#RIPTwitter trends as several employees resign; Musk jokes, netizens concerned
From the time Elon Musk acquired Twitter, the social media platform has witnessed endless chaos with Friday (November 18) being another day when several employees resigned following a deadline by the new owner and the company said it was closing its office buildings for the next few days.
On Twitter, users started trending #RIPTwitter, #GoodByeTwitter, #TwitterDown raising concerns over the future of the social media giant.
Also read: ‘Twitter very slow India, this is fact, not a claim’: Elon Musk
Looking at these trends, Musk first posted an emoji of skull and crossbones displayed on a black flag. This emoji indicates death or danger. He later posted a photo of Twitter being buried.
🏴☠️
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022
Following this, there were several memes indicating the “death of Twitter” while many netizens were worried over the future of the platform.
“Chief Twit” Musk joked and took a dig at pranksters with another post where he wrote, “Help us Ligma Johnson, you’re our only hope.” Ligma and Johnson are pranksters who had pretended in front of media to have been sacked by Twitter.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022
Musk, the world’s richest person, bought Twitter for $44 billion last month and started laying off half of Twitters 7,500 full-time workers, including over 200 employees in India.
Musk’s meetings
On Friday, The New York Times (NYT) said in a report that after a 5 pm Thursday deadline was given by Musk to employees to choose whether to quit or stay on at Twitter, hundreds of Twitter employees appeared to have decided to depart with three months of severance pay.
Also read: Twitter may face bankruptcy, Elon Musk warns employees: Report
Twitter also announced through email that it would close our office buildings and disable employee badge access until Monday.
During all this, Musk and his advisers also held meetings with some Twitter workers deemed critical and to stop them from leaving the company. The chaos also included confusing messages from Musk about the company’s remote work policy.
Musk’s team also held meetings with undecided employees who are considered key to Twitter’s operations in a bid to try to persuade them to stay.
Employees leave even as Musk speaks
In his pitch, Musk said that he knew how to win and that those who wanted to win should join him, the NYT report said. In one of those meetings, some employees were summoned to a conference room in the San Francisco office while others called in via videoconference.
Also read: How Elon Musk’s ruthless layoffs, summary firings paint him as an employer
As the 5 pm deadline passed, some who had called in began hanging up, seemingly having decided to leave, even as Musk continued speaking, it added.
Over the past few weeks, Musk has been firing those who oppose or disagree with him, often through public tweets. He has told employees that they need to be extremely hard core to make the company a success and gave Twitter’s remaining employees just about 36 hours to leave or commit to building a breakthrough Twitter 2.0.
Why Twitter is important
The changes at Twitter over the past few weeks are not good signs for the company and for many including governments and organisations across the world.
Also read: Twitter job cuts: What are digital layoffs, and how can employees cope?
Twitter has become a powerful tool in recent times. Though it has its cons, the platform has been used as a communication tool by governments, companies, people, and many more.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Twitter was a very useful tool, aiding those who required help. It was also the platform for #Metoo movement which gave voice to many victims who had suffered sexual abuse, sexual harassment to share their stories.
Not only this, Twitter has, in a way become a part of life for many to know day to day happenings in real time. Even for celebrities including sportspersons, it is the platform to connect with their fans.
What Musk had promised
After taking over Twitter, Musk promised a host of changes to the platform. And, he admitted that the company will do “lots of dumb things”.
“Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months. We will keep what works & change what doesn’t,” he had tweeted on November 9.
Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months.
We will keep what works & change what doesn’t.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 9, 2022
He had rolled out “Official” badges to several verified accounts before deciding to “kill it”.
Musk had also announced that users have to pay $8 per month for the blue tick on their accounts. However, he suspended it later. Two days back, he said the service will resume on November 29.
Punting relaunch of Blue Verified to November 29th to make sure that it is rock solid
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 15, 2022
(With agency inputs)