The ongoing story of Elon Musk taking charge of Twitter continues, with him creating a poll to let users decide if he should step down from being CEO of the company.
It began over the weekend where, according to The Verge (opens in new tab), a new policy was immediately put into effect where any sharing of other social networks on Twitter, such as Mastodon and Instagram, would suspend your account.
A few hours later, this was reversed, with the posts and tweets deleted, and Musk apologizing.
However, this led to a bizarre plot twist, where he created a poll as to whether he should stay or step down, alongside Twitter Support creating its own (opens in new tab) as to whether users should be able to share links to other social platforms.
I’ve been following this saga since Musk first decided to buy the platform in April, followed by putting it on hold in May, and it’s akin to a bad movie from the 90s.
His survey says..
Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.December 18, 2022
The poll closed at 6:20 PT / 11:20 GMT on December 19, with 57.9% voting that he should step down, with 17,502,391 votes being made in this poll.
While his reasons for doing it this way almost make sense, this all feels as though he’s toying with users for engagement. Drama is something most of us have likely seen or experienced on social networks such as Facebook, and Musk is no stranger to this, which is why incidents like these have been in the media since he took over in November.
From replying to notorious users and unbanning others such as Donald Trump, it makes headlines and keeps Twitter relevant. Granted, change has been sorely needed for the platform in a while, but it shouldn’t have to stoop so low to the point where users are voting as to whether they can share links to other social networks.
I’ve already been using Twitter less and Mastodon more (opens in new tab) – I find it fun and engaging, and a far cry from how I’ve been reading my Twitter feed, even before Musk took over. If you’re thinking of alternatives, we’ve got some great choices for you to decide on.
The result of the poll will most likely do nothing – silence can make more of an impact than a tweet thread, and Musk knows it.
Instead, look forward to the holiday break and spend it with family and friends, watching bad movies and eating all kinds of chocolate.
