![]() There are numerous ways to retrieve deleted tweets, which allows researchers to study them. However, it’s possible to extrapolate from previous research that analyzed deleted tweets. There is no experimental evidence about how an edit button would change information transmission on Twitter. In a series of deleted tweets, Musk made several suggestions about how to change Twitter, including adding an edit button for tweets and granting automatic verification marks to premium users. Changes on Musk’s mindĪ crucial issue is how Musk’s ownership of Twitter, and private control of social media platforms generally, affect the broader public well-being. This positions Twitter as a historical chronicler of record and a de facto fact checker. Tweets that are part of a conversation are shown in chronological order, and, even though much of a tweet’s engagement is frontloaded, the Twitter archive provides instant and complete access to every public Tweet. Twitter data has been used to predict asthma-related emergency department visits, measure public epidemic awareness, and model wildfire smoke dispersion. Twitter’s ability to shape real-time discourse, as well as the ease with which data, including geo-tagged data, can be gathered from Twitter has made it a gold mine for researchers to analyze a variety of societal phenomena, ranging from public health to politics. The much shorter half life illustrates the central role Twitter has come to occupy in driving real-time conversations as events unfold. The average half life of a tweet is about 20 minutes, compared to five hours for Facebook posts, 20 hours for Instagram posts, 24 hours for LinkedIn posts and 20 days for YouTube videos. Social media analysts talk about the half-life of content on a platform, meaning the time it takes for a piece of content to reach 50% of its total lifetime engagement, usually measured in number of views or popularity based metrics. Its short chunks of text and threading foster real-time conversations among thousands of people, which makes it popular with celebrities, media personalities and politicians alike. Those issues stem from the nature of the social media platform and what sets it apart from others. What’s next?Īs a researcher of social media platforms, I find that Musk’s ownership of Twitter and his stated reasons for buying the company raise important issues. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission for his initial bid for the company, Musk stated, “I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy.” Twitter announced that the public company will become privately held after the acquisition is complete. Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, acquired Twitter in a US$44 billion deal on April 25, 2022, 11 days after announcing his bid for the company.
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