Latest / Elon Musk Podcast / X outage leads users to Threads - Elon Musk Podcast
Transcript
- 0:01Hey everybody, welcome back to the Elon Musk Podcast.
- 0:05This is a show where we discuss the critical Crossroads, the
- 0:08Shape, SpaceX, Tesla X, The Boring Company, and Neuralink.
- 0:13I'm your host Will Walden X, the social media platform previously
- 0:18known as Twitter experience a pretty large outage on Thursday
- 0:22morning. This marked the most severe
- 0:25disruption since Elon Musk's acquisition of the platform in
- 0:29October of 2022. Now this incident, which
- 0:32affected over 90,000 users globally, coincided with a spike
- 0:36in interest for Meta's Threads app.
- 0:39Users started reporting issues on X between 12:00 AM and 3:00
- 0:43AM Eastern on Thursday. The problems were primarily
- 0:46encountered on the app, affecting approximately 70% of
- 0:50the reports. A Users worldwide face
- 0:52difficulties accessing the platform, making this the
- 0:55largest outage since Musk's takeover.
- 0:58Concurrently with the X outage, there was a notable rise in
- 1:01Google searches for Threads in the United States.
- 1:04Now Threads, another social media app made by Meta, gained
- 1:07attention as a stable alternative amidst X service
- 1:10interruption, continue its trend to acquire users from X.
- 1:15And before this outage, X had been actively rolling out new
- 1:18features, including job postings and the AI chatbot Grok.
- 1:22However, these innovations have not stemmed the user migration
- 1:26to Threads, which has been expanding its user base rapidly,
- 1:29reaching significant milestone in just a few months.
- 1:32Now, the platform under Musk's leadership operates with a
- 1:35significantly reduced workforce and the current staff count
- 1:39stands at approximately 2000 people, which is a stark
- 1:43reduction from the 7000 employees before Musk's
- 1:46acquisition as reported by TechCrunch.
- 1:49Now, the reason behind the outage remains unclear and X had
- 1:52recently undergone an update, but is not confirmed whether the
- 1:55update was related to the service disruption.
- 1:58The lack of clarity adds to the concerns surrounding the
- 2:00platform stability. Now, more than 94,000 users have
- 2:05reported issues at the peak of the outage, according to Down
- 2:08Detector, and there's probably more people that were affected
- 2:11and the reports gradually decreased over time.
- 2:13But the global impact was significant, with net blocks
- 2:17confirming A substantial international outage.
- 2:20And during the outage, certain features of X remained
- 2:23operational. Users could post, although these
- 2:26posts were not visible after refreshing.
- 2:28Additionally, a space hosted by a New York Times reporter
- 2:31attracted over 800 participants discussing the outage in real
- 2:34time. Now, the official response from
- 2:37X regarding the outage was limited.
- 2:39Automated messages from the platform's PR account provided
- 2:42no substantial information, leaving users and those
- 2:44dependent on the platform services in the dark.
- 2:47And the incident is not the first outage under Musk.
- 2:50There have been several interruptions since late of
- 2:522022, with another major outage occurring in July, affecting
- 2:56about 50,000 users. The recurring outages are A
- 2:59cause for concern among the user base now.
- 3:02According to Down Detector, over 47,000 users in the US also
- 3:07faced access issues. The outage was also noticeable
- 3:10among users in the UK and Asia, indicating its wide reaching
- 3:14effects. Now the hashtag Twitter Down
- 3:17quickly trended following reports of the outage,
- 3:20highlighting the platform's significant user engagement
- 3:22despite the service interruptions.
- 3:24The outage lasted for just over an hour, after which users
- 3:27regained access to the platform, and the swift recovery was a
- 3:30relief to many. But it also raised questions
- 3:33about the platform's operational stability and preparedness for
- 3:36future incidents. And since Musk's acquisition of
- 3:40X, formerly known as Twitter, the platform has faced A
- 3:42noticeable decline in advertising revenue.
- 3:45The decrease is a significant concern for the social media
- 3:48giant, which historically relied heavily on ad revenues as its
- 3:51primary income source. And the recent outage, which
- 3:55affected just about 100,000 people, 90,000 plus people,
- 3:59exacerbates these financial woes.
- 4:02Advertisers typically seek stability in a broad reach in
- 4:05platforms they invest in. Recurrent outages, such as the
- 4:08one experienced recently undermine advertiser confidence,
- 4:12leading to a reluctance to place ads on a platform that may not
- 4:15be reliably accessible to its audience.
- 4:18Now. This drop in advertiser interest
- 4:20in spending could have a lasting edit this out now.
- 4:24This drop in advertising interest in spending could have
- 4:27a lasting impact on X's revenue streams, especially in a
- 4:30competitive social media market where advertisers have numerous
- 4:33alternatives. Now, beyond immediate financial
- 4:36implications, repeated technical issues and outages under Musk's
- 4:40tenure could erode user trust and negatively affect X's brand
- 4:44image. Users and advertisers alike look
- 4:47for consistency and reliability in social media platforms, and
- 4:51frequent disruptions can lead to a decline in user engagement and
- 4:55loyalty. This aspect is crucial that
- 4:57social media platforms thrive on active user engagement.
- 5:01Now a decline in user trust can create ripple effect leading not
- 5:05only to reduced advertising revenue but also to a potential
- 5:08drop in user base. This scenario is particularly
- 5:11challenging for X as it competes with other platforms like Metas
- 5:14Threads which has capitalized on being a stable alternative.
- 5:18Now maintaining user trust is essential for X to ensure its
- 5:21long term viability and market competitiveness.
- 5:24And looking at the long term financial outlook for X, the
- 5:27combination of declining ad revenue, potential, loss of user
- 5:30base and operational challenges presents a complex scenario.
- 5:35X may need to explore new revenue models to diversify its
- 5:39income sources. This could involve the
- 5:41introduction of innovative features, enhanced subscription
- 5:43services or tapping into new market segments.
- 5:47Moreover, addressing technical stability issues is paramount to
- 5:50regain advertiser confidence. The strategic decisions made by
- 5:54Musk and the X leadership in the coming months will be critical
- 5:59in determining the platform's financial health, its position
- 6:02in the social media market. Now The recent outage at X
- 6:07raises important questions about the platform's technical
- 6:09robustness in the strategic direction under Musk as users
- 6:13continue to seek stable alternatives like threads.
- 6:16The future of X remains closely watched by us on this podcast,
- 6:21so please stay tuned For more information.
- 6:24Hey, thank you so much for listening today.
- 6:26I really do appreciate your support.
- 6:28If you could take a second and hit the subscribe or the follow
- 6:31button on whatever podcast platform that you're listening
- 6:33on right now, I greatly appreciate it.
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- 6:39miss an episode and each episode is about 10 minutes or less to
- 6:43get you caught up quickly. And please, if you want to
- 6:46support the show even more, go to patreon.com/stage Zero and
- 6:52please take care of yourselves and each other and I'll see you
- 6:54tomorrow.