If you are wondering why former ad exec Linda Yaccarino eagerly accepted the CEO position at Twitter, she’s happy to tell you. In fact, she did just that on the social media platform last week, a week after her June 5 start date. Yaccarino said it was time for the “global town square” to be transformed through an “unfiltered exchange of information and open dialogue.” Based on Elon Musk’s experience with SpaceX and Tesla, the new CEO felt Musk was the right man to lead the charge.
In a series of tweets, Yaccarino shared what she thinks Twitter 2.0 would look like.
In one of the tweets, she shared her principles.
“Our first principles are questioning our assumptions and building something new from the ground up. It’s rare to have the chance to put a new future into the hands of every person, partner, and creator on the planet. That’s exactly why I’m here – with all of you,” Yaccarino tweeted.
Along with the series of tweets, Yaccarino sent an email to employees titled “Building Twitter 2.0 Together,” reports The Verge. The CEO emphasized the need for free speech on the platform, but that was one factor that actually drove down engagement on the site. When Musk took over in late October, there was more hate speech allowed on the social network, driving more people away. Users are still posting at a lower frequency than before the new ownership, reports Pew Research Center. Even with the promise of free speech, it will be an uphill battle to get back some of the users that have left the site for good, opting for a decentralized network like Mastodon.
“Twitter is on a mission to become the world’s most accurate real-time information source and a global town square for communication,” Yaccarino wrote. “That’s not an empty promise.”
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But she needs help.
“The success of Twitter 2.0 is all of our responsibility,” Yaccarino said. “We need to think big. We need to transform. We need to do it all together.
In addition to her tweets, Yaccarino met with Twitter investors to share that they were in discussions with potential partners in entertainment, politics, news and media publishers, and payment services. It is unclear what the partnerships will look like, but strong partners could help shine a positive light on Twitter.
Based on Yaccarino’s advertising background, those partnership talks also have the potential to boost advertising sales. After a rocky start under Musk’s leadership, and many advertisers fleeing the social media platform, Yaccarino told investors that ad spending is now up at least 40% in several categories. Some large brands like Disney and Apple have remained loyal to Twitter, while others have resolved their Twitter concerns, Musk says according to Market Watch.
Insider Take
Since Musk took over the social media platform in his $44 billion deal last fall, things have gone sideways with advertisers and users alike leaving for alternative platforms. From removing verified status from nonsubscribers to banning (and unbanning) journalists and media organizations, Twitter has been on a roller coaster. Musk’s hiring a CEO with an impressive background is hopefully the first step in stabilizing the social media platform. Granted, Musk is still the owner and his past decision-making has proven volatile, but if he lets Yaccarino do her job while staying in his own lane, perhaps the social media platform can reinvent itself as Twitter 2.0
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