The hashtags have been coming thick and fast – and getting more dramatic by the second. “This is my last Tweet.” “Here’s how to use Twitter’s media downloader – before it’s too late”.
Where is this all playing out? On Twitter, of course. “What I might do is write tweets, then just photograph them and post them on Instagram instead.
I’m there as @misterosman by the way” tweeted Richard Osman (1.2 million followers).
“My full mastodon handle is @martinlewis@vivaldi.net” tweeted Martin Lewis (2 million followers).
Deserting employees sent their goodbyes on the company’s Slack, even those who have opted to stay have now been locked out of their offices until Monday.
Elon Musk’s reputation was built on defying expectations, proving the world wrong with a smirk.
As a result, his supporters are inclined to perceive him as playing 3D chess. With Twitter, the billionaire seems to have found himself playing a disastrous $44 billion ($71.8b) game of Jenga.
It looks set to be a business case study for the ages: a testament to how hubris and arrogance can destroy a brand in a month. And that destruction doesn’t come from the departure of the likes of Osman and Lewis. It’s about the people who have helped to keep them there.
Elon Musk attends Heidi Klum's 21st Annual Halloween Party at Sake No Hana at Moxy, on Manhattan's Lower East Side in New York City. Photo / Getty Images
Social media platforms are more like ecosystems than “tech products” like iPhones or laptops.
We all think social media is about the dopamine rush of someone liking our posts. It’s a lovely theory, but it doesn’t survive contact with Twitter. Most tweets don’t get any engagement at all.
Twitter is about the thrill of revelation. It’s a platform for gossip; for the shock of drama; to discover what’s happening. People go to it to find out about World Cup selection rumours; to see if Musk has seen off the last employee yet.
Ninety-nine per cent of the tweets consumed on it are created by 1 per cent of the users. This is why, for a long time, the 1 per cent weren’t shown ads. It was recognised that a happy Kardashian would keep tweeting; annoying them with ads would put them off.
It’s easy to imagine that a software product like a website doesn’t need people. But it’s the employees who make sure the 1 per cent don’t see the ads. In fact, anything that has 250 million people using it daily requires constant intervention. Systems run into problems, processes hit capacity issues that need resetting, unresolved bugs often have human-operated workarounds while awaiting recoding.
In effective companies, it’s said the secret of organisational success is a foundation of psychological safety: the ability to have frank discussion about challenges being faced.
This enables us to share our concerns without fear of retribution. We don’t highlight a problem if it serves to get us sacked. Musk’s actions have undermined that candid conversation – in the last week it’s been reported that he’s fired dozens who have been seen to criticise him on internal or external channels.
I worked at Twitter for eight years, before leaving to write a book on resilience. Resilient cultures have one thing in common: a visceral sense that we’re all in it together.
Company cultures can also exhibit this – a cohesive bond of employees, often intent on proving outsiders wrong. Social identities like this can give immense strength to employees, but can also be mobilised against those who are seen as opponents.
Twitter culture was famed for being tightly bonded; employees often tagged their tweets #LoveWhereYouWork or #OneTeam. Musk made the mistake of mobilising this strong shared identity into a case of “him” versus “us”.
Former Twitter European VP Bruce Daisley attends the 10th Festival Of Media Global in 2016. Photo / Getty Images
A powerful connection is being expressed by the departing workforce.
Whole teams have taken the three months’ salary being offered to leave, rather than stay in an imploding atmosphere, committed to a “hardcore” culture of long hours and hard work. Most developers have a lot of choice, even in a brutal job market.
Their hashtag might best be summed up as #I’maSoftwareEngineerGetMeOutOfHere.
Each day sees the outlook become bleaker for Twitter. Musk has lost not only the teams who maintain the product, but also the know-how to keep it working.
Surrounded by a constant cloud of drama, this wasn’t how we expected Twitter to end – not with a bang, but with a 404 loading error.
Bruce Daisley’s latest book Fortitude – Unpicking the Myth of Resilience is out now. He was formerly European Vice President for Twitter between 2012 and 2020.
