Twitter is Transitioning...

You'd either have to be living under a rock or have the worst internet connection of all time to not know what has been happening with Elon and his Twitter takeover. A change in power that had been in discussions since April of this year, having finally assumed control in October, Elon has wasted no time enacting changes and making his presence known. From massive layoffs to checkmark color changes, Elon has put the pedal to the metal for "fixing" Twitter and is showing no signs of slowing. Grasping onto freedom of speech for dear life, Elon maintains the stance that his changes will improve the app and create a better, more centralized location for news and public information. However, while Elon wields expertise in many fields like e-commerce and electric vehicles, I question his knowhow of internet trolls, viral trends, and the platform by which we consume it all. Elon may think he is fixing Twitter for us, but I'm not so sure he is the right extraterrestrial for the job.

At the very core of Musk's Twitter revolution is his seemingly hellbent mission to make Twitter a platform for "free speech". However, amongst the misinformation and hateful rhetoric, where do you draw the line between what should be considered "free speech" and what should be censored to temper outrage. When this principle was founded the point was to give citizens the ability to question the newly formed government without fear of wrongful persecution for their ideas. These days, freedom of speech has become more of an adage invoked by those who wish to defend their right to controversial opinions as opposed to discussing ideas for a greater world for all. Musk has doubled down on his intentions by posting a poll to Twitter to bring back Trump, both supporting free speech for ALL while also giving the people the power to make the change. Elon had no problem boasting the outcome of the poll and celebrating the people's decision to bring back The Don, but I find it odd that he never mentioned that the 15mil participants only represent 3% of Twitter...

While I don't agree with the new narrative that Elon = Free Speech, I do think that there is some good that can come from his coup. For starters, the infamous blue checkmark that has for so long been scene as a a sign of social status, is currently undergoing change that has been met with a lot of pushback, and I'm glad. From waves of influencers, social media managers, and political fire-starters, the fear of parodies and impersonators stealing their likes and retweets has been simply too much to bare. The public has reeled to determine what's real, but when you think about it, what was real to begin with? Over the years, Twitter has become a particularly negative space where people often go to troll, argue and purge their opinions that they aren't comfortable owning in person, and the check marks became a sign of credibility, though the Tweets were still just the opinions...With this new revival of Twitter cred, my hope is for a more rigorous verification process and a more complex labeling system. If Elon really wants Twitter to be a news source, CNN and FOX should not be going through the same verification process and labeling system as my cousin with 100k followers for Fortnite.

Twitter is clearly changing, and I'm thinking that it will change a lot more before Elon is ready to go back to Mars. The company has been losing money for years so things needed to be done, but that does make me question whether or not Musk made this purchase with his brain or his ego. I mean, if I was a billionaire tech genius, what better challenge could there be than to revamp Twitter? I'm optimistic that more good will come of this than bad, and if nothing else I could personally delete my account and never return. For now I will continue shooting my unverified thoughts out into the Twitterverse and we will see what planet we are on by the time Elon is done messing around with checkmark pantones.