by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
There is a growing body of work written by people a lot smarter and better educated than me about different ways Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk might mishandle his acquisition and “kill” it.
Here’s my addition to all that.
It’s going to take a lot to dislodge the core 10% of Twitter users who produce most of its content. You’re going to need a better mousetrap, if you will, for them to leave the service. So, in that respect, Musk definitely has some breathing room. But at the same time, that breathing room is limited, if the perception hardens that Twitter is nothing more than a more popular version of Gab, or Truth Social, then there may come a tipping point where the service collapses and becomes just another MySpace or Friendster.
It would be at that point, obviously, where someone — probably someone center-Left — would come up with a Twitter clone that would be a “safe space” for people who just want a public form to talk about their food or rant about what a collection of deplorables MAGA is.
A lot is going to depend on the issue of what Musk actually does with the service as opposed to what his fan boys want him to do. If he pretty much just runs it the way it always has been while adding a few features, then the very forces that have made it an accidental success will continue. But if decides to let the malignant dingus Trump back on the platform, then, well, that, unto itself, could be the tipping point that leads to Twitter’s demise.
As I keep saying — all this uncertainty around Twitter’s future has opened up a very narrow window of opportunity for a similar service, maybe one based on an updated version of Usenet’s UX. That’s my idea, at least. I think that would be pretty cool.
But for the time being, I think Twitter is going to muddle through. Musk has a proven track record of success, so I think he’s probably going to pull this one off, too.
