What should Elon do with Twitter
1. Use open source privacy communications technology (e.g. Signal) to create a private messaging network among verified twitter users.
Signal is a foundation started by the founders of WhatsApp after they left Facebook.
Make Twitter THE platform for secure international messaging. This will also be another justification for charging $8 a user for the blue checkmark.
2. Set up a digital payments network among Twitter users
Facebook tried to do this with Libra. The problem is, FB would control Libra.
Instead, Elon should give everyone on Twitter a Bitcoin wallet, maintained by Twitter, and introduce a billion people to the concept of crypto payments . Doesn't have to be limited to just Bitcoin but start there.
This would also allow for micro payments on Twitter , tipping for content, paying users for quality content, etc
There's various attempts to combine social media and crypto. For instance, SoMee. But they all use smaller tokens. Twitter could become the largest platform for Bitcoin transactions if they build payments on top of the bitcoin lightning network.
Note that Binance CEO, CZ, is one of the largest investors in the new twitter. As is Jack Dorsey, who also co-founded Square and is a big advocate of Bitcoin.
3. Definitely bring back Vine
Vine was Twitter's short form (6 seconds) video platform. But if I were Elon I'd go to 60 seconds and make it a competitor to TikTok. This will be more important as more restrictions happen against TikTok due to it's ownership by the Chinese.
4. If Bitcoin is integral to Twitter, set up a rewards system for twitter users
Have an alternative mining for Bitcoin where "proof of great content" will reward the users with the best content and even reward the users who like the best content.
This is too tough to summarize the algorithms by which this is done but check out how the above-mentioned SoMee does it. It's pretty interesting but they are maybe too small right now to make a difference whereas Twitter can do this overnight.
5. Use a payments system (described above) to turn personal data into more of a marketplace
People can decide whether or not to "sell" their data into the algorithms that help advertisers target customers.
In order for advertisers to then market to customers based on their personal data, part of the payment of advertisers to Twitter gets distributed to the ones who sell their data (pro-rata based on number of views of ads each customer reads) .
Of course, this can be gamed fraudulently so algorithms would have to be developed to make sure that can't happen.
6. Note: where would the Bitcoin come from to do the above rewards program and other similar programs?
A portion of all Twitter revenues would get converted into Bitcoin and stored for distribution to users. Why would twitter do this? Because presumably they will generate more revenues of there are more incentives for power users to generate quality content and if advertisers are more confident in the data they are buying when using data to target customers.
7. Charge higher tiers than $8 / mo
For instance, for $50 / mo, maybe users can DM (and have the DM be pinned near the top of a user's mailbox) influencers.
Also for a higher fee, users can edit prior tweets (with an editing history preserved)
Or have more efficient data on see who followed you when and who unfollowed you, etc. I would pay for that.
Also, for a higher fee, every link to Amazon and other mainstream commerce companies automatically turns into an affiliate link so users (and twitter) can make money.
8. Buy Scribd
Scribd îs sometimes described as a "Netflix for books". For a small monthly fee you have access to digital copies of millions of books and other documents that have been loaded onto Scribd. they have deals with all the major publishers and also have self-pubished books, magazines, posts, etc.
Scribd right now has about 2,000,000 users and is probably very profitable. they have recently brought on a new, public-company-savvy, CFO, so they would probably entertain offers.
Twitter could modify it's mobile app to be Book-reading friendly (sort of like the Kindle app).
The reason Scribd makes a good fit is :
- text friendly, as is Twitter, as opposed to all the video platforms out there.
- subscription friendly
- more use cases for a digital payments platform.
- more ways to reward power users. Imagine incentifying authors to publish via Twitter/Scribd because they would share in the rewards as more people read them on the platform. This might encourage quality authors to directly publish via Twitter as opposed to Amazon or traditional publishing.
9. Bring back Periscope for streaming
Periscope was Twitter's "Twitch". They shut it down in December 2020. Twitch monthly usage has doubled since before the pandemic. Perhaps some of those users came from Periscope but also streaming of games simply became more popular and the streamers became superstars.
Again, the introduction of payment systems and rewards systems (described above) can bring users from Twitch to Twitter. Given the backgrounds of the people involved in the buying of Twitter (Elon, Dorsey, CZ, etc) and their interest in Bitcoin, it will be hard for Amazon to quickly compete against a crypto payments platform.
This is not about decentralizing Twitter or moving to Twitter to Blockchain. That would be useless to everyone and more complicated that it's worth.
It's about viewing crypto as "the internet of value" and making the Twitter platform central to that.
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