On the identical time, loads of that is simply speak. Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion, so in fact, he can do no matter he needs, and loads of these early notes and rumors are simply that, random concepts that Elon and his friends are throwing round to see if something comes of them.

Perhaps they’re related, or perhaps we by no means hear something about them once more – however the truth that a few of these are even a query is so fascinating for these of us who observe social media developments on a regular basis, as a result of we all know what’ll possible come of every state of affairs, and why they haven’t been actioned at different apps.

So what are the most recent tidbits from the Chief Twit and his brains belief? Right here’s a fast overview of among the issues which have shaken out from the most recent inner conferences, which might level to coming modifications on the app.

Elon says that Twitter utilization is at all-time highs since he took over.

Which is solely possible – for reference, Twitter’s all-time utilization excessive was 336 million month-to-month energetic customers in Q1 2018.

And whereas Twitter not publishes month-to-month energetic consumer information, on common, month-to-month energetic utilization is round 44% increased than every day energetic consumer counts, based mostly on what we’ve seen on different social apps.

It’s not actual, however it offers us some thought of how DAU and MAU numbers relate, typically.

Twitter’s monetizable every day energetic consumer depend as of Q2, the final time it reported these figures, was 238 million, which, when you add 44%, could be above 340 million MAU, besting its ormer 336 million benchmark. And if you add within the mass protection of Elon’s takeover, the US midterms, ‘free speech’-ers coming again, and so forth., it appears solely possible that Twitter utilization might be hitting report highs, as Elon notes.

Whether or not that holds is one other factor, however based on Elon not less than, individuals aren’t turning away from the app, and heading to Mastodon in droves. At the least, not but.

As an apart, Mastodon downloads had been up 1,847% final week.

Primarily based on its most up-to-date income per consumer information, Twitter might truly lose cash by way of its $8 Twitter Blue verification bundle.

The maths right here complicates issues – based mostly on inner information, Twitter presently generates round $12 per US consumer, which relates primarily to the quantity of adverts that every particular person is proven within the app. However that may be diminished to $6 per consumer underneath Elon’s new Twitter Blue plan, which, together with verification, may also embrace ‘half as many adverts’, based on Musk.

Apparently, he didn’t run that ingredient previous Twitter’s accountants (in the event that they nonetheless have them), as a result of if you additionally consider App and Play retailer costs (33% of subscription consumption), Twitter would truly solely be bringing in $5.36 per paying consumer underneath the scheme. And when you then half the quantity of adverts that they’re seeing, that finally ends up at a web lack of .44 per Twitter Blue subscriber – and the extra folks that join, the more serious Twitter’s general ARPU figures get.

Look, it’s loads of math, and there’s a threshold of subscriptions the place this evens out and makes monetary sense, whereas additionally lowering Twitter’s reliance on adverts.

However that, additionally, is one other concern…

Based on inner perception, the present model of Twitter Blue solely has round 100,000 energetic subscribers.

That’s roughly 0.04% of Twitter’s complete consumer base.

Even the addition of tweet enhancing hasn’t boosted sign-ups – and with that is thoughts, it’s arduous to think about that many extra persons are going to sign-up to this new iteration of the scheme, which affords a graphic of a blue tick subsequent to your identify, however not a lot else.

In fact, which may be underrating Elon’s passionate supporter base, who proceed to defend him with the vigor of a protecting large brother any time you dare to query his genius.

Perhaps that can spark a much bigger take-up of Twitter’s subscription providing, however the numbers don’t appear to recommend that there are loads of customers which are eager to pay to make use of the app that they’ll additionally use at no cost.

For now not less than.

Elon’s grand plan is to pressure individuals to pay to make use of the app by burying tweets from non verified customers, and perhaps, ultimately, paywall the app solely.

Musk mentioned this himself ultimately week’s Baron’s convention for wealthy folks.

As per Musk:

“The online impact will likely be that, over time, the verified customers will just about at all times be on the prime of feedback and search and also you gained’t actually see… you may need to scroll actually far to see unverified customers.”

Which looks as if a category system in itself, particularly in growing markets – individuals who can afford it, can interact, whereas poor persons are basically handled the identical as spam and bots, successfully criminals within the app.

However philosophical issues apart, Musk’s plan might truly prolong even additional than that, with the Musk transition crew additionally discussing a proposal to place all tweets behind a paywall, with individuals ready to make use of the app for a specific amount every month, earlier than they need to pay.

Once more, the logic right here appears flawed – and as famous by SignalFire’s Josh Constine, different platforms have thought of the pay-to-play mannequin earlier than, however it falls aside as a result of it de-values your advert product.

However Elon’s decided to scale back the corporate’s reliance on advert bucks, and whereas it appears unlikely that almost all of customers will ever pay, the proposals level to the longer-term pondering round monetization of the app.

The brand new Twitter Blue will certainly not embrace any type of ID verification.

This was rumored and has now been confirmed by Twitter’s head of integrity Yoel Roth, who says that they could add in verification at some stage.

Verification with none type of precise ID checking looks as if not verification in any respect, however Twitter’s calling this ‘cost verification’, which it believes will spoil the occasion for bots and scammers by making it too expensive to threat their spam exercise.

It’ll additionally, ultimately, spotlight all of the bot accounts, as a result of when each actual human consumer pays up, it’ll be actually apparent that those who haven’t paid are bots and spammers.

In fact, that hinges on the truth that each human consumer goes to pay $8 for a blue checkmark, which, once more, historical past suggests gained’t occur. However that’s the idea – which then leads into…

Elon needs to make Twitter ‘probably the most correct supply of details about the world’, in keeping with what the consumer group view as info, not anybody else.

His plan to do that is to make use of Twitter’s Birdwatch notes – which have been renamed ‘Neighborhood Notes’ – so as to add a stage of verification and normal accountability from different customers.

The final idea appears to be like a extra convoluted model of Reddit’s up and down votes, the place customers add context to disputed info, and that then permits a form of viewers moderation of what’s true and what isn’t.

Which, clearly, Elon thinks will likely be extra reliable than the mainstream press, whom he sees as brokers of disinformation  (or ‘the massive lie’ as Elon lately leveled at one journalist).

I don’t know, loads of these plans hinge on mass take-up, which once more, historical past reveals us isn’t actually what’s prone to occur. However the man spent $44 billion. If he needs to journey with optimism until that doesn’t work, that’s his prerogative.

Elon additionally needs to allow monetization, of every part, with creators to get a greater than 55-44 cut up (which YouTube presently affords).

Creator monetization can actually immediate extra customers to put up extra usually, so it is sensible for Twitter to discover this, and it’ll be fascinating to see the way it plans to facilitate new types of income technology.

Additionally, presently verified Twitter customers gained’t need to pay to maintain their blue tick.

Perhaps. That’s what it appears within the most up-to-date notes on the modifications.

These are simply among the many storylines swirling across the Musk takeover of Twitter at current – and once more, loads of these are simply thought, simply proposals which have been raised as a subject of dialogue, which, because the incoming CEO, you’ll push round simply to see what kind of angles might be attainable on every.

However loads of them are then making it to the press – both by way of inner leaks or from Elon and his transition crew themselves. On this sense, the one actual flaw is that Elon’s propensity to tweet his each thought results in mass hypothesis. However then once more, if you take a look at these Twitter utilization charts, with the app at report highs, perhaps all that hypothesis isn’t truly a foul factor for the app.

However in essence, we don’t know what’s going to occur, and neither does Elon or anybody else on his crew as but. We are able to present an informed guess, based mostly on previous expertise, however nobody can definitively say that this or that can/gained’t work.

Perhaps one thing comes of it, perhaps not – and I do personally suspect that Twitter goes to luck very like it does proper now in a 12 months’s time, after varied trials of various issues.

Nevertheless it additionally must make much more cash, and inside that, Elon and his crew must throw round radical new concepts, to see what would possibly stick.

In different phrases, count on extra head-scratching proposals, which can or might not imply something.

Oh, additionally, former Twitter workers are sharing their horror tales about how they had been requested to do issues like monetize everyone’s information, if you wish to get an thought of what might occur if the app will get actually determined for money.