Twiter Blue subscriptions and massive layoffs aren’t the only surprises that Musk has prepared since the company’s acquisition . Twitter’s debts could force the billionaire to take an even more desperate step – introducing paywalls for most or all users of the social network.

Failure with layoffs

Friday’s brutal email cuts affected about 50% of the company (that’s about 4,000 people). Prior to this, some managers were asked to submit proposals for layoffs – these should include direct information about what the employee has done in the company all the time and arguments why he should stay on Twitter.

Managers suffered and juggled their decisions in an attempt to keep their most vulnerable colleagues: pregnant women, employees, cancer patients, and workers with visas.

Some teams have been cut more than others ( for example, the groups responsible for moderating social media content ); some were completely destroyed. However, as it turned out, the company went too far – a few hours after the dismissal, managers were instructed to ask the laid-off employees if they want to return their former jobs .

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Under the Workers Adaptation and Retraining Notice Act, businesses with more than 100 full-time employees require companies to give employees 60 days’ notice of layoffs (if they lay off 33% or more of their employees). Elon Musk, the company’s new CEO, promised to pay people for the next 60 days. Some employees are worried that if they refuse to return, Twitter will fire them “for refusing to work,” so people will lose monetary compensation.

Some are consulting lawyers, and some are openly rioting on social media.

Day one of #NewTwitter

I don’t have access to a tool I need to use to stop traffic to a system I’m trying to shut down, in order to save money to pay interest payments on the loan used to acquire the company.

— nickrw (@nickrw) November 7, 2022

Meanwhile, the rest of the staff is gearing up for an increased workload. Sources from The Verge report on the new requirements on Twitter – so that any technical manager must now supervise at least 20 separate employees, and also spend at least half of their time writing code.

Two Twitter Teams

Recently, the company’s team has actually been divided into two camps: those who worked on Musk’s projects (for example, a subscription to Twitter Blue) and … the rest.

“Several teams on his favorite projects work 20-hour days, the rest of the company just sits around. No chain of command, no priorities, no organizational structure, and in many cases no idea who your manager or team is,” says one employee.

Jobs have emerged for some employees after several high-profile accounts began impersonating Musk. Elon posted a tweet in which he said that anyone impersonating another person would be permanently banned without warning .

Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying “parody” will be permanently suspended

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2022

The company began to think about how to implement Musk’s new decree.

Other teams were instructed to listen to a podcast featuring Musk adviser David Sacks and billionaire pal Jason Calacanis.

“The latest podcast talks about current layoffs and gives some insight into why this is happening/necessary. I think it is worth listening to in order to better understand the macro environment in which we operate,” said the vice president.

blue catastrophe

Sources at The Verge say some teams have already started holding meetings where employees are briefed on who their managers are, what their organizational structure looks like, and what their priorities will be. But some workers still doubt – do Musk and the team have any idea what they are doing?

On the one hand, advertisers are being told that Twitter has added 15 million daily users since the end of the second quarter. Musk himself confirms this – in his recent tweet, he wrote that “the level of use of the social network is now at an all-time high.”

He later added, “I hope the servers don’t melt!”

I just hope the servers don’t melt!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 8, 2022

But he did not provide any evidence of Twitter activity or any statistics.

However, we can already say that the first update on Twitter was disastrous for the social network. On Saturday, the company released an updated version of the app with a notice that the Blue subscription is “now available.” But the new subscribers found that they were subscribed to … the current version of the service, not the updated one.

Wheeeeeee pic.twitter.com/KnBKZDVLc4

— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) November 5, 2022

After debating the potential impact of launching thousands of new verified accounts on the platforms in the midst of the US midterm elections, the company still delayed the launch of Twitter Blue .

But problems with the new service can become even more serious. As Platformer learned, the current version had just over 100,000 active subscribers. The new version will be 37.5% more expensive, and for most regular users of the platform, its cost seems unreasonably expensive. It’s not clear how the company can convince enough people to use it.

Another point is a minor feature of the new Blue that Musk added at the last minute: halving the advertising load. Sources estimate that Twitter will lose about $6 in ad revenue per user in the US due to this change. With Apple and Google’s share of the $8 monthly subscription, Twitter is likely to lose money on Blue if the advertising plan is adopted.

“The core business principles just aren’t there,” said one former employee who worked on the plan.

Musk himself is actively involved in the chaotic launch of Blue.

“Every detail of Twitter Blue must be approved with him down to the smallest detail,” employees say.

However, Twitter Blue may be just a prelude to a global change: the collection of subscription fees from most or all users. According to a person familiar with the matter, Musk and Sachs discussed the idea in recent meetings. One such plan is to use Twitter for free for a limited period of time each month, but it will require a subscription to renew.

It is not known how seriously Musk and Sachs take the paywall; Twitter did not respond to a request for comment. However, given the company’s huge debt (Twitter has to pay off about 1 billion in debt a year – an amount that exceeds the company’s current earnings per year), Blue’s imperfect economy, and the recent pause in revenue from large advertisers, it is clear that Musk and the company will have to do something to significantly increase income. And whatever they choose, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Twitter will never be the same again.

Source: The Verge , Bloomberg