By
Temitope Olatunji
May 6th, 2024
According to the new Twitter CEO in a thread, Twitter and all users will be responsible for making the platform the source for accurate info.
The new CEO of Twitter Linda Yaccarino has posted her views on the platform’s efforts at free speech in a thread published on Monday. Among other things, CEO Yaccarino said Twitter would support open dialogue and accurate information.
Yaccarino made a few promises to the general public in her first thread since officially resuming her position as Twitter CEO. She said the goal is for Twitter to lead the pack, allowing everyone the freedom to speak their minds. Linda wrote:
“Twitter is on a mission to become the world’s most accurate real-time information source and a global town square for communication. That’s not an empty promise. That’s OUR reality.”
In the thread, the Twitter CEO also talked about what Twitter 2.0 brings. In addition to being the go-to platform for accurate information, she said Twitter 2.0 would require input from each user. Yaccarino specified that “we need to do it all together”.
“The success of Twitter 2.0 is all of our responsibility…It’s rare to have the chance to put a new future into the hands of every person, partner, and creator on the planet. That’s exactly why I’m here – with all of YOU,” added she.
New Thread of CEO Yaccarino Did Not Address Twitter’s Issues
The thread posted by the new CEO Linda Yaccarino was broadly written and didn’t touch on any specific issues at Twitter. Since Elon Musk’s 2022 Twitter takeover, the microblogging platform has faced its fair share of problems. Apart from the general outlook of the heavy headcount reduction, advertisers significantly paused ad and marketing campaigns.
Although Twitter has lost some of its advertisers, Yaccarino’s ad experience may be a big plus. According to her LinkedIn page, Linda Yaccarino was the NBCUniversal Media global advertising and partnerships chairperson before joining Twitter. She was also NBCUniversal Media’s chairman for advertising and client partnerships from September 2012 to October 2020.
Another issue the new Twitter CEO has to grapple with, and not included in the thread, is less frequent posts since Musk’s takeover. According to a Pew Research Center survey published last month, Twitter’s “highly active users” still use the platform but post less frequently. The survey notes that six in ten US adults recently took a break from tweeting. In addition, Pew Research found that since Musk took over, 98% of all tweets posted by US adults came from only 20% of these users.
Last week, four Democrat senators wrote a letter to Musk and Yaccarino, noting concerns about safety on Twitter. Their letter followed resignations from Twitter executives who handle safety and trust matters at the company. According to the letter, Twitter might be unable to meet its compliance and legal requirements due to several changes at the company.
In addition to the resignations, the senators expressed concerns at what they called “hasty personnel and product decisions”. This referred to the heavy staff retrenchment Musk initiated shortly after taking over and several other resignations. In November, four high-profile executives resigned the day before Twitter’s deadline to submit a report to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).