Elon Is Making Twitter Fun Again
Elon Is Making Twitter Fun Again
Hello everyone,
Twitter has had a festive vibe since the announcement that Elon would buy the platform.
Previously forbidden topics are suddenly acceptable, and a flood of new users have joined the conversation.
Twitter’s transformation is taking place at a moment of broader change for social media, including the appearance of Truth Social and the integration of blockchain on Meta.
Suddenly, these three social media giants are competing for hearts and minds like never before. The winner of this meme war will have an outsized influence on the American conversation.
Let’s take a look at this emerging Internet battle royal, and why Dogecoin may be Twitter’s secret weapon.
Funmaxxing
Twitter is buzzing with fresh energy from the combination of new users and decreased censorship.
Elon has been extremely active on the platform since his acquisition was announced. His tweet about Coke received the second most likes in Twitter history.
Throughout the week, Elon continued to instigate speculative discussions about previously restricted topics like pharmaceutical industry and party politics as he nudged dialogue to the brink of respectability.
Twitter's sudden transformation drew a sharp rebuke from the establishment, with legacy media outlets uniting to condemn the expansion of free speech as dangerous to democracy.
On Wednesday, the White House announced a new bureau called the "Disinformation Governance Board" to monitor Internet speech.
Elon said the creation of a disinformation arm of the government was "messed up." The news caused #MinistryOfTruth to trend.
In a sort of immune system response to the renewed threat of censorship, the Twitter hive mind generated several intentionally fake Elon tweets that highlight how the line between comedy and "disinformation" is razor thin, and often fun to violate.
If the past week is any indication, Elon is using comedy to establish a beachhead for free speech.
There's a long tradition of letting comedians get away with saying things that wouldn't fly in everyday conversation.
The court jester is a timeless archetype that fulfills an important social function of cutting the king down to size through humor and mockery.
In the modern era, comedians like Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, and Dave Chappelle have played a similar role, expanding the boundaries of acceptable speech by saying things that everyone suspects but most are afraid to say out loud.
Humor is particularly hard to justify censoring because it isn't meant to be taken entirely seriously in the first place. Those who try to ban comic speech inevitably come off as joyless fun police, especially when the jokes are good.
Max fun Twitter is an exciting first step under Elon's leadership, and comes at a time when the broader social media landscape is shifting beneath our feet.
A few big Internet happenings are suggesting that the recent changes at Twitter are only the beginning...
Make Twitter Fun Again
The emergence of Twitter as a free-speech platform is part of a seismic shift in the world of social media.
While Elon closed in on the Twitter deal, President Trump's Truth Social began letting a flood of new users onto the platform.
Last Tuesday, Elon noted that Truth Social had been outpacing Twitter for downloads on the App Store.
He also took the opportunity to throw a few playful jabs at Twitter's newest competitor.
Only weeks ago, social media giants all had some sort of left-leaning bias, while alternative platforms like Gettr, Bitchute, Gab, and Rumble enjoyed a fraction of the traffic of big companies.
Now, a new online intellectual diversity is emerging, with the Meta empire representing the left, Twitter laying claim the ideological center, and Truth Social vying for Trump's right-leaning base.
Increasingly, lines are being drawn in this three-way battle royal for the hearts and minds of the American public.
On Monday, Reuters reported that Trump wouldn't return to Twitter even if his account were reinstated.
Two days later, Elon said his goal was to make the 80% of people in the middle happy, while acknowledging that his policies would likely upset both the far right and left.
He also carved out his own ideological identity, saying that he previously supported Obama but found the Democratic party had drifted too far left.
He added that he wasn't a fan of the far right either, and called for "less hate and more love."
The social media throwdown showed signs of heating up on Thursday, as Trump posted his first "Truth" on his new platform along with the mysterious #COVFEFE hashtag.
For now, the Meta empire dwarfs its competitors: Facebook boasts nearly three billion active users, while Instagram has a billion.
In comparison, Twitter has roughly 300 million users, and Truth Social has an estimated two million.
Whichever platform gains the public's trust will likely have an outsized effect on the direction of the American conversation.
With heavyweights like Elon, Trump, and Zuck duking it out, the digital town square will never be the same.
Let the games begin!
Let Slip the Doges of Love
Twitter has one big edge over its competitors: it's home to the world's best crypto conversation.
As crypto's growth continues, people who want to learn about the digital financial system will invariably flock to Twitter.
Meta is attempting to play catch-up by adding NFTs and loosening restrictions on crypto advertising, but has struggled so far. Truth Social hasn't integrated crypto at all, though Melania keeps selling NFTs on Solana.
The scary thing for other platforms is that Twitter hasn't yet unleashed its secret weapon: Dogecoin.
The last few weeks have shown that Elon has the power to drive the public conversation like few other people in the world.
Once he officially takes Twitter private, it could see a ramp-up of Doge integration, forcing the rest of the world to take notice of the power of meme money.
One idea quickly gaining traction is a verification system based on Doge to filter out spam bots. On Saturday night, Mark Cuban proposed a DogeDAO for this purpose.
Elon said it was "Not a bad idea." In their current forms, neither Meta nor Truth Social are capable of offering the same level of assurance that real live humans are behind accounts.
Doge's growing prominence on Twitter will ruffle some feathers.
Until recently, most of the broader crypto community has resisted taking Dogecoin seriously, especially Bitcoin maxis.
However, after Elon made his play for Twitter, a number of crypto power brokers and opinion leaders came out and said positive things about Doge.
In the past few weeks, Sam Bankman-Fried, Vlad Tenev, Lex Fridman, Roger Ver, and even Barry Silbert all weighed in on Dogecoin's merits, suggesting that Doge could be winning converts.
By dubbing Doge "the people's crypto" in 2021, Elon aligned it with progress for humanity, implying that a Dogely future would be one in which regular folks enjoy increased prosperity.
In the year since, evidence has consistently revealed that our monetary system is broken and hurts people at the bottom of the ladder the most.
With energy prices soaring, inflation running out of control, and broad economic growth looking sluggish, our monetary disfunction has become an issue of pressing concern.
Increasingly, the public has an incentive to participate in the conversation about fixing our money and, right now, Twitter is the best place to have that conversation.
Like SpaceX and Tesla, Dogecoin holds promise of a radically improved tomorrow, something that neither Facebook nor Truth Social can offer their users, at least in their current forms.
Eventually, everyone who loves progress will move into Elon's orbit.
When they do Dogecoin will welcome them, on Twitter, with open paws.
Dogey Treats: News Bites
#AOCLovesElon trended with over 30k tweets Friday night after Elon tweeted at her to "stop hitting on me me, I'm really shy."
Tesla released a stunning video about Cyber Rodeo 2022.
FTC, FCC, and DOJ rejected efforts to block Elon's purchase of Twitter by the Open Markets Institute.
After an NBC segment critical of Elon's free-speech plans for Twitter, Elon hit back, questioning why the news organization covered up the Hunter Biden laptop story and protected Harvey Weinstein and Matt Lauer. In follow-up tweets, he asked why none of Jefrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's clients have been brought to justice.
Elon tweeted out investing advice, advocating that people "Buy stock in several companies that make products & services that *you* believe in." He added that "too great a percentage" of the market is made up of "index/passive funds" by referencing Vanguard founder Jack Bogle.
Panama passed a bill legalizing the use of crypto assets for payments.
Elon said Twitter's decision to censor the NY Post's Hunter Biden laptop story was "obviously incredibly inappropriate." He responded to a tweet about a conflict of interest of a former FBI and now Twitter lawyer Jim Baker, saying it "Sounds pretty bad." He noted an "extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech" and said Twitter DMs should have "end to end encryption" so they couldn't be spied on.
Twitter founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey said Elon is "the singular solution I trust" to fix Twitter. He added that Twitter is "the closest thing we have to a global consciousness" and criticized Wall Street's influence on the platform.
A Delaware court ruled in favor of Elon, saying that Tesla's acquisition of SolarCity in 2016 was legal.
Elon submitted a filing for his sale of Tesla shares and said he had "no further TSLA sales planned after today."
Former all-pro Wide Receiver Dez Bryant tweeted a photo of a Doge pendant and said "To the moon."
Elon said that Adderall is an "anger amplifier" and urged people to "Avoid at all costs."
European buyers are beginning to use the Ruble to purchase gas from Russia. A high-ranking Russian government official made the clearest statement yet that Russia is looking to back the Ruble with gold and other commodities. Chinese state media said the international status of the dollar was "at risk" while the first shipments of Russian coal and oil paid for with yuan began to arrive in China.
Elon retweeted a meme from earlier this year predicting a wild 2022 showing a hand flicking a tiger, along with the text, "As I was saying..."
In a filing with the SEC, Tesla said it believes in Bitcoin's long-term potential as "a liquid alternative to cash."
53 more Starlink satellites were launched into orbit.
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