users subscribed as a result of accounts signing up for Blue with the intent to impersonate major brands on the platform”.

Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com

The survey concludes that around 81,843 people, or 54.3 percent, of those using Twitter who first enrolled for Blue, have terminated their subscriptions.

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Additionally, 2,270 premium Twitter Blue members who have no followers at all were counted.

As reported by Brown, there are at present 444,435 paid customers to Twitter Blue. Nearly 220,132 people, or roughly fifty percent of all paid Twitter customers, have fewer than 1,000 followers.

On April 20, when Musk eventually deleted all historical, verified profiles with blue tick marks but permitted select celebs to keep them, chaos reigned on Twitter.

Twitter

New Twitter CEO discloses plan to build ‘Twitter 2.0’

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Newly appointed Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino emphasized her enthusiasm for making a contribution to the social networking platform’s transition in a tweet made on Saturday. She also discussed how the owner Elon Musk’s vision for a brighter future has encouraged her.

It was Yaccarino’s first public statement following Thursday’s revelation that she was being considered as the successor to Jack Dorsey’s position as CEO of Twitter. since purchasing the company, Musk, who has been the platform’s CEO for $44 billion in October, made the announcement of her hiring on Friday.

Twitter
Image Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com

“I’ve long been inspired by [Musk’s] vision to create a brighter future. I’m excited to help bring this vision to Twitter and transform this business together!” Yaccarino tweeted.

Source: indianexpress.com

Linda Yaccarino, who devoted a long time modernizing NBCUniversal’s marketing business while serving as the company’s advertising executive for Comcast Corporation., stated she has a dedication to the future of Twitter and that feedback from users is essential to creating Twitter 2.0.

Also Read: Twitter to soon allow calls and encrypted messaging

Linda Yaccarino serves on the WEF’s Media, The Entertainment Industry, and Cultural Industry Supervisors steering group and is the Taskforce on Future of Work Chairman.

Prior to joining NBCU, Linda was Turner’s Executive Vice President and COO (Chief Operating Officer) in the Advertising Sales, Marketing, and Acquisitions divisions. Turner was formerly known as Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. She completed her graduation from the University of Pennsylvania.  

In her other roles, the profile says she “rallied support from the business community, the White House, and government agencies to create a vaccination campaign, featuring Pope Francis, reaching more than 200 million Americans.”

Source: indianexpress.com

Yaccarino is going to take control of a social networking site that has been struggling to recover from a decline in advertising revenue and is heavily indebted.

Because the company fired off nearly 80% of its staff after Musk acquired Twitter, marketers stopped using the service out of concern that their adverts would be shown next to harmful content. Musk acknowledged the sharp decline in Twitter’s advertising earnings earlier this year.

Despite Musk’s claim that Yaccarino would be helpful in the development of the “everything app,” which he had previously stated could offer a variety of services like collaborative money transfers, his selection of an expert in marketing indicated that online advertising would still be the primary objective of the business.

Musk has previously revealed his desire to appoint a new Twitter CEO.

The appointment of Linda Yaccarino as Twitter’s newest CEO, according to Musk, who also serves as the CEO of electricity-powered vehicle manufacturer Tesla Inc., will allow him to spend more time working on Tesla.

Twitter

Twitter to soon allow calls and encrypted messaging

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Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter Inc., provided information on upcoming improvements arriving on the social network on Tuesday, which includes calls and encrypted chat.

Musk hinted at “Twitter 2.0 The Everything App” plans a year ago, saying it would include functions like payments, long-form posts on Twitter, as well as encrypted direct messaging (DMs).

Twitter
Image Source: telegraphindia.com

“Coming soon will be voice and video chat from your handle to anyone on this platform, so you can talk to people anywhere in the world without giving them your phone number,” Musk said in a tweet on Tuesday.

Source: finance.yahoo.com

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Twitter’s calling feature will put it on a level with other platforms for social networking such as Facebook and Instagram, which have similar characteristics. 

Musk stated that commencing on Wednesday, a form of encrypted direct messaging will be accessible on Twitter, but he did not specify whether calls will also be encrypted.

a few days ago, Twitter stated that it will begin a purging process by deleting and archiving user accounts that had not been used for a while.

As reported by Hootsuite, Twitter had about 400 people working there in 2011 but today has over two times as many daily active users. The social media tool predicts that the number of monetizable daily active users, roughly 238 million people, will rise by 16.6 percent in 2022.

In an interview recently, Elon Musk disclosed that Twitter now only has 1500 employees, compared to the 8000+ individuals who worked there when he first bought the social media network. Even so, insiders at Twitter have claimed that the social networking site only has roughly 1000 staff members as a result of a recent wave of layoffs.

When existing contract workers are removed, two company-acquainted individuals claim that the workforce is much smaller compared to the 1,500 workers, CEO Musk had previously said BBC News remained on work. The multibillionaire didn’t specify whether or not these employees were part of his total.

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Although Musk took the position of CEO previously this year, Twitter’s workforce has decreased by roughly ninety percent, as reported by Business Insider. The article added that the firm currently only has 500 engineers left.

the co-founder of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, has acknowledged that Elon Musk is failing to improve the microblogging service. He has accused the Twitter board of pressing the “44 billion dollars” sale of the company to the chief executive officer of Tesla.

Elon Musk

Did Elon Musk unwittingly expose his alt-Twitter account?

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Elon Musk on Twitter recently introduced a feature that allows content creators to request that Twitter users subscribe in order to access their unique content. The chosen account must be subscribed to on a monthly basis by each user.

Elon Musk
Image Source: gizmodo.com

Elon Musk stated in a message to content creators, “Content creators may wish to enable subscriptions on this platform. Just tap Monetization in Settings.” The profile photo next to Musk’s, though, was what got people’s attention online. This profile photo showed that Musk had multiple accounts open on his personal device.

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When internet users started looking around, they discovered an account with the exact same profile picture as the one in Musk’s tweet. The username of the account is @ErmnMusk, and the profile image is of Musk’s son. It is obvious from the account’s Twitter bio that it was set up in November 2022. Even though the account only occasionally tweets, there are a lot of responses. and frequently lack logic.

Elon Musk pretends to be his son, who is close to three years old, in a few tweets from the account. “I will finally turn 3 on May 4th!” the most recent tweet reads. On December 6 of last year, another tweet reads, “For the love of God, can someone follow me.”

The majority of the tweets are completely meaningless and arbitrary, though, thus it’s possible that this account was formed with the express purpose of shitposting, according to a brief peek at the “Replies” section.

The account additionally responded to a tweet that included Caroline Elliso, the former CEO of Alameda Research, in its image. Alameda Research was a trading firm that specialized in cryptocurrency. The company suffered severe losses in October 2021.

According to reports, a cryptocurrency market crash cost Alameda Research about $2.8 billion in losses in a single day. The trading company submitted a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in November 2022.

People are responding to the tweets as the account steadily attracts the curiosity of a growing number of online users. One person suggested, “Ask dad to give you $8 for a blue cheque,” and another said, “Can you ask your father when Tesla is going to buy more Dogecoin?”

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Elon Musk’s purported alt account has about 48,000 followers. It should be emphasized that Musk has not formally asserted that he is the one uploading offensive content from this account.

Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, is known for his frequent online shenanigans. His Twitter page is a regular topic of attention, with posts ranging from contentious statements to updates and announcements on what is happening at his numerous firms.

Twitter

Twitter Clashes With Brazil Over School Violence Posts

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Twitter is under fire in the biggest economy in Latin America for its lax stance on material that is thought to incite violence in schools.

Brazil accuses Twitter of allowing posts that encourage violence in schools. Authorities this week started over 500 requests to remove content and profiles that were initially rejected by Twitter, which has advocated a free-speech attitude since its acquisition by billionaire Elon Musk last year.

Twitter
Image Source: bloomberg.com

Due to the controversial attitude, an executive order was issued late on Wednesday that warns Twitter and other websites of fines or even a possible ban if they don’t comply. cracking down on social networking sites carrying posts celebrating the attacks after a startling rise in homicides in educational facilities across Brazil.

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After putting forward the decree in Brasilia on Wednesday evening, Justice Minister Flavio Dino declared that “a child’s life is worth more than all the terms of use in all the platforms.”

The Justice Ministry’s push comes as the country is still in shock following the murder of four children this month at a creche in the southern state of Santa Catarina, which was committed by a man brandishing a hatchet.

Investigators frequently cite the development of active online communities that praise such assaults as one of the factors contributing to the ongoing rise in school violence. Local media stated that Twitter has started removing some of the content highlighted by the Ministry of Justice as a result of pressure from Brazilian authorities.

However, it is still unknown whether Twitter will comply with the government’s request. In Brazil, occurrences of school violence were uncommon, but researchers at the University of So Paulo have counted 10 cases during the last 13 months. This year, four incidents took place.

According to Carolina Ricardo, executive director of the non-governmental organization Sou da Paz, there is a definite link between attacks and social media networks that disseminate hate speech. She stated, “There’s also a clear reference to the US cases, all recent Brazilian cases were inspired in Columbine’s, so it’s necessary to truly debate social media regulation.”

Also Read: PBS Joins NPR in Quitting Twitter Over State-Backed Label

Twitter and Brazilian authorities also had a dispute in 2021 over tweets on school violence in the state of Santa Catarina. The dispute started when a judge directed Twitter to take down tweets about a police operation at a school that resulted in the deaths of two children. The judge alleged that the posts broke the nation’s rules prohibiting the spread of violent information.

Following Musk’s takeover, Twitter’s legal policy team, which censors content in response to governmental and legal requests and evaluates law enforcement requests for user data, suffered from “massive cuts”. Since then, other members of the policy team have left on their own volitionally, leaving fewer individuals with the time or knowledge to handle requests from the government.

NPR

PBS Joins NPR in Quitting Twitter Over State-Backed Label

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NPR announced its departure from Twitter on Wednesday, marking the first notable news organization to do so since Mr. Elon Musk’s turbulent acquisition of the social media site.

The departure ends a week-long controversy over Twitter’s choice to identify NPR as “state-affiliated media,” designating it similarly to big media organizations in totalitarian nations like Russia or China.

NPR
Image Source: bloomberg.com

Popular in the United States, NPR already stopped tweeting from its primary account as it awaited Twitter to reverse course. Twitter only achieved this by changing NPR’s label to “government-funded media,” something it also did for the BBC in the United Kingdom.

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Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, has criticized NPR’s reliance on US government financing, despite the fact that just a small portion of the Washington-based organization’s income comes from federal agencies.

All of NPR’s organizational accounts “will no longer be active on Twitter,” the organization announced in a brief statement because “Twitter is taking actions that undermine our credibility by falsely implying that we are not editorially independent.”

It continued, “There are plenty of ways to stay connected and keep up with NPR’s news, music, and cultural content”, urging readers to alternative platforms that it then provided links for in a final tweet.

Mr. Musk has long stated his intense dislike for the news industry, and he recently added an automated poop emoji response to emails from journalists. News organizations have had a difficult time weaning themselves from the network, which continues to be a major forum for dialogue among politicians, pundits, and public figures.

NPR’s journalists and affiliate radio stations “will be able to decide on their own if they want to stay on the platform,” an NPR official told Agence France-Presse. NPR left the platform just hours after Elon Musk said in a BBC interview on Tuesday that he would think about changing the designation to “publicly funded” because the original choice of the label was erroneous.

He also commented on Twitter’s contentious decision to remove The New York Times’ blue verification mark after the publication declined to pay to preserve it.

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Starting on April 20, all legacy verified Twitter accounts that were established to be authentic under the previous management of the company will have to pay to join Twitter Blue. Mr. Musk stated that he did not want Twitter to support “some anointed class of journalists” who decide what counts as news as one of the reasons for this.

Elon Musk bought the social media network for $44 billion last year and has since made significant changes, including getting rid of the verification process for the press, celebrities, and other well-known Twitter users.