Elon Musk Twitter Poll Results & The Future of Twitter
In a Twitter poll Monday morning, Elon Musk asked the users of Twitter to vote between two options: “Yes” or “No” to the simple question: “Should I step down as head of Twitter?”
Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2022
The poll resulted in a whopping 17.5 million responses with the majority, 57%, voting that the current CEO of Twitter should step down. Musk claims that he will abide by this result – this decision only comes after an onslaught of issues due to his leadership in the company.
More recently, Twitter announced that it would ban users from promoting their accounts on other social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Truth Social, and more. This policy came with huge backlash from Twitter users who found the entire post to juxtapose with Musk’s supposed vision of free speech. The policy also informed users that any advertising of accounts, even through a Linktree or a screenshot, would result in the deletion of the tweet or ultimately the suspension of an account.
After this backlash, Twitter deleted the post on its accounts and instead instituted a poll asking users whether they should “have a policy preventing the creation of or use of existing accounts for the main purpose of advertising other social media platforms.” Unsurprisingly, 87% of the over 300,000 voters said “No” to this policy.
Should we have a policy preventing the creation of or use of existing accounts for the main purpose of advertising other social media platforms?
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) December 19, 2022
This issue along with the other myriad of controversial dilemmas surrounding the company has ultimately led to this point in its history where it is at a crossroads.
On the one hand, Twitter employees have been fired by less than kind means and the company is on a downward decline as advertisers drop out from supporting the platform. On the other hand, Musk is losing his grasp on the platform’s “free speech” promise and new issues are continuing to emerge as a result. This begs the question: Who, then, will step up as the new CEO?
Like it or not, Musk will likely still have a role in decisions made by the company if he steps down as he is the sole member of the board of directors. He will have the authority to appoint a CEO and work closely with them in decisions made. Not only this, Elon has already been in talks with individuals such as Jason Calacanis, David Sacks, Sriram Krishnan, and Andreessen Horowitz about pivotal company decisions and potentially taking over as CEO.
In yet another poll, Calacanis asks users to vote on who should be the next CEO of Twitter. The results? 39.1% for “Other.”
Who should be the next twitter CEO? 😂😂😂
— @jason (@Jason) December 19, 2022
The future of Twitter remains undecided, but it might be safe to conclude that the disapproval of Musk’s handle on the company as well as the policies and suggestions made under his leadership will possibly lead to a new person taking his place. While this may seem like a great option for the longevity of Twitter, it is a matter of finding someone that will commit to its growth and success for years to come.
Furthermore, due to Musk’s stake in the company already, losing the CEO title will not do much to deter him from making changes and implementations to Twitter. Rather, we can expect to see Musk hand-picking his team and guiding them from the background.
