Background Information
Elon Musk, the tech mogul from South Africa and founder of the world’s most innovative companies such as Tesla Motors, Paypal, and SpaceX, recently took to Twitter and generated buzz by tweeting, “I’m gonna delete Twitter.” This uncharacteristic comment raised the eyebrows of many across the globe and triggered many speculations.
Reactions
The tweet created a ripple across media, and as expected, the news agencies and media websites started covering the story. Following their longtime habit, New York Post, Fox News, and CNN, reported the news as if the Twitterverse had gone into meltdown. The news agencies started asking experts and authorities in the industry to get their opinion on Musk’s tweet.
Experts’ Opinion
On the same day, a prominent public relations consultancy survey reported a significant rise in the number of media queries about Musk’s tweet. The survey contains a range of opinionated quotes by various product specialists, venture capitalists, PR consultants, ex-Googlers, brand strategists, and communicators, who provided their valuable insights on the matter.
Analysis
All the responses indicated that this could be just another publicity stunt by Musk. He has been known previously to have pulled off several publicity stunts on Twitter for Tesla Motors and SpaceX. Most of the people responded that a high-profile celebrity like Elon Musk should wait for the market to respond before deleting a major platform such as Twitter as it has been an integral part of his branding efforts.
Statistics
As per research, Elon Musk enjoys a colossal 31.8 million followers on Twitter. Although it is hard to predict, it is likely that the CEO’s decision will sway the markets for any number of his ventures. With his decision to delete the account, more than 5,430 tweets will be lost, accompanied by more than 27.9 million ‘likes’ and 1.82 million retweets.
Counseling
Many experts asked him to rethink his decision because Twitter had been a marvellous platform for him to reach out to new customers and build relationships with the existing ones. It had an essential role in terms of personal branding, something which Elon Musk valued more than ever.
Opinion
Having an opinion is subjective to individual, and what could be one person’s opinion might not necessarily be that of another. Similarly, opinions on Musk’s tweet could be split. While some criticize him for pushing the boundaries of Internet fame and public engagement too far, another camp believes he will continue to be successful if he were to delete his account, as a majority of people are aware of him and his amazing accomplishments, despite not being on Twitter.
Advantages
On the other hand, some people consider the benefits of removing Musk’s account from the popular platform, despite their admiration for him. If Musk were to delete Twitter, it would finally and completely cut off any distraction that is created due to his tweets. This would mean that he will have more time to focus on his tasks and deliver results in an effective manner without any distraction.
Risks
The potential risks of his decision could be immense. Even though Twitter has been an effective platform for him to reach out to his customers and audience, and for many of his venture’s publicity, he might be taking some short and long-term risks by removing himself from the platform. It is yet to be seen how it affects his venture’s and his public image going forward.
Alternatives
Although his decision to delete his Twitter account could have a detrimental effect on Musk ventures, it is also essential to realize that Musk has grown to be one of the most recognizable faces in the world and he owns several other forms of popular social media accounts such as Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook.
Ridesharing
Since Elon Musk founded Tesla Motors, it has undoubtedly revolutionized the transportation industry and its latest ridesharing programs have opened new avenues of opportunities. With the help of these services, customers can avail the convenience of booking trips from anywhere, anytime, from their phones.
On Demand
The on-demand business sector has also been revolutionized by Musk after he founded the company Uber. With the rapidly increasing demand for ride-sharing and food delivery services, Uber has become an extremely beneficial service, especially due to its international reach to an extensive range of customers.
Innovation
Innovation is undoubtedly the cornerstone of Musk’s success as he has been constantly pushing the boundaries of breakthroughs and creating futuristic projects such as space exploration and artificial intelligence. He has been responsible for driving the mission of setting-up a global infrastructure for the travel to space in different countries.
Futuristic Tech
With the recent introduction of futuristic technologies such as self-driving cars, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence, Musk has earned a name as a pioneer in innovation. His Elon Musk Neuralink project is working on interlinking the human cortex to a computer, so as to directly produce data processing and communication.
