Why Twitter is limiting the variety of tweets a person can view : NPR

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

One other day, one other sequence of weird occasions on Twitter.

ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:

Elon Musk is capping the variety of tweets customers can see every day. Social media channels sometimes need to draw as many eyes as attainable to their content material, so why impose limits on customers as an alternative?

INSKEEP: Let’s put that query to NPR tech reporter Bobby Allyn, who has been masking Elon Musk, will get an electronic mail from him once in a while. Hey there, Bobby.

BOBBY ALLYN, BYLINE: Hey, Steve.

INSKEEP: OK. So what’s Elon Musk doing?

ALLYN: Yeah. I imply, even for erratic Musk, that is one thing of a shock. He says it is an try to crack down on corporations that scrape Twitter for information. The concept is that if there is a cap on what number of tweets customers can learn, corporations will not be capable of do mass information scraping. He initially stated unverified accounts can learn 600 tweets, and verified accounts can learn 6,000. After huge blowback, he raised the cap a number of instances. It now sits at a thousand tweets for these with out blue checks and 10,000 for these paying. Musk says that is all about synthetic intelligence corporations, proper? They practice AI fashions, as we all know, by hoovering up tons of information from web sites like Twitter. He says all the info scraping makes Twitter much less steady for on a regular basis customers.

It is laborious to independently verify whether or not that is actually why Musk is doing this. However, Steve, there’s something we are able to say with out query, and that’s Musk is attempting to make more cash. Twitter has been burning money for months, and by saying, if you wish to learn extra tweets, you bought to pay, Musk hopes extra folks will open their pocketbooks.

INSKEEP: OK. Properly, , I am – suppose I am like lots of people. I’ve a love-hate relationship. I am on Twitter rather a lot. I get rather a lot out of Twitter. However after I first discovered I used to be being restricted, I form of needed to say thanks for limiting my time on Twitter. How are others – different customers responding?

ALLYN: Yeah. You hear a variety of that. Some Twitter diehards are upset for that very motive. After hitting the brink, you are now instructed your charge restrict has been exceeded, and also you actually cannot see tweets from that time on. However there are another issues to think about. As an illustration, , governments and emergency companies that use Twitter to get the phrase out about extreme climate or different harmful conditions, now they could possibly be reduce off from the general public. That could possibly be an actual drawback. And advertisers are going to be restricted, and that can imply much less income generated for Twitter.

And a few context – that is taking place at a time when promoting spending has cratered at Twitter. It is down almost 60% from a 12 months in the past, so unhealthy time to be messing with advert income. The brand new limits have been additionally, , so annoying to so many customers that many, as soon as once more, stated, I am getting off Twitter. I am going someplace else, possibly Blue Sky, possibly Mastodon. We have been listening to this rather a lot since Musk purchased Twitter again in October.

INSKEEP: Yeah. Wasn’t there only a wave of individuals urging everybody to leap ship just some days in the past?

ALLYN: Sure, as a result of Twitter imposed a brand new rule that compelled you to have an account so as to learn a tweet. And social media consultants say this can be a very unhealthy concept. It makes Twitter much less open, much less public and extra like a walled backyard. To not point out, , if any individual sends you a extremely humorous tweet and also you need to see the joke, you possibly can’t except you might have a Twitter account. In order that’s form of a bummer for individuals who haven’t got Twitter.

INSKEEP: However are these newest adjustments everlasting?

ALLYN: We do not know. We all know that Musk says that the cap on tweets is momentary. The you-need-an-account-to-view-a-tweet factor could also be everlasting. However customers are having enjoyable with this, Steve. One wrote, simply bought rate-limited at my 6,000th tweet and needed to go away my workplace and spend time with my spouse and children for the primary time in years. Seems they’re actually cool folks.

INSKEEP: (Laughter) NPR’s Bobby Allyn, a part of your limitless eating regimen of NPR Information. Bobby, thanks a lot.

ALLYN: Thanks, Steve.

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