With Twitter now firmly under Elon Musk’s control, hysteria has become par for the course. Celebrities like Trent Reznor and Jack White are the latest to delete their Twitter accounts, while some worry that free speech is suddenly on its deathbed.
A reality check is in order. There are upsides and downsides to Musk’s Twitter experiment, but there is absolutely no need to go overboard with our reactions – positive or negative. The First Amendment remains very much alive in America. Twitter remains very much a robust social media platform, where public discourse is still engaging and mostly healthy (emphasis on mostly). Since Musk took over Twitter, user growth has actually picked up, so Americans remain largely receptive to Twitter discourse.
Musk needs time to act and the general public needs to be patient. As Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings recently said at The New York Times’ 2022 DealBook Summit, “Can you give the guy a break? This guy just spent all this money trying to make things better for democracy and society, to have a more open platform, and I am sympathetic to that agenda.”
But Twitter’s new ownership does raise fascinating questions for advertisers. In recent weeks, companies like General Motors and Pfizer have pulled their advertising from Twitter, unsure how to navigate the new social media landscape and therefore shifting their ad dollars to other platforms.
Musk and other Twitter executives should be careful with their rhetoric in the coming weeks, so as not to alienate other advertisers and exacerbate the skepticism that already exists. To quote former Twitter Chief Customer Officer Sarah Personette, the company’s “continued commitment to brand safety for advertisers remains unchanged.” And that does appear to be true from the outside looking in. Personette’s reassurance is the sort of leadership that Twitter should continue promoting. Advertising revenue is too important to lead otherwise.
Musk’s leadership team also needs to continue clamping down on fake accounts that undermine advertisers and Twitter’s reputation. Let the Eli Lilly debacle serve as a word of caution: Brand impersonators must be identified, shut down, and held accountable.
In a Twitter ecosystem where accountability reigns supreme, the advertising community retains immense leverage and ultimately profits from the hundreds of millions of Twitter users worldwide. The company is still deeply reliant on ad revenue, in large part because its users have grown accustomed to and still believe in Twitter’s free product offerings. The universal accessibility of Twitter, without a required subscription fee, should comfort the advertisers who make Twitter’s business model work in the first place.
According to The Harris Poll, half of frequent Twitter users wouldn’t pay to use the site, in light of Musk’s $8-a-month subscription plan. While about two-thirds of Twitter users support Musk’s recent takeover of the social media platform, they don’t necessarily back potential changes to its underlying business model. Therefore, advertising revenue remains crucial.
To the extent that Twitter users are optimistic about Musk’s takeover, they look forward to his planned defense of free speech across the political spectrum. Left, right, and middle, Americans believe in a Twitter that upholds the First Amendment, rejecting the impulse to censor content or stifle speech in a partisan manner. Indeed, 84% of Americans claim free speech on social media is important, a view that Musk seemingly shares.
A more open landscape can benefit advertisers, expanding the range of possibilities for ad content while empowering them to communicate with larger and more diverse target audiences of U.S. consumers. In the future, Twitter ads may be more creative and perhaps even more provocative, transcending the confines of Silicon Valley groupthink that once permeated the platform.
And that’s not necessarily a bad thing – after all, more speech is better than less, as long as it’s constructive and respectful. There is absolutely no place for antisemitism or other forms of hate speech on social media.
Assuming advertisers still fall within the confines of common decency, they can command outsized respect from a Twitter leadership structure that needs their dollars. Across the political spectrum, advertisers could even be granted unique concessions from Twitter in once-unforeseen ways.
Despite new ownership, the rules of Twitter haven’t really changed. Good-faith business practices should still rule the day, with advertisers refraining from hate speech of any kind and Twitter taking all forms of hate speech seriously. The social media platform cannot and should not become the Wild West for hate speech, so all parties have a role to play in upholding high standards. From Musk and other Twitter executives to advertisers themselves, respectful dialogue remains a top priority. Basic decency still matters.
That way, business can go on as usual at Twitter. Good-faith advertisers can still leverage the social media platform for considerable return on investment, while the platform can similarly leverage advertising as a key source of revenue.
The end user is what makes the Twitter experience – and Twitter advertising – worth it in the end. Musk and the advertising community should go about their business accordingly.
