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Linda Yaccarino is leaving X

nytimes.com

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Re: Linda Yaccarino is leaving X

#411

Post by JumpCrisscross »

reactordev wrote: post #232
CyberMacGyver wrote: post #4

One time they let her speak publicly it turned out to be a disaster. She never had any say and worst part is she was not even a good fall guy, it was clear who’s pulling the strings. The most immaterial and inconsequential hire ever. I love all the replies on Twitter thanking her but during her time the valuation dropped 80% and they were suing advertisers for not advertising. Remarkably inept.

Top executives fail upwards. She did exactly what she set out to do.

Hiring her would be a favour to Elon. She likely knew this when she took the job.

Re: Linda Yaccarino is leaving X

#412

Post by martinald »

righthand wrote: post #340
tonymet wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you drill into "everyone is here"? Prior to twitterfiles, Twitter felt overly corporate . I agree it's pivoted into another community. A lot of the mainstream and left leaning contributors have been downranked or moved to other platforms. But Twitter hasn't felt like raw, egalitarian conversation since 2009

I think the “everyone is here” feeling is because the media outlets use it quite a bit. So even though mostly everyone is not on Twitter it felt like anyone who is anyone was on Twitter. I don’t really miss the FOMO that was intended to produce but I imagine if you played along it validated the FOMO some how.

To be honest though it is still by far the best place to get "news" about (very recent) current affairs. Obviously there is an incredible amount of disinformation on it, but if you can filter that out mentally (though I don't know how possible that is), you tend to get a far more 'real time' take on things.

Me and a friend were talking about this before - for big news stories I/we would instinctively put rolling news on. Now it's usually Twitter I check.

This is compounded by the fact that so many political events 'happen' on Twitter/X (and for Trump, Truth Social then screenshotted onto Twitter). Even without Trump I would say the majority of UK political 'intrigue' is done directly on twitter.

So I think it's actually the other way round; media outlets use it quite a bit because instead of press conferences and what not a lot of news comes straight onto it.

Btw, this isn't too say traditional journalism doesn't have a place - it absolutely does and most of the current affairs content I read is on that. But for 'fast moving' events Twitter has managed to keep its place in my eyes, which I'm surprised about to be honest. Bluesky does not have anywhere near the same momentum which really shows you how important network effects are.

Re: Linda Yaccarino is leaving X

#413

Post by xdavidliu »

falcor84 wrote: post #195
madeofpalk wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One would imagine that a CEO lacking power is the precise reason a company would perform poorly.

Indeed. It was such a paradoxical situation from the start, with her both reporting to Musk as the chairman and owner, while at the same time "managing" him as the CTO. I'm surprised that the charade went on for as long as it did.

I wonder how this setup compares with Mira Murati and Greg Brockman.

Re: Linda Yaccarino is leaving X

#414

Post by BeetleB »

Hoasi wrote: post #50

X has been nothing short of an exercise in brand destruction. However, despite all the drama, it still stands, it still exists, and it remains relevant.

Twitter's brand was quite stained before Elon took over, so this is really a case of "continuing the brand destruction"

But really, the brand doesn't matter if you can't keep the lights on. If Elon has managed to make X profitable, it is more successful than Twitter likely would ever have been.

Re: Linda Yaccarino is leaving X

#415

Post by thomassmith65 »

olalonde wrote: post #382
freejazz wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like, financially? Sure. I don't think that was ever in dispute.

In what sense is he "off the rails" then?

My eleventh wife just gave birth to my 58th child. Musk seems perfectly normal to me /s

Re: Linda Yaccarino is leaving X

#416

Post by BeetleB »

ahmeneeroe-v2 wrote: post #355
mrweasel wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More and more I think Musk managed to his take over of Twitter pretty successfully. X still isn't as strong a brand as Twitter where, but it's doing okay. A lot of the users who X need to stay on the platform, journalists and politicians, are still there. The only issue is that Musk vastly overpaid for Twitter, but if he plans to keep it and use it for his political ambitions, that might not matter. Also remember tha…

>A lot of the users who X need to stay on the platform, journalists and politicians, are still there Twitter/X is the reason DJT became President. It happened accidentally (ie against the wishes of Twitter management) in 2016, they successfully suppressed him in 2020, and then Elon gave MAGA that platform in 2024, leading to DJT's successful election. As long as X is seen a kingmaker, someone will find it profitable…

This is far more nuanced (and disputed) than you make it out to be.

> It happened accidentally (ie against the wishes of Twitter management) in 2016

I think the whole Cambridge Analytica fiasco played a bigger role, and I don't think they utilize Twitter. On top of that, frankly, TV and his behavior at rallies/debated helped him a lot more than Twitter did in 2016. I don't know a single MAGA supporter who was even on Twitter in 2016.

> they successfully suppressed him in 2020

How? He was banned after the election.

> and then Elon gave MAGA that platform in 2024, leading to DJT's successful election.

DJT was not on Twitter in 2024. Did it really make a difference when he had his own social network? We all have our opinions, but is there actual data supporting this for the 2024 election?

Re: Linda Yaccarino is leaving X

#417

Post by campbel »

swarnie wrote: post #361
afavour wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What, specifically, did you say that was “in opposition to the core hive mind” that led you to being blocked?

Sorry, maybe i wasn't clear. I posted on the ReformUK subreddit in opposition to something that was being touted there. The context of the post doesn't matter, posting on that sub is enough to get you blanked banned from many other placed. Getting banned from a default sub you've never posted in because you told a racist boomer somewhere else they might be falling for propaganda is bloody weird.

I think the intention of it, as weird as it may seem, is to punish people for engaging with content the other subreddit mods feel is distasteful enough to warrant the effort.

I can't speak to whether this is a useful tactic on their part, or whether its fair to you, but IMO this is just another kind of "free speech" that exists.

Re: Linda Yaccarino is leaving X

#418

Post by DonHopkins »

sorcerer-mar wrote: post #29
CyberMacGyver wrote: post #4

One time they let her speak publicly it turned out to be a disaster. She never had any say and worst part is she was not even a good fall guy, it was clear who’s pulling the strings. The most immaterial and inconsequential hire ever. I love all the replies on Twitter thanking her but during her time the valuation dropped 80% and they were suing advertisers for not advertising. Remarkably inept.

It's weird that you say both she had no material power and also seem to imply the valuation drop and lawsuits were due to her ineptitude? Anyway she volunteered to be a puppet for a man who is clearly off the rails and her legacy will forever be stained.

She had one job, and that was to get Musk to keep his fucking mouth shut, at which she failed spectacularly.

Re: Linda Yaccarino is leaving X

#419

Post by ToucanLoucan »

JohnBooty wrote: post #231
ToucanLoucan wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See my only counterpoint to this theory is Musk has a long and well documented history of being absolutely stone desperate to be cool, which is the only thing he can't buy, and he simply revels in his ownership of Twitter even as he comprehensively runs it into the ground as a business. Now, would he be upset about such efforts being derailed as a result, or is he even slightly bothered about his website now being pa…

I think you and the parent poster are doing a good job of describing the same thing from different angles. Both observations are true. Musk wanted to steer culture toward his own ends as the parent poster described and he wanted to be seen as some kind of.... cool vanguard of that, as you say. It's really different facets of the same thing, right?

I guess what I struggle with is seeing Musk taking that kind of top-down strategic view of things? Which that could entirely be a me problem. I think there's an inherent bias in the way a lot of people think where they assign these Machiavellian motives especially to the super-privileged and those in positions of power, the 5D chess type shit, and I tend to bias in the other direction where... a lot of times these guys are just fucking losers and they don't think terribly dissimilarly from your weird uncle who doesn't come to the reuinions anymore.

Ultimately though, this is a bit of a weird aside to go on I fully admit. The "solutions" so to speak for people like this are basically the same whether they are dark-room schemers or dickheads with far too much money and not nearly enough accountability.

Re: Linda Yaccarino is leaving X

#420

Post by greedo »

SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #383
dctoedt wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think there is some blame for not standing up to Musk and leading better. That seems in the same category as saying there's some blame on her for not working harder on basketball in her youth and so never becoming a WNBA Finals MVP. (Narrator: Um, no, she's not nearly tall enough ....)

I'm just not sure her complete lack of power to stand up to Musk is a defense. If a controversial rich guy offers you a CEO job that consists entirely of laundering his reputation by pretending his decisions are your own, you have a social responsibility not to take it. I'd be more sympathetic if she were some random person who couldn't otherwise dream of an executive level pay package, but she was the head of ads at…

“We have established what you are, madam. We are now merely haggling over the price.”
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