Twitter’s reluctant new overlord had a message to the company’s (fleeing) advertisers today, and fortunately this time it didn’t involve any praying monks.
For readers that would prefer not to sully themselves by going on Twitter, here’s the full statement Elon Musk tweeted (with a few editorial asides along the way):
I wanted to reach out personally to share my motivation in acquiring Twitter. There has been much speculation about why I bought Twitter and what I think about advertising. Most of it is wrong.
(Which speculation Musk refers to here isn’t obvious. Questions about his motivations were largely a product of the nearly six months he spent trying not to buy Twitter, whereas his thoughts on advertising are public record.)
The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence. There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society.
(Strictly speaking, the reason he’s acquiring Twitter is because he had to. But maybe there’s a robust price discovery process required whenever the ultimate remit is to defend civilisation and promote healthy debate.)
In the relentless pursuit of clicks, much of traditional media has fueled and catered to those polarized extremes, as they believe that is what brings in the money, but, in doing so, the opportunity for dialogue is lost.
(Musk’s own track record of choosing dialogue over intemperate clicks is . . . mixed.)
That is why I bought Twitter. I didn’t do it because it would be easy. I didn’t do it to make more money. I did it to try to help humanity, whom I love. And I do so with humility, recognizing that failure in pursuing this goal, despite our best efforts, is a very real possibility.
(Musk’s position on loving humanity is also public record. His position on humility, not so much. And talk of failure might not be what potential second-lien investors want to hear right now — unless failure in this high-minded context means running a socially corrosive website that makes money, in which case . . . crack on?)
That said, Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences! In addition to adhering to the laws of the land, our platform must be warm and welcoming to all, where you can choose your desired experience according to your preferences, just as you can choose, for example, to see movies or play video games ranging from all ages to mature.
(Twitter can already sift content by age and user preferences, and has arguably been showing much more cognizance to the law than Musk. But given his questionable track record, it might be considered a positive that Musk is now limiting himself to promising things that already exist.)
I also very much believe that advertising, when done right, can delight, entertain and inform you . . .
(That’s not him, to be clear, but us. He doesn’t need to buy ads, but we aren’t him. We can’t get free publicity for our ventures with flamethrowers or short shorts or children. Nevertheless, he’s prepared to rent us some online real estate. That’s the humility speaking, presumably.)
… it can show you a service or product or medical treatment that you never knew existed, but is right for you. For this to be true, it is essential to show Twitter users advertising that is as relevant as possible to their needs. Low relevancy ads are spam, but highly relevant ads are actually content!
(Serving perfectly targeted ads is a bit like driving a car. It’s feasible to automate the process but given the high number of variables, anyone promising full automation is heading for trouble. For example, could a bot do this?)
That’s where we doo our best tweets too…😉
— Charmin (@Charmin) November 22, 2021
Fundamentally, Twitter aspires to be the most respected advertising platform in the world that strengthens your brand and grows your enterprise. To everyone who has partnered with us, I thank you. Let us build something extraordinary together.
(Fundamentally, Musk doesn’t own Twitter yet. The close date is Friday. Speaking of corporate aspirations in a majestic plural might suggest it’s a done deal — yet at pixel there’s still a small arbitrage left in the share price to indicate he could yet bail. Winning trust takes more than a tweet.)
All in all, in terms of first impressions, it reminds us of nothing as much as the speech included below.
Time will tell whether Musk is Supreme Chancellor Palpatine in this space opera, or Jar-Jar Binks.