If you’re a journalist, chances are you’ve heard your editor say the phrase “think before you tweet” probably a million times.
Frenzied social media reactions to breaking news on Twitter have become a norm in journalism, even though they can sometimes lead to mortifying gaffes — not to mention that being first has never necessarily guaranteed a win to the newsroom in question.
Legacy news media outlets including the New York Times and the Washington Post have drafted a set of guidelines that reporters must adhere to on social media, but more specifically on Twitter.
What is The Etiquette of Tweeting Anyway?
Social media’s public square has also changed politics in many ways.
Former Donald President Trump, who made tweeting a centerpiece of his days in the office, repeatedly posted factually inaccurate tweets and was eventually kicked off Twitter in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection, “due to the risk of further incitement to violence.”
While Twitter (TWTR) – Get Twitter, Inc. Report has managed to disrupt the world of journalism and politics, the San Francisco, Calif.-based company hasn’t been able to reinvent itself or keep up with changing times.
But users have felt a growing disconnect and complained of an overexposure to ads.
EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP via Getty
Can Crypto Help Twitter Evolve?
With slowed user growth and allegations that it has failed to tackle abuse on its platform, Twitter is struggling.
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Its stock is the lowest it has been since 2019. At the end of the 2021 fiscal year, the company reported an adjusted negative free cash flow of $370 million.
Looking to add new ways to monetize content on the platform, the company launched Twitter Blue in June of last year, a monthly subscription service at $2.99 a month.
But Twitter Chief Executive Parag Agarwal called Blue “a very small part of our revenue today” in the Q4 2021 earnings call, so the company still needs to seek ways to pioneer new territory.
What’s Next For Twitter?
It seems that Twitter’s latest move is to move further into crypto.
In January, Twitter started letting users add verified NFTs as profile pictures. The company also added a bitcoin tipping feature in September last year to further build traction in crypto.
It’s also recently added jobs for two positions on its nascent but fast-growing cryptocurrency team across eight locations, including one remote job listing.
Twitter is hiring a “Sr. Software Engineer, Crypto” and “Staff Software Engineer, Crypto” across multiple locations in the U.S. including New York, Boston, San Francisco and Atlanta.
These two roles are also being filled for Twitter’s teams in London, Toronto and Netherlands.
Hires will join the new crypto team lead by blockchain expert Tess Rinearson, who Twitter hired back in November to lead the effort. The company said the team will explore decentralized technologies, including blockchains, cryptocurrencies and web3.
The race for talent among tech giants looking to get into the crypto space has intensified as the sector has grown, with companies like Spotify (SPOT) – Get Spotify Technology SA Report, Nike (NKE) – Get NIKE, Inc. Class B Report and others all wanting a share of the pie.