The richest person in the world, Elon Musk, made a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion. If you run a small business and use Twitter for marketing — will this affect your business? Here is how Twitter could change under this new ownership.
Free speech
First, Musk aims to make Twitter a platform for free speech. Until now, Twitter actively moderated posts and often removed people for certain types of comments. Some people see this as positive policing, because it potentially prevented hate speech and conspiracy theories from being propagated. But, others view this as blocking free speech. So, this different approach could attract more users or scare them away.
Open source algorithm
One of Musk’s ideas could be a great help for business marketing. He says he would like to let users see why their content gets boosted or buried. This could help businesses understand the type of content that is more likely to be seen and shared by customers.
Less dependent on ads
Twitter is reliant on advertisements as a revenue stream. Many users complain that the feed is now too full of ads. This is something that Musk hopes to change. Small businesses that use Twitter ads may need to begin researching other ways to use the platform.
Fewer bots
The new owner will also make a concerted effort to prevent bots from overtaking Twitter. Bots use Twitter accounts to automatically generate content and advertisements. So, this could create a better user experience for Twitter, which has recently been plagued by bots. But, at least in the short term, it could also affect how some industry Twitter tools work.
The X Factor
Elon Musk has had a golden touch on many of the companies he has led, founded, and sponsored like Tesla, SpaceX and PayPal. Many people consider him a visionary. So, just the fact that he owns the company may attract more users and investors. It could even disrupt the social media industry.
If you are interested in learning how to use Twitter and other social media platforms to improve the marketing strategy for your local business, Octane can help.