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How
brands and agencies are reacting to Elon Musk’s
radical changes at Twitter -
November 2, 2022
(Search Engine
Land)
As
brand safety risks increase, some advertisers are
waiting to see whether Twitter will be a respected
platform or a free-for-all hellscape.
Elon
Musk Twitter
By
Nicole Farley
Last
week, Twitter’s new chief twit, Elon Musk told
advertisers he was buying Twitter because human civilization
needed a town square, “where a wide range of
beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner.”
It
seems like he’s getting what he wanted.
A
brand safety risk
Not
all agencies and brands are on board with Musk’s
new outlook.
Due
to trust and safety concerns under Musk’s leadership,
some agencies are advising that their clients suspend
their ads on Twitter, at least for now.
One
of those advertising companies is IPG’s Mediabrands.
The
automaker, and Tesla competitor GM temporarily paused
their ads, but stated that its decision was consistent
with its “normal course of business” to
“temporarily pause our paid advertising.”
The automaker added, it is not abandoning Twitter
entirely, as its “customer care interactions
on Twitter will continue.”
Musk’s
words state that he’s committed to safety, posting
recently, “Twitter’s commitment to brand
safety is unchanged,” but his actions seem to
say otherwise.
Some
advertisers aren’t concerned, though, as 58%
of the marketers we polled thought the change
could be a good thing for brands, marketers, and users.
A
chaotic and confused approach to free speech
Last
week, Musk promoted
a baseless conspiracy theory about the recent
violent attack on Paul Pelosi. “There might be
more to this story than meets the eye,” Musk
said, in response to a tweet from Hillary Clinton.
A few hours later the tweet was deleted.
Musk
also said he disagrees with Twitter’s practice
of permanent bans for those who repeatedly violate
its rules, raising the possibility that a number of
previously banned, controversial users could reemerge
on the platform. Many of us will be watching to see
if he lets former President Trump back on the platform
in time for the U.S. midterm elections.
Musk
has a history of outrageous behavior as we saw in
2018 when he called a British caver “Pedo guy”
during the Thai boys’ soccer team rescue. The
diver sued Musk for his comments and Musk later told
a jury that his insult wasn’t meant to be taken
literally.
Bloomberg
points out that there are other examples of more concerning
tweets directed toward Musk, such as ones from commentators
in China lobbying to have their “Chinese state-affiliated
media” label removed.
It’s
also concerning that since Musk’s takeover, there
has been a noticeable
uptick in racial and Nazi slurs on the platform.
“Musk’s
Twitter takeover has shown us some unfortunate outcomes
thus far, one of the clearest signals being the immediate
increase in hate speech on the platform. A study
from the School of Communication and Media at Montclair
State University found that in the hours after Musk’s
acquisition, Twitter became a more “vulgar and
hostile” environment, with it experiencing an
“immediate, visible, and measurable spike”
in hate speech. Social media acts as a gathering space
for billions, and it becoming more hostile will have
real-world impacts. Words matter, they have power;
there have been countless studies showing how hate
speech directly
correlates with a rise in hate crimes.”
Eric
Yaverbaum, CEO of Ericho
Communications
*click
here for full article
Social
Media
Greg
Tingle
SEL
with an interesting and thought stimulating article
from Nicole. In my view Twitter has always been a
mixed bag and somewhat toxic - yes, from the very
beginning. There's so many bots and spam accounts
on there its almost unbelievable. Many moons ago I
even lost an account for typing a "honk honk
honk" of support for supporting the peaceful
Canadian and Canberra, Australia protests. I'm not
kidding. The platform is a solid business model and
useful platform, but some former management, staff
and "moderators" (or A.I systems - I still
don't know), lost the plot. Numerous experts said
the former algorithm was also rigged. I don't work
there, but smart people and insiders who got out and
turned into whistleblowers and spilling the tea. In
my view things can only get much better under Elon
Musk management. An accountable and smart businessman
who is touch with the real world by all accounts.
Now that's a breath of fresh air. Additional balance
added I trust. Cheers from the Sydney Nest. Tweet
Honk Tweet!
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