Elon Musk allegedly fires Twitter engineer over his waning popularity
There hasn't been a lot of chatter about how life is at Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco for a while. If that made you think that things have settled, you could not be any wrong. Per Platformer, Elon Musk is still impulsively firing his employees. The latest victim is a top engineer who told the CEO why his reach on Twitter is declining.
Why does this story matter?
Musk introduced 'view count' on Twitter to show his detractors that the microblogging site is as vibrant as ever. Instead, it showed the little engagement posts get despite their audience size. Some right-wing accounts went private to prove that they received more likes and views in private mode. Even Musk tried it. It seems that he did not like what he saw.
Musk spoke to engineers and advisors about declining engagement
Musk has reportedly been worried about his reach on Twitter for a while now. According to Platformer, he spoke to his engineers and advisors to find an answer to the problem. "This is ridiculous (sic)," he said. "I have more than 100 million followers, and I'm only getting tens of thousands of impressions." Musk wanted an explanation about what was going on.
Engagement is down because public interest is waning: Twitter engineer
Musk received a possible explanation from one of the company's two remaining principal engineers. However, he wasn't happy to hear that. According to the engineer, the public isn't that interested in what he does anymore. Employees showed him internal data about engagement and a Google Trends chart to prove this. The chart showed waning interest in Musk.
Musk was infuriated by the engineer's explanation
Infuriated by the engineer's explanation, Musk said, "You're fired, you're fired." And that was it. Unhappy with the engineer's work, Musk asked others to check how many times his tweets get recommended. According to employees at Twitter, the view count feature could be one of the reasons behind reduced engagement, as it made the 'like' and 'retweet' buttons smaller.
Twitter's glitchy product has baffled users
Another possible reason behind the decline in engagement is Twitter's glitchy product. The social media site has been marred with issues, including changing algorithmic priorities, disappearing mentions, and random tweets popping up in the timeline. One employee told Platformer, "As the adage goes, 'you ship your org chart.'" "It's chaos here right now, so we're shipping chaos."
Current employees are unhappy with their job
Based on what they told Platformer, Twitter employees are unhappy with their workplace. Per one employee, most of their time is devoted to putting out fires, performing impossible tasks, and improving efficiency without any guidelines about expected results. The employee added that most of the fires are caused by axing wrong people and trying to recover from that.
Employees are scared to give the right answer
Per Platformer, the standard greeting at Twitter is now "where are you interviewing?" and "where do you have offers?" However, the volatility of the tech market has made many hold onto their jobs. One employee said that they have to think between the right answer and the "least fireable answer" when Musk or his team asks a question.
Lack of committees is something good about Twitter 2.0: Employees
Employees have some good things to say about Musk as well. According to them, the lack of committees in Twitter 2.0 is a welcome change. Things move fast in Musk's Twitter. But this can be a double-edged sword, said an employee. "Moving that fast can lead to unintended consequences." Twitter Blue's first launch is an appropriate example of this.
