Musk is considered the wealthiest person in the world. Watching someone wealthy fail or perhaps pull it off against all odds is a pastime usually reserved to TV dramas.
He's also an eccentric, with a considerable ego and a well-known internet troll. He's easy to make fun of. Given how freely he distributes insults and snipish takedowns, he's someone many people want to make fun of, for better or for worse. Oh, and his communication style, which could be described as straight to the point or impressively naive, has as many fans as haters.
> Why is Twitter so important?
Because a non-negligible fraction of the world gets their news from Twitter, directly or indirectly. Also, because Twitter has become a vector for propagandists of all sides and that this propaganda, by all signs, works very well.
> Perhaps this is incredibly ignorant to say, but why not let people who want to use Twitter use it, and those that don’t, don’t use it?
I don't think anybody disagrees with that.
> I feel the loudest voices are anti Twitter. Or they hate Musk. And Elon Musk seems to rather enjoy trolling these people.
> [...]
> I saw a Twitter conversation between Democrat and Republican House members. Absolutely shameful how these people hurl insults at each other, try to respond with sly, “witty” insults. Maybe I’m the one being the drama queen, but it feels like Rome is starting to burn and we have no one to blame this time but ourselves.
I don't know about other people. The reason I loathe Twitter is exactly because of that. The medium itself is not the problem but the algorithms employed by the former direction of Twitter increased engagement by encouraging flamewars and access to addictive content.
Could Musk do something good about that? Anything is possible, but none of the signs are encouraging at this early stage.
I'd venture an alternative answer.
> Why does Musk get so much attention?
Musk is considered the wealthiest person in the world. Watching someone wealthy fail or perhaps pull it off against all odds is a pastime usually reserved to TV dramas.
He's also an eccentric, with a considerable ego and a well-known internet troll. He's easy to make fun of. Given how freely he distributes insults and snipish takedowns, he's someone many people want to make fun of, for better or for worse. Oh, and his communication style, which could be described as straight to the point or impressively naive, has as many fans as haters.
> Why is Twitter so important?
Because a non-negligible fraction of the world gets their news from Twitter, directly or indirectly. Also, because Twitter has become a vector for propagandists of all sides and that this propaganda, by all signs, works very well.
> Perhaps this is incredibly ignorant to say, but why not let people who want to use Twitter use it, and those that don’t, don’t use it?
I don't think anybody disagrees with that.
> I feel the loudest voices are anti Twitter. Or they hate Musk. And Elon Musk seems to rather enjoy trolling these people. > [...] > I saw a Twitter conversation between Democrat and Republican House members. Absolutely shameful how these people hurl insults at each other, try to respond with sly, “witty” insults. Maybe I’m the one being the drama queen, but it feels like Rome is starting to burn and we have no one to blame this time but ourselves.
I don't know about other people. The reason I loathe Twitter is exactly because of that. The medium itself is not the problem but the algorithms employed by the former direction of Twitter increased engagement by encouraging flamewars and access to addictive content.
Could Musk do something good about that? Anything is possible, but none of the signs are encouraging at this early stage.