David Lieb, a partner at Y Combinator Group, has criticized Musk, now known as raised questions.
What happened: Reeve’s comments, posted on the platform itself, challenge the notion that success in one industry guarantees victory in another, and specifically criticize Musk’s approach to social media. It’s targeted.
Citing the wisdom of Amazon.com founder Bezos, Reeve said, “As Bezos once said, taste cannot be transferred across domains.” This reference to Bezos, Musk’s longtime rival in both space and technology, sets the stage for a sharp analysis of Musk’s ventures beyond Tesla Inc. and SpaceX.
Y Combinator partners pulled no punches in their review of Musk’s performance on Twitter. “Elon’s great taste in electric cars and rockets gives him a false sense of confidence on social networks.”
Reeve’s criticism went beyond Musk’s general approach to the platform and targeted specific features and content strategies. He offered his thoughts on the platform’s content curation, saying, “I don’t think the team at Twitter is intentionally improving the Following feed so that the metrics in the For You feed are better.”
This refers to a deliberate strategy to drive users to an algorithmically curated โFor Youโ feed at the expense of user experience and content quality. Reeve didn’t mince words about his personal experience with the feature, saying: “I’m sure my metrics are better on the For You feed, but I really hate it. It’s mostly clickbait videos and McGairon garbage.”
The reference to “Magairon trash” hints that the content promoted on the platform appears to have a political bent, and adds to the ongoing debate about the role of social media in shaping political discourse. It’s touching.
Lieb’s comments come at a time when Twitter has undergone major changes under Musk’s leadership, including rebranding to X, adjusting its content moderation policies and changing its user verification process. These changes have seen mixed reactions from users, advertisers, and industry analysts.
As Bezos once said, taste cannot be transferred across domains. Elon’s great taste in electric cars and rockets gives him a false sense of confidence on social networks.
I wonder if the team at Twitter hasn’t intentionally improved the Following feed to make the For You feed better…
โ David Lieb (@dflieb) October 6, 2024
SEE ALSO: Elon Musk paid $1 million for 1976 car that inspired Cybertruck design โ seller originally bought it for just $100 at a storage unit sale
Why it matters: Mr. Lieb’s criticism comes amid a difficult period for Mr. Musk’s social media platform X (formerly Twitter). X recently released its first transparency report since Musk’s acquisition, revealing it had suspended 5.3 million accounts and flagged 10.6 million posts for violating its rules.
Additionally, X has faced a significant drop in user engagement, particularly in the UK, where daily active users have fallen from 8 million to approximately 5.6 million. This decline followed Musk’s controversial posts such as “civil war is inevitable,” leading to a notable exodus of users to platforms like Bluesky.
Furthermore, Nick Clegg, global president of Meta Platforms Inc., criticized X as a “small” platform that allows unregulated speech, contrasting it with Meta’s platform.
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