What Does Elon Musk’s Twitter Look Like For Digital Marketers
Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk has joined the board of directors of Twitter with a 9.2 percent stake. What will he be looking to change? How will it affect Twitter marketing?
Elon Musk became Twitter’s largest shareholder on April 4 after purchasing a 9.1 percent part of the business. An SEC report indicates that he will be Director in the Class II category until 2024’s annual shareholder’s meeting 2024.
The position is not a privileged position on the board, limiting the shareholder’s stake to 14.9 percent or less of common stock during his time and for 90-days after that.
The issue now is What does the power of Elon Musk be for Twitter and the world of digital marketing in general?
What alternates Between Musk Invested & Involved With Twitter?
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, who stepped off as CEO last year, was pleased to welcome Musk to the Board of Directors. He stated his belief that Musk and the current Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal “will be an incredible team.”
Musk has already outlined his ideas for the platform, including the addition of an edit feature that Musk has been working towards since the end of last year. Musk also called Crypto bots to be the ” single most annoying problem” on the platform.
As the biggest shareholder of this company, Musk has a significant influence in determining the company’s direction.
However, as a single member of the board of 12, He will not have any accountability for the day-to-day operations or any decisions.
So, even though he greatly influences the company’s future, he can’t initiate functional changes or reverse choices unilaterally.
“This is a way to bring Musk all the way around, from the man who founded X.com (which later evolved into PayPal) and back into the realm of apps for communications – and possibly payments. The patent portfolio of Twitter is extensive, covering everything from tweets to patents on semi-conductors,” claims Loren Baker who founded Search Engine Journal and Foundation Digital.
Twitter’s patent library is more than 1,400 inventions. The majority of these result from acquisitions (just 282 applications were filed by Twitter, the company itself).
“It is un-clear exactly where Musk fits in here, but as with his solar and space endeavors, most of his projects & acquisitions become closely tied to Tesla,” Baker said, noting that one obvious link is Twitter on its Tesla screens.
“But with trust in Google & Meta fading, I would not be surprised to see Musk go in more of a news & trends discovery direction at Twitter,” Baker stated.
“Plus, every social media engine )SME) needs a face reveal. Musk is a great substitute for Dorsey, who has stepped up on fintech.”
Musk Has a History with Twitter
Before acquiring, shares of Musk’s company Musk used to utilize Twitter to influence public opinion on the site.
On March 25, the Twitter founder polled his more than 80 million Twitter followers whether they believed that Twitter strictly adhered to the freedom of speech.
In the event that over 70% of the respondents said not, he suggested the idea of launching the following social media site.
The criticisms about Twitter’s commitment to free speech were amplified by the site’s January 8, 2021 exile of the former president Donald Trump for repeated violations of company guidelines.
In addition, Musk has expressed dissatisfaction over the way Twitter took a hard line on his financial tweets, particularly his November 6, 2021 tweets. He questioned followers on whether the time was right to sell a part of his Tesla shares.
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The SEC has declared that it has the legal power to summon the Tesla CEO over the tweets and that his decision to invalidate a court order that required his tweets to have been pre-approved is unconstitutional.
“Elon is also vocal in his criticism of what he believes to be the inaction of Twitter on fraud in crypto and a stumbling block to free speech.
“I would not be astonish if we see him advocating at the board table for a freer, more open access, and less moderated space, which has the potential to become a higher liability for brands,” Miller said.
“On the contrary, he’s an innovator who has proven success in the world of online payments. This is a good sign for Twitter’s social commerce initiatives. It’s an area which they’ve struggled in the past, and we’re now seeing with the introduction of the Shop section that this is now a newly refocused area,” she says.
Twitter Shares Surge Following Announcement
After the announcement that Twitter, Inc. shares were being sold off Twitter Inc. on the New York Stock Exchange soared by up to 27 percent, starting at $39.30 to a record high of $53.84.
It was the most significant increase in market value since its first public offering in 2013. As of this writing, the stock was being traded at $50.51.
Musk announced his purchase on Monday, April 4. However, an official filing suggests that he started purchasing stock on January 31. Musk’s initially filed for the Securities and Exchange Commission was the form 13G which indicates the stock was a passive investment.
However, on Tuesday, April 5, the investor submitted form 13D. Activist investors often utilize that.
Whether the initial rise in prices of stocks indicates overall approval from the public or not is yet to be determined.
One thing is sure: Elon Musk has big plans for Twitter.
How much influence he holds on the changes he implements and how they impact the effectiveness of digital marketing through the platform remains to be determined.