It’s an agitated time at Twitter for staff after Elon Musk fired a large proportion of the company’s workforce. Still, Musk and executives have promised a new ‘startup-like’ culture to bring updates and changes to the platform at breakneck speed. One of those relates to the Twitter algorithm, with the CEO saying to users, “you are being manipulated by the algorithm in ways you don’t realize,” promising a reverse-chronological feed but also the option to see an automatically generated feed of endless “cool stuff” similar to apps like TikTok.
Musk is big on giving people choices, and rather than only offering one algorithm, he’ll offer an ‘open-source’ approach which will no doubt be refreshing in the world of social networks and could change the way we use Twitter and indeed other social networking sites for good. Musk has also suggested he could launch a decentralized social network. He’s confirmed that blockchain on Twitter “isn’t possible” but added that one could be launched in the future. What’s perhaps ironic is that, following Musk’s takeover of the platform, decentralized social network Mastodon has seen its user base balloon to more than 655,000 users worldwide as people look for an alternative away from Musk. Whether you like or dislike Elon, there’s no denying that he’s a controversial figure.
Another change we can expect to see on the platform in the coming months is a culling of inauthentic users. Musk has pledged to make “authenticating all humans” a key priority and remove bots from the platform. He has also vowed to protect free speech, reportedly telling former CEO Jack Patrick Dorsey that it would “be great to unwind permanent bans, except for spam accounts and those that explicitly advocate violence,” suggesting that he would reinstate the account of Donald Trump. Some people fear that this means we could see the growth of right-wing accounts on Twitter, but Musk has confirmed it won’t come to this.
What would you like to see come to Twitter? Let us know and check back soon for more.