Elon Musk thought rather little of Twitter when he first saw his wife using it

[Garth Gator]

Elon Musk once dismissed Twitter, now X, as a mere time-waster. It was his first wife, Justine Musk, who introduced him to the microblogging platform, but he remained unmoved by its charms, according to a new book, Character Limit, that explores his dramatic takeover of the company.

 

Accordingly, even when Musk took over the @ElonMusk handle from an imposter, he remained skeptical about the platform’s value. In a December 2011 tweet, he joked about the character limit, suggesting that he preferred to share his “longer thoughts” on Google Plus, a platform that has since been discontinued.

 

However, Musk’s tune soon changed. By the end of 2011, he was actively tweeting about everything. As the book’s authors, New York Times reporters Ryan Mac and Kate Conger, pointed out, Musk realized the power of the social network as a tool for controlling the narrative around his companies. With Twitter, he could bypass the mainstream media and directly communicate with his audience.

 

In the end, this reluctant user became its outright owner—something that most wouldn’t have seen coming.

 

• https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-twitter-time-waste 
• https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/24/technology/elon-musk-twitter-blue.html 

 

 

Image: Rokas Tenys | Dreamstime.com