Musk said there are just 1,500 employees left, down from around 8,000
One user that’s left the platform is National Public Radio, which said Wednesday its 52 official accounts will no longer publish content after Twitter labeled the news outlet “state-affiliated media.” Though this was later revised to “government-funded media,” the US public radio network said that was inaccurate and misleading.
The one-drop rule was a legal principle of racial classification that was prominent in the 20th-century United States. It asserted that any person with even one ancestor of black ancestry (“one drop” of “black blood”)[1][2] is considered black (Negro or colored in historical terms).
While NPR does not receive any direct federal funding, it does receive a small number of competitive grants from CPB and federal agencies like the Department of Education and the Department of Commerce.[34]This funding amounts amounted to less than 0.1% of revenues, according to its [2020 public filings.](National Public Radio Inc - Form 990 for period ending Sep 2020 - Nonprofit Explorer - ProPublica)
Twitter CEO Elon Musk reportedly told employees in an email on Friday that the company is now valued at $20 billion, less than half of the $44 billion he paid to purchase the company last year.
Corporate grants, foundation grants, and public funding drives as are common at all NPR stations. The largest source of revenue is, I believe, payment for use of programs by location stations, and yes, local stations sometimes get government grants, amounting to (usually) less than 10% of their funding. (Ironically, the percentages are higher in rural areas, as the stations do not have corporate sponsorships to tap.)
If you listen to NPR (I do not, but Mrs. Goofy does) you will hear language similar to what you see on PBS. “All Things Considered” is brought to you with help from the Shenandoah Foundation, McDonld’s Corporation, and…” That sort of thing. The local NPR station here carries “announcements” which are informative, but not sales oriented in nature. (Eg “Blinstroms has operated continuously in Chapel Hill for 25 years, serving the community with storm doors, deep dish pizza, and brokered airline tickets.”)
Musk can score a win because he gets to play to his base, but I don’t see the business proposition.
Most people who use Twitter never Tweet. They check in to follow people/organizations they like, like sports celebrities, social media influences, news organizations, politicians, etc.
The percentage of people who use Twitter just to follow NPR has got to be pretty small. So, not much loss. But what did Musk gain here?
People are talking about Twitter, not Mastodon. People are arguing about what Twitter should do or not do - as if Twitter was important. People are looking at what Twitter does with other similar media outlets (BBC, VOA). Etc.
I use Twitter. I do not spend on Twitter. I do not read much on Twitter. It is a part of our culture like our smaller culture here. I use Twitter because a segment deals in NFTs.
I am seeing a lot of blue checkmarks. Loads of people are paying what amounts to a monthly subscription fee. That means Musk does not need advertisers. But that does not mean Musk wont conquer the ad space and the crypto space next for more money yet.
What is missing when you compare FB to Twitter is the major markets overlap successfully for Twitter. In the third world FB has its billion plus users that dwarf Twitter’s numbers. For FB that is useful because they have Whatsapp. But in the first world it is possible to turn Twitter’s valuable audience into a cash machine.
Musk knows his subscription rate of blue checkmarks.
My own take as a joke. People want to be seen as having something worthwhile to say. That is why the blue checkmark is a seller. Most people dread that they are saying something unimportant.
Remains to be seen. I remember when Murdoch took MySpace from modestly profitable to even more profitable. For about a month. Then use dropped off, and, well, does it even exist anymore?
Not predicting anything, just mentioning that short term results aren’t indicative of much. Rupe lost a billion there, I hope Elon shows him how to lose more. Lots more.
As a capitalist, far less so. I would guess that there is not an insignificant delta of NPR daily listeners that would also otherwise be users of both twitter and owners of Tesla. It can’t be good for the brand to alienate your potential customers.
Snip:
The median HHI of an NPR News listener is approximately $103,000 per year. More than 80 percent of listeners have an HHI over $50,000 per year, and almost 70 percent of listeners have an HHI over $75,000. This means public radio listeners generally have more spending power than general market radio listeners. They spend money on travel, books, fitness, and they own financial securities, signaling that they have disposable income.
I think the better frame for looking at this is one that Matt Levine used over at Bloomberg. Twitter is Musk’s favorite game. It pleased him to pretend that he wanted to buy it, because that was a fun thing to do on his game. He went too far, and a judge forced him to actually buy it - but it’s still his favorite game to play. So now that he owns it, he gets to control the game completely - and take whatever actions please him to take. Some wealthy people like to own sports teams, because it’s fun for them - Musk owns Twitter.
Perhaps Musk learned from the best-Trump.
Trump kept saying outrageous things that the media wasn’t able to resist deriding and deploring and generally calling attention to. Lo and behold, the saying “any publicity is good publicity” came true. Trump recognized that a huge segment of voters were angry at establishment politicians and were ready to support someone the Establishment obviously hated.
There were over 16 GOP candidates in 2016 and the Main Stream Media raised Trump’s name recognition. Trump also used Twitter to aid his campaign too.
Of course Trump was a failure as a president with the exception of creating an economic war with China starting with tariffs which the current administration has continued.
