Twitter May Look Like A Dumpster Fire, But Musk Says Usage Is Higher Than Ever
Elon Musk has seemingly confirmed a leak that was published early on November 7, revealing that Twitter usage has set a new record. The billionaire has been the new owner and CEO of the platform for a little over a week, and during that time has announced and implemented a vast series of changes, including revealing the upcoming Twitter Blue subscription as it'll exist starting on or around November 9.
Twitter usage is at an all-time high lol
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 8, 2022
In addition to laying off around half of the company's workforce and reportedly ordering Twitter teams to figure out how to drastically slash infrastructure costs, he has managed to worry some advertisers and seemingly contradicted his previous statements by declaring perma-bans on impersonator accounts. The attention may move on from Twitter's workforce turmoil later this week, however. Amid the Twitter chaos, a new leak surfaced claiming that Meta is planning to announce even bigger layoffs potentially as early as this Wednesday.
Twitter usage is up, but advertisers may not care
Musk revealed the news in a tweet, though he didn't provide any hard figures nor state how long the traffic has been operating above the previous record. He did say in a follow-up tweet that he hopes "the servers don't melt," which is a valid concern. High traffic spikes can and have caused platforms to experience outages, and inside sources claim the company is looking into potentially ditching its backup server capacity — which is intended to handle moments like this — in order to save money.
I just hope the servers don’t melt!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 8, 2022
That aside, Musk's tweet seemingly confirms the leak published by The Verge on November 9, which also claims based on "internal FAQ" that Twitter won't take verified badges away from already-verified accounts even if they don't sign up for the $8 per month subscription. That hasn't been confirmed or denied by the company, but the same report had claimed that Twitter usage had hit an all-time high under Musk, which he confirmed later that same day.
Though Twitter usage may be higher than ever, it has been only a few days since Musk complained that Twitter revenue is down, something he blamed on "activists" pressuring advertisers (via CNBC). Whether this new claim will make advertisers feel better about returning to the platform remains to be seen. The same leak had claimed that already-verified accounts that belong to major brands will get a special "Official" label on their profiles, but there's no mention of whether post-acquisition accounts will get the same label. Asymmetrically bestowing only some brands with the label may upset their competitors, but it is possible things will change before any labels are rolled out.