Tag: Twitter

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Man claiming to be former Twitter software engineer uses popular meme as last name

Friday morning marked the start of the first full day of Elon Musk’s reign over Twitter.

And, well, people took the opportunity to pull a couple of practical jokes.

One video making the rounds on the social media platform shows two men carrying boxes by the entrance to Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco. One of the men claims to be a software engineer, saying Twitter was his first job out of college. Spewing a list of random thoughts from owning a Tesla to being a fan of climate change and free speech, the man says his name is “Rahul Ligma.”

According to The Verge, the video is bogus. The biggest clue is the name one of the men gave to reporters. According to The Verge, the name “Rahul Ligma” doesn’t exist on Twitter’s Slack or email database.

Furthermore, “Ligma” references a meme indicating a fictional illness. It’s also supposed to sound like a less appropriate saying popular among 12-year-olds, as The Verge reports.

A lot of people poked fun at Musk when he first said he’ll take over Twitter, but this takes it to a whole new level.

Do what you will with this information.

Image credit: The Independent (YouTube)

Via: The Verge 

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Mobile Syrup

Musk finally reveals why he wants to acquire Twitter

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has revealed for the first time why he intends to acquire the micro-blogging platform Twitter.

In a recently published tweet addressed to current and potential Twitter advertisers, Musk said that there has been a lot of speculation regarding why he bought Twitter, and “most of it has been wrong.”

“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” writes the world’s richest man.

Musk fears that as people’s ideologies bifurcate, social media too will splinter, ultimately generating hate and division among people. “In the relentless pursuit of clicks, much of traditional media has fueled and catered to those polarized extremes, as they believe that is what brings in the money, but, in doing so, the opportunity for dialogue is lost,” he said.

On the other hand, Musk also noted that the platform can not become a “free-for-all hellscape,” and that there will be consequences for those who take advantage of the freedom of speech the platform intends to offer under Musk’s leadership. “Our platform must be warm and welcoming to all, where you can choose your desired experiences according to your preferences,” said Musk.

“I didn’t do it [buy Twitter] to make money,” said Musk. “I did it to try to help humanity.” This is a rather over-the-top statement, but at least this clarifies Musk doesn’t intend to become some sort of a social media overlord with the acquisition.

Another reason why Musk acquired Twitter is that he thinks he can fix advertising on the platform. He says when done right, advertising in itself can be a form of content that can delight, entertain and inform users.

“Low relevancy ads are spam, but highly relevant ads are actually content!” he writes.

Musk added that under his leadership, he aspires for Twitter to be the “most respected” advertising platform in the world that can strengthen brands and help enterprises grow.

It’s worth noting Musk’s acquisition of Twitter hasn’t formally been completed yet. He revived his original $44 billion USD (about $59 billion CAD) acquisition offer in early October, and subsequently, the Twitter vs. Musk trial that was initially set to take place on October 17th was postponed to November.

According to Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick, head of the Delaware Chancery Court, Musk has until tomorrow, Friday, October 28th, to close the acquisition deal.

Source: @elonmusk

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Mobile Syrup

Elon Musk plans to fire 75 percent of Twitter employees

Elon Musk is back in the news (is he ever not in the news?) over reports that he plans to cut some 75 percent of Twitter’s staff following the acquisition.

According to a report from The Washington Post , Musk told prospective investors in his deal to buy Twitter about his plans to cut staff. Currently, there are 7,500 employees at Twitter — the cuts would bring that down to around 2,000.

Job cuts were always on the table for Musk, although the latest numbers are far, far great than before. In June, a pitch deck hinted Musk aimed to cut around 900 jobs at Twitter. Moreover, the Post noted that Twitter management already had plans to cut the company’s payroll by about $800 million USD (roughly $1.1 billion CAD) by the end of next year, suggesting cuts were coming regardless of the Musk acquisition.

Beyond employees, Twitter reportedly planned to cut its infrastructure, including data centres, which help keep the website functioning for the over 200 million daily active users.

Still, Musk’s cuts are much bigger, and Twitter’s former head of spam and health metrics described them as “unimaginable” to The Post. Twitter users would likely notice the change right away, and that they would be at increased risk of hacks and exposure to offensive content.

Moreover, The Verge reported that several big names in private equity passed on Musk’s deal. That includes T. Rowe Price, TPG, and Warburg Pincus. LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman also passed, as did Peter Thiel’s venture firm Founders Fund. (Both Hoffman and Thiel worked at PayPal, as did Musk.

Musk told investors he plans to double Twitter’s revenue in three years but didn’t explain how that would happen. I’d also like to know how Musk plans to do this after gutting Twitter’s staff and risking disruptions to the service.

The Twitter deal is expected to close on October 28th, and sources familiar with it told The Post that it’s moving forward in good faith after months of fighting.

Source: The Washington Post Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter launches new emojis for all NHL teams for 2022/2023 season

Twitter has launched new emojis for all 32 NHL teams to commemorate the 2022-2023 hockey season.

These emojis will be active through the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Here are the team hashtags for the Eastern Conference:

Metropolitan Division

    • #LetsGoCanes
    • #CBJ
    • #NJDevils
    • #Isles
    • #NYR
    • #FueledByPhilly
    • #LetsGoPens
    • #ALLCAPS

Atlantic Division

  • #GoBolts
  • #GoHabsGo
  • #GoSensGo
  • #LeafsForever
  • #TimeToHunt
  • #NHLBruins
  • #LetsGoBuffalo
  • #RedWings

Here are the Western Conference hashtags:

Central Division

#Blackhawks
#mnwild
#Smashville
#stlblues
#Yotes
#GoJetsGo
#GoAvsGo
#TexasHockey

Pacific Division

  • #LetsGoDucks
  • #Flames
  • #LetsGoOilers
  • #GoKingsGo
  • #Canucks
  • #SJSharks
  • #SeaKraken
  • #VegasBorn

Additionally, Twitter revealed the NHL team and player accounts with the most mentions during the 2021/2022 season (regular season playoffs), with some Canadians featured.

Teams

  • New York Rangers (@NYRangers)
  • Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche)
  • Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs)
  • Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning)
  • Pittsburgh Penguins (@Penguins)
  • Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes)
  • Edmonton Oilers (@edmontonoilers)
  • Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins)
  • Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights)
  • Montreal Canadiens (@CanadiensMTL)

Players

  • Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs (@AM34)
  • Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals (@ovi8)
  • Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers (@cmcdavid97)
  • Claude Giroux, Ottawa Senators (@28CGiroux)
  • Trevor Zegras, Anaheim Ducks (@TZegras11)
  • Nazem Kadri, Calgary Flames (@43_Kadri)
  • Evander Kane, Edmonton Oilers (@EvanderKane_9)
  • Robin Lehner, Vegas Golden Knights (@RobinLehner)
  • Mitch Marner, Toronto Maple Leafs (@Marner93)
  • Cale Maker, Colorado Avalanche (@CMakar8)

The 2022-23 NHL season began in North America on October 11th with the New York Rangers hosting the Tampa Bay Lightning. You can find more on the schedule here.

Image credit: NHL

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter is working on a mention-limiting feature

Twitter is working on a new feature that allows you to limit who can mention in Twitter posts.

Found by reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong, the feature lets users to toggle three different mention settings.

  1. Anyone can mention you
  2. Only people you follow can mention you
  3. Turn mentions off completely

Further, according to The Verge, Twitter privacy designer Dominic Camozzi confirmed in a Tweet that the feature is currently in development, only to delete the Tweet later.

The new feature is sure to help users on the platform avoid unnecessary confrontations and make bullying less prevalent on the platform.

Other similar privacy-focused Twitter features include the ability to ‘Unmention’ yourself from conversations, and limiting who can reply to your Tweets.

Source: @wongmjane

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter whistleblower reportedly burned handwritten notebooks and deleted 100 files of evidence

The latest development in the Elon Musk vs. Twitter fiasco came earlier last week, when it was reported that the billionaire wants to revive his original buyout offer, and acquire Twitter for $44 billion USD (roughly $59.5 billion CAD).

However, a new report from Bloomberg suggests that right before reviving the offer, Musk reportedly accused Twitter of ordering the whistleblower Peiter “Mudge” Zatko to destroy evidence relating to the company as part of a $7.8 million (roughly $10.7 million CAD) severance package.

Zatko’s allegations were an integral part of Musk’s case against the company, and up until last week, the whistleblower’s allegations were to be used in court to justify Musk walking away from the acquisition deal. According to Zatko, the company is practicing “extreme, egregious deficiencies” related to privacy, security and content moderation.

According to Zatko, prior to him being fired in January, reportedly due to poor work performance, he had warned Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal about major privacy and computer security risks related to the social media platform’s operations that constituted violations of agreements the business had made with government regulators. One of the allegations was that too many of Twitter’s employees have access to critical systems and users’ sensitive personal data, while Zatko also alleged that Twitter repeatedly made “false and misleading statements” to users and the FTC, violating an agreement from its 2010 settlement with the FTC over a failure to protect consumers’ personal information.

Zatko says he burned 10 handwritten notebooks and deleted 100 computer files as part of his separation agreement, as written in the October 3rd court filings that were unsealed Monday, October 10th. “Twitter’s attempt to buy Mr. Zatko’s silence failed, but Twitter achieved its secondary aim of ensuring Mr. Zatko’s corroborating evidence would never come to light,” Musk’s lawyers said in the unsealed filing, via Bloomberg.

Musk’s lawyers are now accusing Twitter’s top two lawyers, namely Vijaya Gadde and Sean Edgett, alongisde Twitter’s chief privacy officer Damien Kieran and Agrawal of covering up the violations of the legal settlements by ordering Zatko to destroy his documents.

The Twitter vs. Musk trial, which was originally scheduled for October 17th has now been postponed to November, while Musk has until October 28th to close the deal, according to Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick, head of the Delaware Chancery Court.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: Bloomberg

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Mobile Syrup

Musk vs. Twitter trial pushed to October 28th to give the billionaire time to close acquisition deal

After months of back and forth between Elon Musk and Twitter, it seems like Tesla’s CEO will go through with acquiring Twitter for his initial $44 billion buyout offer.

According to a CP24 report, after reviving his buyout offer on Monday, October 3rd, Musk said he needs some time to get the funding required in order. Hence, the Twitter vs. Musk trial that was initially set to take place on October 17th  has now been postponed to sometime in November, while Musk has until October 28th to close the deal, said Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick, head of the Delaware Chancery Court.

It is reported that Musk will acquire a majority of the funds by selling his Tesla shares, while the rest will be acquired by large investors and major banks. Back in April, when news about the Twitter acquisition first came out, it was reported that two Canadian banks were lending Musk money for the deal, namely RBC and CIBC. The two banks had put up $955 million CAD and $500 million CAD, respectively, totalling $1.46 billion CAD. The new round of funding, however, as shared by Reuters, does not have the two banks listed.

A brief timeline of Musk vs. Twitter can be found here.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: CP24 

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter now allows you to post videos, GIFs and photos in a single tweet

Twitter announced earlier today that it is rolling out a new feature that will allow users on Android and iOS to share different types of visual content, including videos, images, and GIFs, together in a single Tweet.

“Tap the photo icon in the Tweet composer to start mixing your media,” said the company in a Tweet announcing the feature.

Users can add up to four videos, images, and/or GIFs per Tweet. Such Tweets would be visible on all platforms but can also be posted via Twitter for Android or iOS.

Twitter says the feature is widely rolled out, though, for some reason, I don’t have access to it on my main Twitter account. An alt account of mine, however, has the feature enabled. “Even though it’s widely available, some people may not have access so we can continue to test the feature and improve it,” said Twitter in a reply.

This comes soon after Twitter rolled out its Tweet editing feature for Twitter Blue subscribers in Canada. Read more about the feature here.

Further, Twitter and Elon Musk’s legal dispute might soon come to an end without the two having to face off in court. In a letter to Twitter, Musk reportedly revived his original offer, and is ready to acquire Twitter for $44 billion. Read more about the development here.

Image credit: Twitter

Source: Twitter

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter starts rolling out tweet editing to Blue subscribers in Canada

Twitter Blue subscribers in Canada and other regions will be able to edit tweets now that the feature is officially rolling out.

Twitter announced in September that Blue subscribers would get the ability to edit tweets. Moreover, Twitter indicated at the time that Canada would be among the first countries to get the feature. According to a tweet from the official Twitter Blue account, the capability is “now rolling out to Twitter Blue members in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.”

More specifically, tweet editing is part of ‘Blue Labs,’ which also includes other experimental Twitter features.

Twitter users with access to the feature can edit tweets up to five times within 30 minutes of posting. Edits can include correcting text, rearranging or tagging media, and more. Tweets that have been edited show a pencil icon as well as a timestamp indicating when the tweet was last edited. Moreover, you can tap/click the timestamp to view the edits.

To edit a tweet, tap the three-dot menu icon on that tweet and select ‘Edit tweet’ from the menu. Then make your edits and tap the ‘Update’ button to publish the change.

Twitter said that the edit tweets feature will expand to the U.S. “soon.” Unfortunately, the feature will likely remain exclusive for Blue subscribers.

In Canada, Twitter Blue costs $6.49/mo. While it does come with a bunch of additional features, tweet editing is arguably the only worthwhile benefit, and $6.49 is a steep ask for something that should be a part of the default Twitter experience.

Source: @Twitter

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter introducing two new video features to make the viewing experience better

As video continues to drive engagement on Twitter, the social media company is introducing two new updates.

The first major update to impact how users interact with videos on Twitter is the introduction of a full-screen mode. Twitter now enables users to click on a video to expand it and let it play across the full screen.

Once a video has been launched in full-screen mode, there are additional discovery tools set up to assist in engagement. For instance, upon using full-screen mode, users can scroll up to browse other video content. Each video will show playback options, likes, retweets, captions, etc. Once finished with full-screen mode, tapping the arrow on the top left will bring you back to the standard viewing mode.

This feature is being rolled out on iOS devices in English over the coming days.

The second video-centric feature to hit Twitter is the video carousel. Once again, the company is focusing on discovery tools and new ways to organically drive engagement video content. In the Explore tab, users will begin to see a new video carousel alongside the standard Tweets and Trends.

Clicking any of the featured videos will bring them up in full, where users can interact with them whether it be leaving a like or a comment.

The video carousel is making its way to “select countries” using Twitter in English on both iOS and Android.

Alongside new video integrations, Twitter is also testing the long-requested edit button function for Twitter Blue subscribers. While being tested in Canada first, a rollout may be imminent according to the company’s timeline of late September.

Image credit: Twitter

Source: Twitter