X owner Elon Musk has long floated the idea of charging users $1 for the platform. Now, the team is moving the idea into production.

X will begin charging new users $1 a year::X owner Elon Musk has long floated the idea of charging users $1 for the platform. Now, the team is moving the idea into production.

  • CriticalMiss@lemmy.worldEnglish
    241·
    1 year ago

    I think Twitter is just the start. Big tech had always placed user growth as the highest priority to accelerate growth. They assumed that once they monopolize the market, they will be free to do with said market whatever they want due to alternatives being nonexistent but are quickly learning that is not the case. Ads and sale of user data can only earn you so much.

    Meta will follow suit within a year, I’ll set a reminder right now to see if my prediction was right.

    • JasSmith@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      5·
      1 year ago

      I welcome it. These companies have overstayed their welcome. Let them die so that something better can take their place. I haven’t logged into Facebook in a year and it’s wonderful.

  • TootSweet@lemmy.worldEnglish
    123·
    1 year ago

    My theory is he’s literally trying to kill Twitter. He blustered about buying Twitter as a brag with no actual intention to go through with it. And then they took him seriously and forced him to make good on it. Now he’s pissed he was compelled to take ownership of it and still doesn’t actually want anything to do with it. So he’s putting it out of his misery as quickly as possible. Meanwhile his hubris is blinding him to the ensuing shitstorm of shareholder litigation he’s about to face.

    • takeda@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      1 year ago

      My theory is that announcing that this will apply for new accounts and that they are now testing it in New Zealand and Philippines he hopes that people that don’t have Twitter account now will create one.

    • dustyData@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      This always sounds nice, except that he could just fire everyone, turn off the servers and close the offices. That would kill Twitter instantaneously. No need to bleed money. Musk genuinely believes what he says and thinks that what he does is the correct thing to do, completely unironically and without any shred of self-awareness. He is just not a very clever man. He did similar hi-jinks when he was the CEO of PayPal, except there were other powerful people there smart enough to fire him so he didn’t destroy the company. Same with Tesla and SpaceX, there are other adults in the room that can put him on his place or distract him with shiny toys so he doesn’t break anything important. But with Twitter, there is no safety net, this is pure unadulterated, unfiltered, unhinged Muskrat brain juice.

    • poo@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      1 year ago

      He has - a recent article last month had an image of him and I scrolled by thinking “lol that guy looks like Elon Musk” - but he’s gained weight and his facial hair is pretty disgusting. 🧔‍♂️

    • radix@lemm.eeEnglish
      75·
      1 year ago

      This is a friendly reminder that while Elon Musk will probably never read this, it is virtually guaranteed that someone else on Lemmy will read this and feel bad about themself as a result. Maybe you didn’t intend for it to come off as if you’re pointing out a bad thing, but to me at least, it does.

      • NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.worldEnglish
        24·
        1 year ago

        read this and feel bad about themself as a result

        Why would you do that?

        Maybe you didn’t intend for it to come off as if you’re pointing out a bad thing

        I have not written about good or bad.

        My posts/comments sometimes leave a lot of room for different interpretations - especially when they are meant satirically, like this one. In such cases, all interpretations are intended, not just a single one. Your personal interpretation is not the only possible one, and not authoritative for others.