As we speak, we obtained a take a look at Elon’s broader strategic considering across the app, together with some new updates on how Twitter 2.0 is progressing on varied components.

Musk made a brand new presentation on Twitter, and his different companies, to the Morgan Stanley Tech, Media and Telecommunications Convention in San Francisco, the place Musk supplied perception into a number of key elements, together with their work on mitigating hate speech, the expansion in utilization of the app, and the grander imaginative and prescient to transform Twitter right into a key funds and commerce app.

First off, Musk outlined his normal imaginative and prescient for Twitter, and making it the ‘world city sq.’ as soon as once more.

Twitter has all the time had this as a defining objective, of kinds, although it moved away from the ‘city sq.’ framing within the latter years below former CEO Jack Dorsey, who grew to become disillusioned with the inevitable calls that needed to be made by Twitter administration on what may and couldn’t be shared within the app.

That’s been a defining factor of Musk’s push to reform Twitter’s method, by permitting extra free and open speech, and ideally, letting the customers resolve what needs to be allowed, with Neighborhood Notes set to play a much bigger position in enabling Twitter customers themselves to police misinformation and untruths by including contextual explainers to particular person tweets.

Musk additionally laid out Twitter 2.0’s core ideas, which he hopes will ultimately make Twitter a supply of fact, by empowering enter from all folks.

As per Musk:

“So the objective is to have Twitter be the very best supply of fact, essentially the most well timed and correct supply of fact, even when the reality is one thing we do not need to hear or disagreeable or no matter, however have it’s well timed and correct and the place you possibly can actually perceive what is going on on.”

Musk additional defined that the media is presently in a position to management key narratives by selecting what to cowl, and what will get high precedence. However Twitter permits all folks to resolve what’s related quicker, by facilitating extra inputs. Which is why, in Musk’s view, it’s essential that Twitter permits free and open speech, as a lot as doable.

“The bedrock of a functioning democracy needs to be free speech and a stage taking part in subject. That is why it is the primary modification. It was the very first thing they did, like we have got to make sure freedom of speech. And why did they do this? As a result of the place they got here from there wasn’t freedom of speech, and when you lose freedom of speech, you aren’t getting it again. In order that’s why we should defend it in any respect prices.”

This has been a key factor of Musk’s broader push on the app, which he’s strengthened together with his personal tweets on varied controversial subjects.

Which then results in issues round what folks would possibly really say within the app, and the way that might result in hurt and damaging behaviors. On this entrance, Musk additionally outlined Twitter’s progress in addressing hate speech, which Musk says is now down 50% from when he took over on the app.

Some consultants have questioned Twitter’s metrics on this, and we don’t have entry to precisely what this information means – however based mostly on the important thing components that the Twitter 2.0 workforce is measuring, it’s working to handle doubtlessly dangerous components, which ought to result in an improved consumer expertise.

After all, letting tens of 1000’s of beforehand banned customers again on the app appears to work counter to this objective, however once more, based mostly on the metrics that Musk and his workforce are monitoring, it’s seemingly seeing enchancment.

The identical will also be mentioned for youngster exploitation content material.

Musk has repeatedly claimed, as this graph exhibits, that Twitter is doing extra to handle CSE content material than Twitter has ever achieved up to now. Consultants have refuted these figures as effectively, however Twitter is seemingly, by no less than some measures, taking extra motion to handle this factor, which Musk says will all the time be precedence primary on the app.

Although bigger modifications stay problematic. As we noticed earlier this week, Twitter does appear to be changing into more and more unstable, resulting in bigger outages and impacts, seemingly because of diminished oversight because of employees cuts.

Musk admitted that this can be a downside, noting that the present code base is susceptible to failure when making even the slightest change.

However nonetheless, even with elevated error charges, Musk says that Twitter utilization is at an all-time excessive, with greater than 250 million day by day lively customers.

It’s value noting that this chart measures as much as This fall, and experiences have steered that Twitter utilization has declined considerably since then. Besides, Twitter’s reputation has elevated below Musk – to not the degrees that Musk would clearly like (with regard to that billion-user goal), however it’s on observe to see enchancment, if it might probably get all of its components into line.

On that entrance, Musk briefly mentioned his plans to enhance Twitter’s advert relevance, and drive higher efficiency by way of varied concentrating on measures.

A few of this revolved round easy measures, like key phrase concentrating on, which Twitter has beforehand moved away from because of diminished advertiser efficiency. Elon is now seeking to implement extra direct concentrating on choices like this, with advertisers in a position to spotlight their content material inside associated discussions within the app.

Lastly, Musk mentioned his longer-term imaginative and prescient for Twitter, and making it into the ‘every little thing app’, which largely revolves round integrating funds.

“I think it is doable to create a really highly effective finance expertise. Mainly, PayPal is sort of like a midway model of what I feel may very well be achieved in funds and finance. So, for example you need to have the ability to ship cash simply from one account on Twitter to a different account effortlessly, with one click on, you need to have the ability to earn curiosity on that cash, you need to have the ability to have debt, so you possibly can let your curiosity can go damaging. Mainly, I feel it is doable to turn out to be the most important monetary establishment on the earth, simply by offering folks with handy cost choices. We do not have the time to enter it intimately right here, but when we simply make the app increasingly helpful, folks will use it extra and it will be nice.”

The imaginative and prescient is that, ultimately, by enabling funds through tweet, Twitter will be capable to facilitate extra sorts of transactions, which is able to make it a extra helpful app, for all completely different functions, much like how Chinese language messaging apps like WeChat have turn out to be important utilities in that area.

After all, Meta’s additionally attempting to facilitate the identical factor, and only in the near past obtained approval to develop WhatsApp funds utilization in Brazil, whereas it’s additionally gaining traction with WhatsApp funds in India, seemingly the important thing marketplace for such a shift.

However success on this space is not going to come straightforward, particularly amid ongoing regulatory scrutiny, and given Musk’s defiant perspective to different regulatory teams, just like the SEC, it’s arduous to see Twitter ever gaining the approval required to facilitate such.

Nonetheless, that’s the longer-term imaginative and prescient, that Twitter will turn out to be a key supply of fact in journalism, and a key utility in facilitating extra sorts of funds, which is able to then make it a essential app for a lot of extra folks. It’s an optimistic technique, which requires many issues to go proper, however Musk says that, after huge cost-cutting, the app is, doubtlessly, on observe to be money constructive by the tip of this yr.

That, in any case, offers him firmer footing to construct from, and possibly, Elon’s imaginative and prescient is past what others can but see for the app.

You possibly can take a look at Elon’s full presentation to the Morgan Stanley TMT Convention right here.