So these guys think they know better. Even worse, they believe they're special, that they rose above and are entitled to stay above. They abuse the public as they grant themselves gargantuan salaries. And they think that the public loves them for this. They rained CDs down upon the landscape, why would anybody desire anything else? Lack of vision, that's another thing these execs lack. But when you give people options...
If I get one more e-mail from someone decrying Zuck... Who are these people who believe by removing themselves from the situation they'll triumph? All holier-than-thou, refusing to use Facebook or Instagram or TikTok, refusing to shop at Amazon. Notice, they're all aged. Young people don't do this. Young people know that one platform dominates online, until it doesn't. Evolve or die. Best to get ahead of the marketplace in order to succeed in the future, but too many companies excise founders and employ managers who make the numbers work until the company is eclipsed. Makes me crazy how much money these people are paid. It's one thing if you invent the product... Give Zuckerberg credit for maintaining control. The founder may be mercurial, but oftentimes has a vision others do not. This is the essence of an artist. I get e-mail all the time from people talking to me about trained musicians. But you cannot train insight and vision. You can learn how to play the notes, and there's a role for that, but the spoils go to those who push the envelope. And that's a lonely endeavor. Because you're ahead of the public and the public may never catch up.
So...
Elon Musk couldn't read the room. The vocal right convinced him that he was sitting on a gold mine of participation, of users, if it could only be unleashed. We've been watching this movie for decades in America. Trump gets more ink than any other politician, but that does not mean the majority approve of him. The devolution of media and society means there is no widely accepted truth, and therefore some believe those who are noisiest rule, when this is rarely the case. This is what is happening in Israel right now, as the echo chamber right wants to limit the power of the Supreme Court, but the majority of the public does not want this, does not want to sacrifice democracy. And if you don't pay attention to the majority, you're one step away from being burned. This is what is happening with Putin right now. He's been a strongman, but there are cracks. And in hindsight it's easy to see the evolution of change, but it usually happens very quickly, like the Wall falling, or the end of Communism.
So Elon Musk thought there was no place else to go. That Twitter was safe. It was just about balancing the books and morphing the platform into something more profitable. And he was cheered on by a vocal male right that still believes it's correct. My inbox is filled with righties saying I only laud Threads because I abhor the freedom of the new Twitter. I LOVE freedom! Like the freedom to have an abortion, the freedom to walk the streets without worrying I'll be shot by some nincompoop open-carrying a gun... Freedom has been redefined by the right. To mean their rights can't be impinged and they can do whatever they want. But what about the rest of us? We don't count!
Oh, don't tell me to stop writing about politics. This is the story of the day. And either you're a righty trying to silence me or an antisocial nobody who thinks by sticking their head in the ground they can know what is going on.
So Elon thought he ruled at Twitter. What he said went. And he could act however he wanted, consequences be damned. This is the Trump paradigm. And both of these men have followers, but they're the minority.
So Elon stops paying bills. Bad look for a billionaire. Trump did this too. Most people are not going to cheer you on, they can't get away with stiffing people.
And Elon made the operation so lean there were outages. We expect everything to work seamlessly in the modern digital world.
And he eliminated content moderation, which most people want!
How is it that the right wants law and order, but not for themselves?
And then there are the outright lies. Like all the advertisers are back, that Twitter is burgeoning, when the facts say otherwise. This also is the Trump paradigm, lie enough and people will believe it.
But not everybody.
So suddenly you were subjected to views you completely disagreed with on Twitter, that were oftentimes false. And ads from right wing political candidates and tertiary companies. The experience was bad. And didn't Steve Jobs tell us the user experience was everything? Isn't this how he ate Microsoft's lunch?
And then Elon forced himself into our thread and got rid of the authenticated blue checkmarks and turned it into a free-for-all based on money and all the old users were pissed-off. So you got the freedumb crowd getting blue checkmarks and foisting their inane drivel upon the rest of us.
Where else does this work, where the lunatics take over the asylum? Nowhere!
Then suddenly there was an alternative.
Overpriced CDs with one good track fattening the bottom lines of record companies and their executives, they didn't want the gravy train to stop, they thought they had a lock on distribution. And then came the MP3 and Napster and all these men could say was the sound wasn't as good and no one would want it. Now you can get better than CD quality on streaming services. Just like on Threads there's not a follower-only option today, but there will be. Evolution happens. Almost nothing emerges fully-formed in tech, there is evolution, expect it.
So not only could the public get only the tracks they wanted, but they could play them on their computers, they were portable. And the record companies were pissed at Jobs for Rip/Mix/Burn... Talk about missing the point. The point was CDs were on their way out, protecting them and their rights... Oh, then we had Andy Lack and the rootkit fiasco. Even copyright protection on the files Apple ultimately sold!
All these were non-issues. The public wanted ease of use and portability and if you stood in the way you were in trouble.
And then came streaming. Which was ahead of the public, delivered more than people knew they wanted. They didn't understand it. And now streaming not only rules the market in consumption, but in dollars. Streaming saved the music business. As for all this hype about vinyl...can we forget about it? First, the number reported is retail, not wholesale, so it's artificially inflated, and a lot of the records are never even played, it's just a souvenir, and to cut vinyl from a digital source is a joke. But don't let the facts get in the way of a good story. The vinyl story feels good, but that does not mean it's right. Vinyl is a business, a de minimis business, all the money is in streaming.
The public hated the record labels. The only worse offenders were the cable companies. And just like Musk, the labels fought the customers in public, kept telling them they were wrong, that they should listen to the poobahs, what a joke.
So let this be a lesson to you. One that streaming television is missing. Do what is right for the customer, not for you. Eventually the public will have options and you'll be screwed. Just like Netflix, et al, killed network TV. And Netflix, which drops all the product at once, is more profitable than its competitors. I could go on, but I'll be excoriated by those proffering spreadsheets, delineating the numbers. This is how you get in trouble. You must think about satiating the customer, keeping them satisfied. How come Simon & Garfunkel knew this and all the fat cats do not?
I love Musk losing. Makes me feel good inside. Chalk one up for the little people. We put this guy in his place. Let's leave him in his own echo chamber with his acolytes. Kinda like Fox News, but with less power. Meanwhile, Fox News keeps on getting sued. Touch the third rail at your peril.
So this is how it is. All that hogwash from the tech bloviators wearing blinders talking about all the changes Musk was going to make to Twitter, how he could turn it into a profitable paradise. These people are too inside, with no perspective. Just like the reporters who missed Trump. They didn't know any dissatisfied blue collar workers so they didn't exist.
Yes, the elite worked hard to earn their status and cash, the fact that the blue collar workers lost traction... And to this day the elite don't want to hear it, they want to blame it all on white nationalism, and say it's the middle class with money who came to D.C. on January 6th...
But it was all built on the backs of a dissatisfied blue collar base. You can see it on Twitter. Spewing inanities, out of touch with the facts, and when confronted with the truth what do they say? They're going to vote for Trump anyway!
As for electric car options... Chinese EVs are cleaning up in their home country. And they're spreading their wings into the rest of the world. Because the derided Chinese got the memo, electric was the future. Meanwhile, you've got right wing idiots trying to prop up fossil fuels. Look out the window, like the weather? You may not think there is global warming, but most people do. And they're down for electric cars and the elimination of fossil fuels.
Which brings us to Detroit, run by managers satiating Wall Street and missing the point. Pivoting to electric cars but losing in the process. Because it's all about software, and theirs is piss-poor. It would be like General Electric trying to compete with Apple. Big name, big in electric products, but no experience whatsoever in personal computers...
And GE is just about toast. Because its lauded CEO kept feeding Wall Street while it began to implode from the inside.
Jack Welch, another great man like Elon Musk, until we learn he cooked the books and drove GE into the ground.
But you don't want your heroes eviscerated.
But the truth is so many of these men have clay feet.
Come on, how many times has Musk crossed the line? Pedo-guy?
Forget the government courts, in the court of public opinion this guy has been on a losing streak.
And the funniest thing is having played fast and loose with the law for years, acting like he is above it, he wants to employ it to stop Zuckerberg and Threads. You can't have it both ways. You can't decry the system and break its rules and then want to be the beneficiary of its rules.
So the bottom line is the Twitter experience was getting worse and worse, it was palpable if you were a user. And I therefore used it less. And I was open to an alternative, and Zuckerberg gave me one.
This is how the world works.
Believe you're all powerful at your peril.
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