1676432540 Elons Super Bowl tweet flopped so he had 80 engineers

Elon’s Super Bowl tweet flopped, so he had 80 engineers amplify his tweets – Rolling Stone

Elon Musk's official Twitter account is displayed on a mobile phone screen photographed for the illustration photo

Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto/Getty Image

After Elon Musk’s Super Bowl tweet got less engagement than Joe Biden’s, the Twitter CEO threatened to fire several of the company’s engineers and had 80 employees build a system so his tweets would be seen by more users, according to Platformer .

Tuesday’s report detailed how he had post-Super Bowl engineers at Twitter find a new way to get his posts more traction after his Super Bowl tweet got nine million impressions and Biden’s 29 million.

At 2:36 a.m. Monday, James Musk, Elon’s cousin, called together Twitter engineers to “help resolve the ‘high priority issue’ of Musk’s low engagement,” the report said. After the game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs, Musk flew his jet to the Bay Area to confront his team and demand that they fix the engagement issue, according to Platformer.

Eighty engineers were brought on for the project and worked to “explore various hypotheses as to why Musk’s tweets weren’t reaching as many people as he thought they should” and to test solutions, according to the report.

As of Monday afternoon, engineers were able to send out code that would allow Musk’s tweets to bypass the algorithm and boost his posts by a factor of 1,000 using a tool called “Power User Multiplier,” unique to Musk was applied. per report.

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On Tuesday, the CEO tested the feature out and out Posted a “forced to drink milk” meme in which “Elon’s tweets” were force-fed to “Twitter”. At the time of publication, the milk meme tweet had nearly 125 million views and 1.2 million likes.

Later that morning, Musk appeared to acknowledge the surge in views of his tweets, writing, “Please stay tuned in while we make adjustments to the er… ‘algorithm,'” he wrote.

Sources told Platformer that the boost on Musk’s account is still ongoing but is now below 1,000 views. His most recent tweets have been viewed by 50 million or more people, while some of his tweets from early February have reached fewer than 8 million. (It’s also unclear how accurate Twitter’s view count is.)

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“He bought the company, made a point of showcasing what he felt had been broken and tampered with under the previous leadership, then turned around and rigged the platform to force all users to engage just to hear his voice ‘ a recent Twitter contributor told Platformer. “I think we’ve gotten past the point where we think he genuinely wants what’s best for everyone here.”

The move to Twitter after the Super Bowl came several weeks after he fired a top Twitter engineer who allegedly told Musk that engagement on his side had dropped because interest in him had waned.

According to a report published in Tech Newsletter last Thursday, Musk called together some of the few employees he still had at the company and wanted to know why his tweets were underperforming.

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“That’s ridiculous,” he reportedly said at a Tuesday meeting last week. “I have over 100 million followers and only get tens of thousands of impressions.”

“You’re fired, you’re fired,” Musk reportedly said to the top engineer who offered the narrative. (Platformer withheld the individual’s name “given the harassment Musk directed at former Twitter employees.”) Rolling Stone has reached out to Musk, who has yet to confirm or deny this version of events.

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