paulsurovell said:

PVW said:

Microsoft drops Twitter from its advertising platform (Mashable)

Microsoft is going to drop Twitter from its Microsoft Advertising plan next week, according to the company.

"Starting on April 25, 2023, Smart Campaigns with Multi-platform will no longer support Twitter," Microsoft said. A similar email has begun to go out to Microsoft Advertising users stating that "Digital Marketing Center (DMC) will no longer support Twitter starting on April 25, 2023."

From that date, users will no longer be able to access their Twitter account through its Digital Marketing Center's social media management tool, according to Microsoft. Users will also no longer be able to schedule, create, or manage tweets or tweet drafts. In addition, users won't be able to view their past tweets and engagement on the Microsoft Advertising platform.

Some people still advertising on Twitter

The problem for the Twitter is probably not with the "still advertising" people but with any new advertisers, who will not have the ease that using the Microsoft platform gives them.  And the article isn't about Microsoft's own advertising, but about the Twitter charging Microsoft for the "privilege" of helping people place ads on and pay the Twitter. "Since Twitter announced its exorbitantly high API access pricing, many indie developers have had to close down their Twitter-based applications. However, just like Microsoft, other larger companies and organizations have also made the decision to pass on paying Twitter too."

"Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter would rank among the worst business decisions in human history, if the goal were … business. But since the Tesla CEO has become increasingly fixated on the objective of empowering rightwingers and weakening democracy everywhere – especially in the United States – you’d have to say the acquisition makes some sense."

Link: Elon Musk sucks at Twitter, succeeds at fascism

Wow, this is quite the opening gambit for Alternet. Which of these pop-ups that appeared immediately when I arrived should I click on first?

paulsurovell said:

Some people still advertising on Twitter

That looks like an ordinary tweet, not an ad that (other than the blue check mark) generated revenue for Twitter.

Also, Twitter ads are marked with a promotional icon.

nohero said:

Matt had a no good, horrible, very bad week all around.

Mehdi Hasan Dismantles The Entire Foundation Of The Twitter Files As Matt Taibbi Stumbles To Defend It

Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

paulsurovell said:

Some people still advertising on Twitter

Aren't you subscribed to Twitter Blue now? You're literally renting an emoji for $8 a month.

ETA: Maybe if you get popular enough, Elon will buy it for you like he did with Stephen King.

You can "buy a blue check", or better yet have Elon remove any indication that you're a government propaganda site. 

There's a pattern in how Elon Musk runs his companies.

Tesla: He made the "autopilot" available to anyone who would pay for it.  Instead of continued testing, it was "tested" out in the real world, with unsuspecting people in the way.

Rockets: He launched his rocket (on 4/20) to see if it would explode.  That's actually the strategy.  It turns out that he destroyed its launch pad, and a significant percentage of its engines weren't even working. 

Twitter: He just makes changes based on how he thinks it should work, ignoring what his audience was using or even relying on the Twitter to provide. And that's where all of his self-inflicted problems have come from.

Another way the new owner has made the Twitter less useful. From PEN America:

“With Twitter having dismantled safeguards against the spread of disinformation and impersonation, a heavy onus now shifts to users to bring a discerning eye to the platform, taking everything you see and read with a large chunk of sea salt. Particularly for those with their own big platforms and followings, the simple act of retweeting or amplifying may render you a vector in the spread of disinformation. With Elon Musk’s Twitter having abandoned its role in trying to uphold truth and fact-based information on the platform, those who continue to use it must now assume that duty themselves.”

https://pen.org/press-release/as-twitter-dismantles-safeguards-onus-shifts-to-users-to-prevent-the-spread-of-disinformation/

Things are better than ever over at Elon's Twitter. 

Maybe Elon thinks of the blue check as some sort of "branding" of the users. 

I wouldn't want to be part of a clique that allows me to pay $8/month to be a member.

PVW said:

I wouldn't want to be part of a clique that allows me to pay $8/month to be a member.

well if uncle vlad pays the monthly fee….

Jaytee said:

well if uncle vlad pays the monthly fee….

Ah, Russian uncles are tricky. When Uncle Vanya has a shotgun in the first act, watch out for the last one.

So we’re not gonna comment on new-Twitter ‘verifying’ this fake-Disney account? H’mm…

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-65374723

« The account, called @DisneyJuniorUK, was tweeting vile content, but managed to be verified with a gold tick before being suspended.

The owner alerted his followers by saying "this isn't actually real right. someone pinch me or something" - and the tweet has since gone viral. »

joanne said:

So we’re not gonna comment on new-Twitter ‘verifying’ this fake-Disney account? H’mm…

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-65374723

« The account, called @DisneyJuniorUK, was tweeting vile content, but managed to be verified with a gold tick before being suspended.

The owner alerted his followers by saying "this isn't actually real right. someone pinch me or something" - and the tweet has since gone viral. »

It's hard to keep up with all of these cases.  Elon Musk blew up the Twitter like a SpaceX rocket on a flimsy launchpad.

Twitter Clown Show Update -

"Multiple Russian, Chinese, and Iranian state media outlets on Twitter simultaneously began to gain followers after months of decline or stagnation, the DFRLab has discovered. A DFRLab assessment suggests that Twitter changed its algorithms regarding these accounts around March 29, 2023. ... Twitter’s policy change is significant, as Twitter can now algorithmically promote state-affiliated media outlets. Twitter users no longer must actively seek out state-sponsored content in order to see it on the platform; it can just be served to them. Many state-affiliated media outlets, particularly in authoritarian countries, publish content to exert influence, sometimes leveraging disinformation and propaganda in their articles to achieve these aims."

https://dfrlab.org/2023/04/21/state-controlled-media-experience-sudden-twitter-gains-after-unannounced-platform-policy-change/

You are all probably aware of these points; I’m a bit slow to read about them. E.g. that dead people have been awarded blue ticks etc:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/25/whats-that-going-up-in-flames-why-its-elon-musk-reputation

(I also didn’t know anything about the fabled ancestral emerald mine)

joanne said:

You are all probably aware of these points; I’m a bit slow to read about them. E.g. that dead people have been awarded blue ticks etc:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/25/whats-that-going-up-in-flames-why-its-elon-musk-reputation

"Going up in flames" seems to be what happens to anything Elon Musk touches now - cars, rockets, the Twitter ...

"Late last week, for example, a fake account with a check mark provided through a Twitter Blue subscription posed as a Sudanese army official and falsely reported the death of military leader Mohamed Dagalo. The tweet reportedly got over 1 million views before the account posting it was taken down. Sudan is in the middle of an active and violent military conflict."

Elon’s blue check disaster is getting worse

Elon's fans keep telling us that he's making the Twitter a more trusted source for news and information.  He's doing the exact opposite.

nohero said:

"Going up in flames" seems to be what happens to anything Elon Musk touches now - cars, rockets, the Twitter ...

kinda like trumpenstein isn’t he? The difference is everything trumpenstein touches turns to the color of diarrhea after someone overdosed on turmeric…

Very graphic…may I quote this in convo with friends? 

Jaytee said:

kinda like trumpenstein isn’t he? The difference is everything trumpenstein touches turns to the color of diarrhea after someone overdosed on turmeric…

A MOL checkmark is free and has nothing to do with anything.

nohero said:

There's a pattern in how Elon Musk runs his companies.

Tesla: He made the "autopilot" available to anyone who would pay for it.  Instead of continued testing, it was "tested" out in the real world, with unsuspecting people in the way.

[...]

Perhaps Elon is using a "blind" scientific study [pun not intended] where half of the cars are placebos and have no autopilot at all.  Telling the drivers would skew the results.  

ridski said:

paulsurovell said:

Some people still advertising on Twitter

Aren't you subscribed to Twitter Blue now? You're literally renting an emoji for $8 a month.

ETA: Maybe if you get popular enough, Elon will buy it for you like he did with Stephen King.

Twitter Blue now enables 10,000-character tweets and formatting, as well as editing posted tweets. There are more advantages that I'm not familiar with/don't take advantage of but probably also worth more than $8 a month to people who use them.

Don't be duped by the Elon-haters who say it's about "an emoji".

paulsurovell said:

ridski said:

paulsurovell said:

Some people still advertising on Twitter

Aren't you subscribed to Twitter Blue now? You're literally renting an emoji for $8 a month.

ETA: Maybe if you get popular enough, Elon will buy it for you like he did with Stephen King.

Twitter Blue now enables 10,000-character tweets and formatting, as well as editing posted tweets. There are more advantages that I'm not familiar with/don't take advantage of but probably also worth more than $8 a month to people who use them.

Don't be duped by the Elon-haters who say it's about "an emoji".

lol

paulsurovell said:

Twitter Blue now enables 10,000-character tweets and formatting, as well as editing posted tweets. There are more advantages that I'm not familiar with/don't take advantage of but probably also worth more than $8 a month to people who use them.

Don't be duped by the Elon-haters who say it's about "an emoji".

That's so dumb.  The whole point of a tweet was the character length.  They should change the name completely?  I don't find it to be "elon hating" at all.   

paulsurovell said:

 worth more than $8 a month to people who use them.

Likely true. But that's far too few people for Twitter to be financially sustainable.

jamie said:

paulsurovell said:

Twitter Blue now enables 10,000-character tweets and formatting, as well as editing posted tweets. There are more advantages that I'm not familiar with/don't take advantage of but probably also worth more than $8 a month to people who use them.

Don't be duped by the Elon-haters who say it's about "an emoji".

That's so dumb.  The whole point of a tweet was the character length.  They should change the name completely?  I don't find it to be "elon hating" at all.   

That's not the point. You are ignoring those great add-ons, which clearly outweigh the fact that Elon has made the platform more untrustworthy, more hate-filled, and completely useless for official entities to disseminate information.