Twitter is refocusing all its efforts on making the most money in the shortest possible time, according to some reports.
The tech blog Platformer reported late Thursday based on unnamed sources supposedly from within Twitter that the social media app’s new owner Elon Musk has truly shaken up the product roadmap. Apparently, Blue team is supposed to work through the weekend to come out with its$8 paid verification system (AKA paid-for blue checkmarks) by Monday.
Though much of the report states that these are just early stages of consideration, Platformer states that Musk also wants to pause the long-form writing project dubbed “Notes” as well as a just recently revealed crypto wallet. Both of those features have been long-requested by the blogging types and crypto bros, respectively. The report does not go into why these features are being put on hold, but if I had to guess, it’s because they wouldn’t make Twitter—and Musk—any immediate pocket change to justify the $44 billion escapade to take the company private.
Gizmodo could not independently verify Platformer’s report, and Twitter did not respond to a request for comment. The company’s press team has become practically mum since Musk took over the company last week, and it seems to be heading in the same direction as Musk’s other companies SpaceX and Tesla, which no longer have PR teams.
Still, Casey Newton, who writes the Platformer blog, has street cred on the tech beat and has access to internal Twitter slack, which leads credibility to his report. Reports that Twitter is laying off half of its total staff Friday have caused employees to call the day “The Snap” in reference to Thanos’ famous dusting of half of all sentient life in the movie Avengers: Endgame. The company is already being sued for laying off staff without giving them the proper amount of notice.
Newton’s report also mentions that the newsletter company Revue, which Twitter bought out back at the beginning of 2021, is being shuttered. On Thursday, the New York Times reported Twitter is considering adding paywalled videos and paid-for direct messages. The company is also looking at resurrecting short-form video app Vine, which one can expect in the TikTok age will be full to the brim with ads and paid-for content.
As reported by Coindesk, Dogecoin has been going on a rollercoaster ride of ups and down since Musk began his process of initially trying to buy his way onto the Twitter board, then eventually buying all of Twitter wholesale. After Musk finally bought the platform, DOGE’s price doubled over the past week. But with the news of Platformer’s report, the price of Musk’s beloved Dogecoin fell over 10%, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Dogecoin has long had a parasitic relationship with the “Dogefather,” and Musk’s public comments have caused the coin’s price to both spike and flatline.
Musk seems desperate to find ways for Twitter to make more money. Even while he claims things like paid verification would no longer make users “the product,” paying $8 for verification would only cut down on the number of ads users see, not the ads completely, at least according to Musk’s previous statements on Twitter.
