Comment by ahmeneeroe-v2

3 days ago

>A lot of the users who X need to stay on the platform, journalists and politicians, are still there

Twitter/X is the reason DJT became President. It happened accidentally (ie against the wishes of Twitter management) in 2016, they successfully suppressed him in 2020, and then Elon gave MAGA that platform in 2024, leading to DJT's successful election.

As long as X is seen a kingmaker, someone will find it profitable to own/maintain, even if it doesn't convert Ads like Meta/Google.

47 comments

ahmeneeroe-v2

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BeetleB  3 days ago

This is far more nuanced (and disputed) than you make it out to be.

> It happened accidentally (ie against the wishes of Twitter management) in 2016

I think the whole Cambridge Analytica fiasco played a bigger role, and I don't think they utilize Twitter. On top of that, frankly, TV and his behavior at rallies/debated helped him a lot more than Twitter did in 2016. I don't know a single MAGA supporter who was even on Twitter in 2016.

> they successfully suppressed him in 2020

How? He was banned after the election.

> and then Elon gave MAGA that platform in 2024, leading to DJT's successful election.

DJT was not on Twitter in 2024. Did it really make a difference when he had his own social network? We all have our opinions, but is there actual data supporting this for the 2024 election?

petersellers  3 days ago

> Twitter/X is the reason DJT became President.

I really don't think so, at least not in isolation. It probably contributed a small part but the right wing media machine is multi-faceted. There were a lot of podcasters (i.e. Joe Rogan), comedians and youtubers all publicly in support of a second DJT presidency and I think that had a much bigger factor overall than Twitter.

  • throwaway48476  3 days ago

    The media gets their news from Twitter and Twitter drives the questions the media asks. It's indirectly a bigger factor than you give it credit for.

    • raydev  2 days ago

      The vast majority of his base, and a majority of his voters, doesn't even trust legacy media unless it agrees with Trump. Even Fox News is routinely under fire not by Trump, but by his fans and Republicans broadly.

      I very much doubt there was a different set of questions that would change peoples' minds about him after how his first term went.

      1 reply →

    • sillyfluke  3 days ago

      To be fair, as I understand it they're saying the podcasters were most likely the ones that pushed him over the edge this time around. "Small part" meaning 10-15 percent is not too bad for twitter. And I do think rightwing podcasters and tiktok got the young male votes out more than twitter did this time around.

      I also doubt hispanics and other minorities voted for Trump because they were obsessively on twitter. Not being able to make ends meet, a weekend at Bernie's president, and the over-the-top blank check given to Israel played more of a role than Elon buying twitter.

      3 replies →

  • dinkumthinkum  2 days ago

    So, you really think there are no issues that anyone voted on? It's just that the left has no money and no audience? People like Soros and Oprah are just so unbelievably poor that they are no match? Basically, if it were not for Joe Rogan, who has a large audience but hardly captures half of the country, and other comedians, people would have been sublimely enamored with the intellectual tour de force that is "I'm a middle class kid" and "Today is the day that we will do what we do every day?" Basically, this view is that if it wasn't for podcasts and perhaps "foreign intelligence operations" people would have right realized that they agree with a litany or far left extremist positions. I guess that must be the only answer ::shrug::.

camgunz  2 days ago

This is maybe true for 2016. In 2020 and 2024 Trump/Biden/Harris were just part of larger trends that saw Western incumbents worldwide lose their seats.

As a thought experiment, do you think X would have made the difference if Nikki Haley or Ron DeSantis were the GOP nominee? I would bet either people think X couldn't have helped enough (candidates didn't have the rizz) and ultimately they'd have lost, or they wouldn't be as toxic as Trump and wouldn't need whatever theoretical help X would provide.

Or if you like stats, Harris broadly lost on all social media platforms [0].

Years ago now I predicted Musk would burn through Twitter's attention capital and it'd become less and less relevant over time. I think that's happening: all the stats I can look up show declining users, usage, and revenue. A lot of people use X as "write only" now, or have very sporadic interactive use.

Another way of saying this is Musk bought the peak, and is running this new Nazi-friendly version as a short position against American democracy. The only way he gains attentional or financial capital from that position is if something even more illiberal happens to society and this far-right version of X is suddenly as relevant as center-left Twitter was in 2016, like Nick Fuentes becomes president or something.

[0]: https://navigatorresearch.org/2024-post-election-survey-a-ma...

mvdtnz  3 days ago

If you think twitter made even 1% difference in 2016 I urge you to go and touch some grass. This stuff doesn't matter.

  • ahmeneeroe-v2  3 days ago

    DJT's use of Twitter in 2016 allowed him to operate within his opponents' OODA loops.

    DJT and his supporters could craft narratives directly, rather than going through traditional media.

    DJT's information flow: DJT -> Twitter-based Supporters -> News Orgs -> Electorate

    Other Candidate's info flows: Candidate -> News Orgs -> Electorate

    So not only could DJT move faster, but he also didn't need permission/buy-in from Editors/Owners of news orgs.

  • HDThoreaun  2 days ago

    Trumps ability to control the narrative is pretty much wholly based on his tweeting skills. He is legitimately a top tier tweeter up there with @dril and the likes. It is incredibly entertaining and end of the day that’s what politics is about now.

  • aaronax  3 days ago

    Way more likely that it was /r/the_donald. In my humble, biased opinion--since I was around there but never really active on Twitter.