Twitter has announced Linda Yaccarino as its new CEO. Yaccarino, who previously served as an advertising executive at NBC Universal, is credited with digitizing and integrating ad sales at the company. Her challenge now is to attract back advertisers who have left Twitter since Elon Musk acquired it for $44 billion last year.
The Miami Conversation
At a marketing convention in Miami Beach, Florida in April, Yaccarino and Musk had a cordial conversation. However, there were a few moments where they drew distinct lines in the sand. Yaccarino raised some issues about content moderation, hate speech, and extremism since Musk took over the platform. She asked if Musk was willing to let advertisers have an influence on his vision for Twitter, but Musk shut her down. He stated that freedom of speech was paramount and that it was not cool for advertisers to try to dictate what Twitter will do.
The Influence Council
Yaccarino also asked if Musk planned to reinstate the company’s influence council, which was a regular meeting with marketing executives from several of Twitter’s major advertisers. Musk said he was worried about creating a backlash among the public, as the public may believe that their views are being determined by a small number of marketing executives in America. He suggested that Twitter should aim for a “sensible middle ground” that ensures the public has a voice while advertisers focus on the ordinary work of improving sales and the perception of their brands.
Musk’s New Plan
Musk also took the opportunity to pitch his new plan to solve Twitter’s problems with objectionable tweets. The policy is called “freedom of speech but not freedom of reach,” which limits the visibility of hate speech and similar problems without removing rule-breaking tweets. Yaccarino asked if the policy applies to Musk’s tweets, which Musk acknowledged. He added that his tweets could be tagged with “community notes” that provide additional context to tweets and that his tweets receive no special boosts from Twitter.
In conclusion, Twitter has appointed Linda Yaccarino as its new CEO. Her challenge is to attract back advertisers who have left Twitter since Elon Musk acquired it last year. At a marketing convention in Miami Beach, Florida, Yaccarino and Musk had a conversation about content moderation, hate speech, and extremism. Musk also introduced his new plan to solve Twitter’s problems with objectionable tweets.
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