Recapping Our Conversation with Elon Musk

So, this was a very interesting way to end the year. Colin Rosenblum and I recorded an episode recapping this experience which you can listen to below. I also typed up notes on the conversation below.

Context?

Twitter put together a call with 6 creators to chat about how the platform could support creators and creator monetization. Colin and I were both on the call amongst some of the top creators in the world - a mix of YouTubers and Twitter native creators. We were told that Elon may join and sure enough about 20 minutes into the call… He joins.?

What it was like Speaking to Elon?

He was a very fun person to chat with - very direct, sharp, and concise. Was very open to hearing our thoughts and was genuinely curious about how we operate as creators. He spoke about long-form videos on Twitter and some of the technical challenges, and also discussed Ad placement on Twitter. Some notes below?

1. Twitter is optimizing for time on Twitter, which means clicking off Twitter is not the ideal action. That means that the ads Twitter is currently serving to you are getting less and less relevant so that the user stays in their session. His goal is to make the advertising better and a suggestion he made was to put the ads within the replies of engaged conversation. If everyone is talking about how much they love coffee, then place a coffee ad within the conversation. Not sure how this would be received, but I felt that the logic was there to make Twitter a better ads platform.?
2. Network Effect - All the creators shared that the best part of Twitter is the network effect - meaning that if someone likes or engages with one of our tweets, it goes out to their audience. If that creator has a big audience, our potential for discovery increases significantly.?
3. What is a Twitter Native Creator? What we discussed was that a Twitter native creator primarily monetizes off-platform through newsletters, courses, and digital products. Very few knew about Twitter's “Amplify” program which enables pre-roll advertising on certain creators' video content. Even Elon was unaware of the program.?

Our 3 suggestions for Twitter?

1. Clearly communicate the value exchange between creators and the platform. The better we as creators understand how and why we are valuable to the platform, the better our relationship becomes. YouTube does this really well and communicates it through YouTube Studio. We understand that if we drive clicks, watch time, and session time on brand-safe content - We provide more opportunities for ads to be served and that’s valuable to YouTube. They acknowledge our value by sharing the revenue generated on ads with us.?
2. Livestreaming could be a big opportunity. With Twitch having a tough year and feeling less creator-friendly, the opportunity for platforms to support live creators is open. Twitter is where we go for live, in-the-moment content and conversations. Streamers could comment on current events and that could be paired with tweets. Twitter's network effect could support discovery substantially. Additionally, with Elon’s desire for Twitter to be 50% subscription revenue and 50% ad revenue - live streaming feels like the perfect fit for Twitter.?
3. Case Studies about successful creators. Platforms need to show us what success looks like. Twitter needs to invest in creator marketing so they can clearly communicate what a successful Twitter creator looks like. Show us who the model citizens are - that will create aspiration and in turn create more success stories. YouTube does this really well.?

Feel free to share your thoughts about Twitter in the comments, would love to hear how you think about it.