The ongoing X and Elon Musk Transgressions Thread

[Yoho]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

I’ve seen thousands of users fleeing Twitter. Many advertisers are cancelling, too. I’d say yes.

You saw that? That is allot.

[GordonBlue]

Twitter employees brace for layoff notices today

Social media company has temporarily closed its offices and suspended employee access badges

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/twi...offs-1.6640222

Twitter Inc. temporarily closed its offices on Friday after telling employees they will be informed by email later in the day whether they are being laid off.

The social media company said in an email to staff it would tell them by 12 p.m. ET on Friday about staff cuts.

Musk, the world's richest person, is looking to cut around 3,700 Twitter staff, or about half the workforce, as he seeks to slash costs and impose a demanding new work ethic, according to internal plans reviewed by Reuters this week.

The company said employees who were not affected by the layoffs would be notified via their work email addresses. Staff who had been laid off would be notified with next steps to their personal email addresses, the memo said.

[Erick Estrada]

What a swell guy Elon is. I get that there's always fat that can be trimmed from companies but half the workforce is pretty extreme. The guy is a tyrant.

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

What a swell guy Elon is. I get that there's always fat that can be trimmed from companies but half the workforce is pretty extreme. The guy is a tyrant.

especially when he doesn't have a clue about the business at all.

[Fuzz]

"How to flush $44 billion dollars down the toilet." -A tweet, by Elon Musk.

[ResAlien]

We cannot discount that this may be a Brewster’s Millions scenario.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by ResAlien

We cannot discount that this may be a Brewster’s Millions scenario.

Ha ha ha. I had to go back into the mental archives to recall that one.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by GordonBlue

especially when he doesn't have a clue about the business at all.

From the 6-pack-of-beer-and-a-fiver school of app development.

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

What a swell guy Elon is. I get that there's always fat that can be trimmed from companies but half the workforce is pretty extreme. The guy is a tyrant.

I mean, I've seen those "A day in the life of a Twitter Employee" TikToks...

There has to be some people there who actually work, right.

[PsYcNeT]

It seems Musk has fallen victim to the Trust Thermocline

https://twitter.com/user/status/1588115310124539904

So: what's a thermocline?

Well large bodies of water are made of layers of differing temperatures. Like a layer cake. The top bit is where all the the waves happen and has a gradually decreasing temperature. Then SUDDENLY there's a point where it gets super-cold.
That suddenly is important. There's reasons for it (Science!) but it's just a good metaphor. Indeed you may also be interested in the "Thermocline of Truth" which a project management term for how things on a RAG board all suddenly go from amber to red.

But I digress.
The Trust Thermocline is something that, over (many) years of digital, I have seen both digital and regular content publishers hit time and time again. Despite warnings (at least when I've worked there). And it has a similar effect. You have lots of users then suddenly... nope.

And this does effect print publications as much as trendy digital media companies. They'll be flying along making loads of money, with lots of users/readers, rolling out new products that get bought. Or events. Or Sub-brands.

And then SUDDENLY those people just abandon them.
Often it's not even to "new" competitor products, but stuff they thought were already not a threat. Nor is there lots of obvious dissatisfaction reported from sales and marketing (other than general grumbling). Nor is it a general drift away, it's just a sudden big slide.
So why does this happen? As I explain to these people and places, it's because they breached the Trust Thermocline.

I ask them if they'd been increasing prices. Changed service offerings. Modified the product.

The answer is normally: "yes, but not much. And everyone still paid"
Then I ask if they did that the year before. Did they increase prices last year? Change the offering? Modify the product?

Again: "yes, but not much."

The answer is normally: "yes, but not much. And everyone still paid."

"And the year before?"

"Yes but not much. And everyone still paid."

Well, you get the idea.
And here is where the Trust Thermocline kicks in. Because too many people see service use as always following an arc. They think that as long as usage is ticking up, they can do what they like to cost and product.

And (critically) that they can just react when the curve flattens
But with a lot of CONTENT products (inc social media) that's not actually how it works. Because it doesn't account for sunk-cost lock-in.

Users and readers will stick to what they know, and use, well beyond the point where they START to lose trust in it. And you won't see that.
But they'll only MOVE when they hit the Trust Thermocline. The point where their lack of trust in the product to meet their needs, and the emotional investment they'd made in it, have finally been outweighed by the physical and emotional effort required to abandon it.
At this point, I normally get asked something like:

"So if we undo the last few changes and drop the price, we get them back?"

And then I have to break the news that nope: that's not how it works.

Because you're past the Thermocline now. You can't make them trust you again.

Classic examples of this behaviour are digital subscription services, where the product gets squeezed over time, or print magazines (particularly in B2B) that constantly ramp up their prices a little bit each year until it's too late.
Virtually the only way to avoid catastrophic drop-off from breaching the Trust Thermocline is NOT TO BREACH IT.

I can count on one hand the times I've witnessed a company come back from it. And even they never reached previous heights.
So what's the lesson for businesses here?

- Watch for grumbling and LISTEN to it.
- Don't assume that because people have swallowed a price or service change that'll swallow another one.
- Treat user trust as a finite asset. Because it is.
And I will admit this is one of the reasons I am (with sadness, because I've got a lot of value out of this place) watching Elon's current actions wrt Twitter with curious horror.

Because I've NEVER seen someone make such a deep dive for the Trust Thermocline, so quickly.
It's why I've got about 20 big accounts I'm watching on here to see when they personally feel he crosses that Thermocline and begin shifting their main effort and presence elsewhere.

Because that'll be the moment I suspect things will start changing very quickly. /END

[Yeah_Baby]

big last day of summer camp energy in all my twitter group dms today lmao

[bizaro86]

It'll be quite interesting to see what happens here. I think if Twitter makes it past the initial phase of shock it'll be fine. But network effects do work in reverse, so if enough people quit it'll snowball, because once the people you follow leave you'll leave too.

But if they can stave that off cutting a huge amount of expenses is probably what Twitter needed. They were bloated expense wise on basically every reasonable metric, so if they stay alive they'll be much healthier.

I think the layoffs are like open heart surgery - if the patient survives they'll probably be healthier/live longer, but surviving the procedure isn't guaranteed.

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

It seems Musk has fallen victim to the Trust Thermocline

https://twitter.com/user/status/1588115310124539904

this was awesomely interesting.
thanks for posting it!

After having it explained so simply and clearly, it makes perfect sense and can be applied to a whole heck of a lot.

[Old Yeller]

I've never heard of the trust thermocline (or an actual thermocline) but it's an interesting metaphor... I wonder what other companies he's seen that at.

[Yeah_Baby]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

It'll be quite interesting to see what happens here. I think if Twitter makes it past the initial phase of shock it'll be fine. But network effects do work in reverse, so if enough people quit it'll snowball, because once the people you follow leave you'll leave too.

But if they can stave that off cutting a huge amount of expenses is probably what Twitter needed. They were bloated expense wise on basically every reasonable metric, so if they stay alive they'll be much healthier.

I think the layoffs are like open heart surgery - if the patient survives they'll probably be healthier/live longer, but surviving the procedure isn't guaranteed.

I'm a certified idiot but I don't understand how they can cut their workforce and implement all the technical changes to the platform they're talking about.

[photon]

Already a class action lawsuit, I guess there's a law in the US which says mass layoffs at large employers must have 60 days notice.

I'm sure fighting such lawsuits will further help Twitter's bottom line lol.

[photon]

Musk is whining about "activist groups" causing a drop in Twitter revenue... wait Elon, I thought you were FOR free speech. Activist groups can speak too!

Of course it's more likely advertisers are worried about the fact you're a chaos monkey who's fallen for right wing conspiracy theories and aren't confident you can navigate the strategic and tactical minefield to make Twitter grow.

Musk sends an open letter to advertisers saying Twitter is safe for them, but then he tweets a conspiracy theory about a brutal attack on a political figure's spouse. They're right to not blindly trust.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1588538640401018880

I read one article that put it well.. Twitter's problems aren't engineering problems, they're social/strategic/political. Brands want brand safety, they don't want their advertising next to racism or transphobia or extreme views.

I wonder what will happen when China tells Musk he has to do something on Twitter or else have Tesla negatively impacted (market access, resources, etc)?

[KootenayFlamesFan]

He's even tweeting like Trump now.

For such a smart guy, he doesn't seem very smart.

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by photon

Already a class action lawsuit, I guess there's a law in the US which says mass layoffs at large employers must have 60 days notice.

I'm sure fighting such lawsuits will further help Twitter's bottom line lol.

Good. If he does lay off the people expected, it's going to be a pretty slam dunk case for the former employees. No way Musk can win that. He won't be able to bully his way out of it.

There are many unflattering words to describe Musk, but if I had to pick one, Hubris has to be the most accurate.

[Sainters7]

He's going to wreck Twitter, isn't he...ugh. It's the only major social media platform I use regularly, I'm not into the whole Insta/Facebook/Tik Tok thing. I'm not going anywhere, just gonna do my thing on there and do my best to ignore all this Elon noise, but if he ruins Twitter with all this paid stuff and his sabre-rattling, I'm going to be so annoyed. What a clown.