Apple Returns to Twitter: Right Again

Looks I am right yet again:

Elon Musk Says Apple Has ‘Fully Resumed’ Advertising on Twitter

Elon Musk says major advertisers are returning to Twitter after initial exodus

Big advertisers including Amazon returning to Twitter, says report

From Apple to Amazon, advertisers return on Twitter, Elon Musk says, ‘Thanks’

A little over a week ago Apple pulled its ads from Twitter. The left was cheering this as a major win and a repudiation of Musk. I knew it would be short-lived and that advertisers would come crawling back, as they always do when it’s no longer expedient to virtue signal. [Although, it’s likely that Apple’s decision to pause advertising wasn’t even motivated by politics, but to discuss terms with Elon.] Indeed, as I wrote on the 22nd:

The always-wrong media, who also are on Twitter, are predicting that Elon will kill Twitter, either as users leave for competing sites/platforms (such as Mastodon) or advertisers quit. I predict, instead, that Twitter will thrive and that Elon will make a large profit on his acquisition. Some advertisers leaving will not threaten Twitter’s business much, because either they will eventually return, and or new ones will replace them. Twitter saw strong, sustained revenue growth from 2016-2020 despite Trump having the most popular account, so evidently advertisers were not deterred in spite of the insistence by the media that advertisers would leave in protest.

And on Nov. 1st:

Good ol’ virtue signaling General Motors, which did this exact same media stunt in 2012 regarding Facebook. It’s common for famous people and companies to make a big announcements out of protest, such as moving to another platform or suspending advertising, and then quietly returning when it’s no longer politically expedient or because the new platform is inferior. It’s so shallow and transparent. No one wants its shitty, unreliable cars and trucks anyway, and it had to be bailed out in 2008 anyway. Good riddance.

It’s the same song and dance. Again, Twitter ad revenue and traffic boomed from 2016-2020 despite the alt-right having a larger presence on the site and Trump being unbanned and having the most popular account as measured by engagement. Advertisers want to make money, first and foremost; Trump voters buy stuff, too. The ADL and SPLC wishes that everyone cared as much about overblown antisemitism as much as they do, but most people have actual productive lives that doesn’t center around looking for things to be offended by.

These big-brained theories that Elon will have to strike a delicate balance between competing power structures/interests, like between the federal government, vs. advertisers, vs. his userbase, are still likely wrong. Elon has the carte blanche to do whatever he wants. There is also no evidence to suggest Twitter is dying or faltering either. It’s more like the left wishes Twitter would die now that they no longer have total control over it.

1 comment

  1. It would be even better if Twitter could link up with, or even become part of Mastodon. Every “instance” has its own servers, and Twitter has some of the biggest and best servers around. There could even be different instances of Twitter for the European Union and North Korea.

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