Elon Musk continues to reach out directly to Twitter users to get feedback on his newly acquired platform.
In a tweet earlier today, the billionaire/Chief Twit turned his focus on lurkers who consume the content but don’t contribute. He politely encouraged these so-called ‘doom scrollers’ to get involved.
“I meet so many people who read twitter every day but almost never tweet,” he wrote. “If I may beg your indulgence, please add your voice to the public dialogue!”
I meet so many people who read twitter every day, but almost never tweet.
If I may beg your indulgence, please add your voice to the public dialogue!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 1, 2022
Musk has reason to be concerned. According to a study done in 2021, around 25% of Twitter users in the U.S. produce around 97% of all tweets.
His plea to be more active on the platform received nearly 85,000 responses, but he honed in on one in particular from a Twitter user named Rocket_Medic who, perhaps channeling hundreds of thousands of others in the Twitterverse, wrote:
“I reply a lot…no one reads my tweets.”
Musk then asked Rocket_Medic if he was aware of Twitter Analytics, which can be surfaced by clicking on the graph icon at the bottom right of all users’ tweets. The feature lets you know how many times people have seen, Retweeted, liked, and replied to each tweet.
Musk told Medic that he shouldn’t be bothered by the low reply rate since that’s not the metric that really matters. “Those who read tweets outnumber those who reply/retweet/like tweets by over 1000%,” Musk wrote.
At this point, Musk revealed an upcoming feature that had not yet been discussed publicly.
Twitter will soon start displaying tweet reach metrics up-front on all tweets, just like they do for video views.
Twitter will start showing view count for all tweets, just as view count is shown for all videos. The system is far more alive than it would seem.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 1, 2022
Musk ghosted?
The reaction to Musk’s announcement seemed mostly positive, with over 15,000 likes. But one user was not convinced.
@JamieHutchens4 replied:
“My Tweets get zero reactions. I think that’s the case with most people. No reactions give a feeling of being unimportant. Avoiding that feeling is likely why lots do not tweet. Most probably don’t even realize that is why they aren’t Tweeting.”
My Tweets get zero reactions. I think that’s the case with most people. No reactions give a feeling of being unimportant. Avoiding that feeling is likely why lots do not tweet. Most probably don’t even realize that is why they aren’t Tweeting.
— Ibjmeh (@JamieHutchens4) December 1, 2022
To which Musk replied: “How many views do your tweets get?”
At press time, @JamieHutchens4 still had yet to respond to Musk’s question.
Ironically, his tweet has been liked over 10,000 times, with nearly 800 replies.