What Is The Future of Twitter?

Since Elon Musk’s historic purchase in October, speculation around the future of Twitter has run rampant. Questions about the popular social media platform are circulating through news cycles and across other platforms like Facebook and TikTok.

The end of 2022 and start of 2023 proved tumultuous for Twitter. What does the future have in store for the company?

On October 27th, 2022, Elon Musk, the world’s richest billionaire and owner of Tesla, officially purchased Twitter. Musk’s purchase was controversial to say the least. Many Twitter users promised they’d leave the platform if Musk became owner, while others commended the purchase and believed that Musk would bring much-needed innovation and updates. 

Under Musk’s ownership, Twitter has undergone some serious changes. After the purchase, Musk’s first move involved firing Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and other top executives, as well as implementing sweeping changes like taking the company private, reinstating controversial user Andrew Tate and former President Trump and laying off thousands of employees. 

Musk also tweeted out that the user verification process would undergo policy changes to make it harder for impersonation accounts to crop up. For example, someone made a spoof Elon Musk Twitter account, which was eventually suspended. 

Another massive change Musk instituted was the subscription-based model users follow to receive a blue checkmark. Before Musk bought Twitter, an account received a blue “verified” checkmark if they belonged to notable, authentic and active people. Now, users can pay an $8 monthly fee to obtain and keep a blue checkmark, regardless of their popularity, wealth or status.

There are a handful of scenarios the future holds for Twitter and its following. Some potential situations are described further below. These scenarios are based on insights from a Brookings article written by Darrell M. West, the VP and Director of Governance Studies, a Senior Fellow of the Center for Technology & Innovation and Douglas Dillon Chair in Governmental Studies. 

On the technical side of things, Twitter could struggle to maintain its infrastructure due to Musk’s firing of critical employees, like IT staff and data engineers. 

There are several types of cybersecurity threats Twitter could experience — in fact, a recent hack exposed millions of user’s account emails, which could lead to accounts being hacked, phishing attacks and doxxing. 

Musk is known as a free speech advocate, which is one of the driving forces behind his purchase of Twitter. However, this could lead to content moderation issues, making Twitter a breeding ground for extremism, propaganda, misinformation and more. 

Musk is not one to applaud content moderation, as he believes Twitter should be welcoming of all speech. As mentioned earlier, he reinstated some controversial users — namely Kathy Lee, Jordan Peterson and Babylon Bee — who all faced permanent suspension from the platform. 

Users will likely still have options to control what they see on their feeds. For example, users can choose to mute words on the platform or report offensive content, but there could be looser restrictions due to Musk’s beliefs on freedom of speech. It seems as though Musk is uninterested in moderating content as strictly as former Twitter employees did before the transition of ownership. 

Twitter’s financial future is still uncertain, especially since the platform relies heavily on revenue from advertisers. If sponsors choose to pull back on their contributions, the platform could be doomed. It would be much more difficult for Musk and his employees to maintain the platform or make crucial updates.

The company is subject to other financial difficulties as well. In November, Musk shared with his Twitter employees that bankruptcy is “not out of the question,” and he is not sure how long the company will last in its current financial situation.

Like other social media platforms, Twitter could merge or be acquired by another company, such as Meta or TikTok. Meta purchased Instagram back in 2012, paying $1 billion in both cash and stock. There are pros and cons with mergers and acquisitions (M&As), with possible financial benefits likely being the most relevant for Twitter. It could be interesting to see how that would pan out.

If Twitter is able to pull through financially and can manage to avoid controversy, it will likely be due to premium services the platform offers users. Many organizations face tough times when transitioning from one ownership to another, but some of them are able to hang on long enough to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Musk, despite his status, is often regarded as an innovator. He could implement new, premium services for Twitter users that earn people’s trust in the platform, and could even garner new users. For example, OnlyFans is full of adult content, and if Musk wanted to, he could institute an adult-only content side of Twitter to keep people over the age of 18 coming back. 

It’s still uncertain what the future holds for Twitter. It could become a highly successful social media platform under Musk’s reign as CEO, but his leadership could also be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. It’ll be interesting to see how Musk manages the company and the platform itself in the next few months or even years.