wp-plugin-hostgator domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home4/scienrds/scienceandnerds/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6114ol-scrapes domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home4/scienrds/scienceandnerds/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6114Source: https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/5\/4\/23056524\/elon-musk-twitter-business-plans-charging-governments-corporations<\/a> Elon Musk\u2019s acquisition of Twitter hasn\u2019t been finalized yet, but the world\u2019s richest man is keeping busy by kicking around ideas for potential changes to the platform. His latest suggestion? Charging corporations and governments to tweet. <\/p>\n \u201cUltimately, the downfall of the Freemasons was giving away their stonecutting services for nothing,\u201d tweeted Musk<\/a>. \u201cTwitter will always be free for casual users, but maybe a slight cost for commercial\/government users.\u201d <\/p>\n As is often the case with Musk, there\u2019s no commitment to this plan: the guy\u2019s just tweetin\u2019. But it does fit in with what we\u2019ve previously heard about Musk\u2019s ideas for the platform. Reuters<\/em> reported<\/a> last month that, when pitching banks on his acquisition, Musk suggested he might charge media companies to quote or embed tweets. In each case the logic is simple: Twitter is currently free, people want the product, so why not charge for it?<\/p>\n Twitter will always be free for casual users, but maybe a slight cost for commercial\/government users<\/p>\n \u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 3, 2022<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Well, because these ideas seem obvious but come with a lot of potential problems. In the case of charging to either a) quote or b) embed tweets, a) would be counter to the first amendment (not a great look if you\u2019re promoting free speech) while b) would introduce all sorts of administrative headaches (tricky if Musk wants to reduce Twitter\u2019s headcount). Mike Masnick of TechDirt<\/em> has a great piece explaining these issues here<\/a>. <\/p>\n By comparison, making governments and corporations pay to tweet is more straightforward but still tricky to implement. For example, how big does a company have to be before you charge it to use Twitter? You probably don\u2019t want The Coca-Cola Company to pay the same rate as a local brewery, for example. But if not, how do you differentiate? Do you scale charges based on number of followers (which might not reflect a company\u2019s size), or revenue (which would need validation), or something else altogether? And how much do you charge, even on a tiered system? Ask too much and you\u2019ll push people away \u2014 reducing the network effect that gives social media much of its value in the first place. Too little and it won\u2019t make a difference to your revenue. And so on and so forth. These aren\u2019t insoluble questions, but they\u2019re not exactly simple, either. <\/p>\n At any rate, all this is vague speculation: we just don\u2019t know what Musk plans to do with Twitter at this point. But this in itself is informative, as playing things by ear is apparently the modus operandi of the world\u2019s richest man. A recent New York Times<\/em> piece<\/a> explored how Musk tends to disdain organized business plans when running his companies in favor of operating on instinct (and you can\u2019t say he\u2019s not been successful so far). Tweeting out ideas for changes to Twitter is just par for the course: let\u2019s see where it goes next. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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