Elon Musk isn’t known for his subtlety. In fact, he’s known for getting what he wants at all costs. This time around he’s taken a username from someone, and encouraged his team to sleep at the office to meet deadlines. What won’t he do?
Since Elon Musk first bought out Twitter, it has been a platform of controversy. He seems to put into plan everything and anything that could wind users up the wrong way. The man seems set out to achieve almost impossible tasks. But, sadly, it’s always those around him that suffer because of it. He doesn’t perform the work himself, he simply tells others to.
So, the latest is Elon deciding to update Twitter’s name to X. Why? Well, simply, he loves the letter. In fact, he uses it for so many things; SpaceX, xAI app, Model X (Tesla) to name a few. Even his child has the letter in their name. It was only natural therefore to add X as Twitter’s name. Many, including ourselves are wondering why.
We understand it’s his brand, but it isn’t the Twitter brand. Twitter is known as a place to share opinions, these are shared as tweets. Hence, the bird within the logo. All of this is being changed, however. Can you successfully change a huge brand’s name essentially overnight? Will it cause damage to the platform?
Elon Musk gained the Twitter username X
It doesn’t seem like Musk will care though. After all, he will go to any lengths to get what he wants. When the name change first happened, the username X was owned by another person on Twitter. Their account was private, and they had been around for years. They even gained thousands of followers overnight when the platform’s name change was announced.
Everyone online was gripped to the account, wanting to know what their price would be. How much would they be willing to sell their Twitter name for? Suddenly, Elon had what he wanted. The username. But, how? Well, it seems, despite everyone’s theories about the person being paid a large sum, this isn’t how it went down.
The user gave up X. No payment, no fees, instead they just handed it over to Elon who very quickly changed the Twitter handle. No one is quite sure why though. Some have suspected it’s because within the terms of service, Elon Musk has the rights to take the username if he wishes. Therefore, the user had no choice. It does seem incredibly unfair to just steal it though.
Twitter Blue’s lead slept on floor to meet deadlines, then got fired
Esther Crawford was the previous lead for the Twitter Blue project. She has opened up about her experience working under Elon Musk, and it sounds like hell. While she said she had fun on the project itself, she has spoken about how difficult the billionaire was to work for. When he came into the company, things seemed to change.
It seems he came along and demanded the team hit deadlines that were just not humanly possible. This led to the team having no choice but to work around the clock to meet his demands. Esther herself went viral for a photo of her tucked up in a sleeping bag on the floor of a conference room at Twitter HQ. She felt she had to practically live at work.
The good news is, the team met the demands, against all odds. However, shortly after, Elon Musk fired her. No reason behind the decision, other than he was seeking advice elsewhere. Where? Well, Twitter (X) of course. He was putting polls up onto the platform and asking opinions of friends of his from outside the field.
Their opinion meant more to him than anyone who had lived, and breathed Twitter for years. Esther herself had to sacrifice family time to stay at work. She didn’t see her young children during her short time under Elon’s reign. That didn’t seem to matter to him though, he still let her go when she had served her purpose. The man really has no shame.
