After his Twitter takeover, Elon Musk promised to make far-reaching changes to Twitter UX. He promised fewer bots and an end to user suppression. However, he paused during the US midterm elections to avoid disruptions.

A New Verification System

One of his first rollouts after the midterms was a new verification system. Under the new system, anyone can apply for a Blue Tick badge next to his or her Twitter name for $8. The rollout went differently than Musk had envisioned. A good number of those that signed up for the service decided to use it to troll others. They impersonate famous celebs, politicians, sports personalities, and Elon Musk himself.

Twitter later announced permanent bans for those impersonating others. To take things further, they rolled out a gray “official” badge, discontinued shortly after by Musk.

Some US-based users also revealed that the Twitter Blue subscription was not offered to them. Musk later tweeted that parodies of high-profile figures would need to use the word “parody” in their account name.

Musk’s new rules on parody accounts. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1590886170543915009

Eroding Trust

One of the most important currencies on the internet is trust. Since interactions and transactions are conducted remotely, having the trust of those consuming your content or services is important. The chaotic rollout of the Blue Tick badge could erode trust in the Twitter verified accounts system. Thus far, it appears that trolls have eroded trust in the service.

The results could be dire during terror attacks, mass shootings, and natural disasters when access to proper information is critical. Emergency services and local officials use Twitter to tell the world of events as they unfold. Without trust in their blue ticks, it could cause people to make wrong decisions or ignore official advice.

A Boon for Other Social Media Sites

Since the chaotic UX changes on Twitter erupted, some users have been leaving for other social media sites. One of the recipients of this exodus is Mastodon, a small social media site that has been around since 2016.

While there is no real alternative to Twitter, Mastodon ticks many right boxes and looks similar to Twitter, it lets users join various servers run by groups and individuals instead of a central platform controlled by a single team. It is free to use and ad-free. The platform operates as a non-profit supported by crowdfunding. In a recent update, its CEO revealed the platform has over 650,000 active monthly users. However, that pales to Twitter, which has recorded close to 238 million daily active monetizable users. While it has seen an increase in traffic, Musk recently noted that Twitter traffic had reached a new all-time high.

A Lack of the Human Element

The chaos at Twitter is a lesson in the human element of UX design. It shows what can happen to great UX design when decisions are implemented without moral and ethical input. Musk rolled out the Blue Tick badges to stir things up; the fees from the program are unlikely to make a notable impact on Twitter’s bottom line.

Many loud voices on Twitter from high-profile accounts had been calling for democratized access to the blue badge. While they did have some good arguments, Elon Musk appears to have fallen to their influence and rushed to implement it without consultation or expert opinion. It is a good sign of what happens when authority to make UX decisions is bought instead of earned via a system of meritocracy.

The main reason there was a lack of input from experts is that Elon Musk fired many key people on his first day in office. In his first week, he laid off 3700 Twitter employees. Others left voluntarily, including the Twitter chief of information security, the chief of privacy, and the chief compliance officer.

Elon Musk has gotten rid of the communications department. He also fired the board, leaving himself as the sole member. The firing was chaotic, and Musk lost many key employees in the process. He later tried to hire some of them back. However, it is still not clear if he has been successful. It is very clear that these decisions were not influenced by key design leaders at Twitter, later it was also confirmed that the accessibility experience team was also fired. In general, it shows the importance of user-centered design.

Brand Safety for the Advertisers

Musk had promised to make changes to content moderation. However, Musk has recently tweeted that he has kept the Twitter moderation standards the same. Nevertheless, this has not stopped some accounts on the fringes of politics from testing the waters. Some of them have been tweeting buzzwords that would have gotten them banned in the past.

Elon Musk Says content moderation has not changed https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1588538640401018880

In fear of sullying their names, some major advertisers on Twitter have pulled back. Elon Musk threatened to name and shame them, but he has not carried out his threat. Some major brands, like United Airlines and General Motors, still need to remove their ads. However, they have paused their ad campaigns to watch what Musk will do with the platform. He promised to create a content moderation council, and they want to see how it works.

Big and small brands care about their reputation, and being associated with a platform with loose standards for content moderation could hurt their brands. Some of them are worth billions of dollars in name recognition, and they are not willing to risk that for extra Twitter sales.

Time to Re-strategize

Elon Musk owns Twitter, and he appears to be in it for the long haul. He is firing off tweets promising new things, including ending bot accounts. However, he will need to re-strategize. It will not happen in a month, and it will involve a lot of testing.

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I’m a product designer and a UX design consultant in the Web3 and Fintech space. I love designing user experiences that convert and impact people’s lives positively.

Feel free to get in touch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dhananjay-mukerji/