NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Business

Elon Musk doesn’t get who really keeps Twitter running

By Bruce Daisley
Daily Telegraph UK·
19 Nov, 2022 12:21 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Each day sees the outlook become bleaker for Twitter. Photo / Herald montage, AP, Getty Images

Each day sees the outlook become bleaker for Twitter. Photo / Herald montage, AP, Getty Images

#RIPTwitter #TwitterDown #Mastodon #Twittershutdown.

The hashtags have been coming thick and fast – and getting more dramatic by the second. “This is my last Tweet.” “Here’s how to use Twitter’s media downloader – before it’s too late”.

Where is this all playing out? On Twitter, of course. “What I might do is write tweets, then just photograph them and post them on Instagram instead.

I’m there as @misterosman by the way” tweeted Richard Osman (1.2 million followers).

“My full mastodon handle is @martinlewis@vivaldi.net” tweeted Martin Lewis (2 million followers).

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Deserting employees sent their goodbyes on the company’s Slack, even those who have opted to stay have now been locked out of their offices until Monday.

Elon Musk’s reputation was built on defying expectations, proving the world wrong with a smirk.

As a result, his supporters are inclined to perceive him as playing 3D chess. With Twitter, the billionaire seems to have found himself playing a disastrous $44 billion ($71.8b) game of Jenga.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It looks set to be a business case study for the ages: a testament to how hubris and arrogance can destroy a brand in a month. And that destruction doesn’t come from the departure of the likes of Osman and Lewis. It’s about the people who have helped to keep them there.

Elon Musk attends Heidi Klum's 21st Annual Halloween Party at Sake No Hana at Moxy, on Manhattan's Lower East Side in New York City. Photo / Getty Images
Elon Musk attends Heidi Klum's 21st Annual Halloween Party at Sake No Hana at Moxy, on Manhattan's Lower East Side in New York City. Photo / Getty Images

Social media platforms are more like ecosystems than “tech products” like iPhones or laptops.

We all think social media is about the dopamine rush of someone liking our posts. It’s a lovely theory, but it doesn’t survive contact with Twitter. Most tweets don’t get any engagement at all.

Twitter is about the thrill of revelation. It’s a platform for gossip; for the shock of drama; to discover what’s happening. People go to it to find out about World Cup selection rumours; to see if Musk has seen off the last employee yet.

Ninety-nine per cent of the tweets consumed on it are created by 1 per cent of the users. This is why, for a long time, the 1 per cent weren’t shown ads. It was recognised that a happy Kardashian would keep tweeting; annoying them with ads would put them off.

It’s easy to imagine that a software product like a website doesn’t need people. But it’s the employees who make sure the 1 per cent don’t see the ads. In fact, anything that has 250 million people using it daily requires constant intervention. Systems run into problems, processes hit capacity issues that need resetting, unresolved bugs often have human-operated workarounds while awaiting recoding.

In effective companies, it’s said the secret of organisational success is a foundation of psychological safety: the ability to have frank discussion about challenges being faced.

This enables us to share our concerns without fear of retribution. We don’t highlight a problem if it serves to get us sacked. Musk’s actions have undermined that candid conversation – in the last week it’s been reported that he’s fired dozens who have been seen to criticise him on internal or external channels.

I worked at Twitter for eight years, before leaving to write a book on resilience. Resilient cultures have one thing in common: a visceral sense that we’re all in it together.

Company cultures can also exhibit this – a cohesive bond of employees, often intent on proving outsiders wrong. Social identities like this can give immense strength to employees, but can also be mobilised against those who are seen as opponents.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Twitter culture was famed for being tightly bonded; employees often tagged their tweets #LoveWhereYouWork or #OneTeam. Musk made the mistake of mobilising this strong shared identity into a case of “him” versus “us”.

Former Twitter European VP Bruce Daisley attends the 10th Festival Of Media Global in 2016. Photo / Getty Images
Former Twitter European VP Bruce Daisley attends the 10th Festival Of Media Global in 2016. Photo / Getty Images

A powerful connection is being expressed by the departing workforce.

Whole teams have taken the three months’ salary being offered to leave, rather than stay in an imploding atmosphere, committed to a “hardcore” culture of long hours and hard work. Most developers have a lot of choice, even in a brutal job market.

Their hashtag might best be summed up as #I’maSoftwareEngineerGetMeOutOfHere.

Each day sees the outlook become bleaker for Twitter. Musk has lost not only the teams who maintain the product, but also the know-how to keep it working.

Surrounded by a constant cloud of drama, this wasn’t how we expected Twitter to end – not with a bang, but with a 404 loading error.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Bruce Daisley’s latest book Fortitude – Unpicking the Myth of Resilience is out now. He was formerly European Vice President for Twitter between 2012 and 2020.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Business

Premium
Shares

Market close: Infratil rises as CEO Boyes ups stake

07 Jul 05:57 AM
Property

Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei wins Environment Court appeal for recognition

07 Jul 05:00 AM
Business

Butlers Chocolate Cafe closes stores after going into liquidation

07 Jul 04:56 AM

Audi offers a sporty spin on city driving with the A3 Sportback and S3 Sportback

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Business

Premium
Market close: Infratil rises as CEO Boyes ups stake

Market close: Infratil rises as CEO Boyes ups stake

07 Jul 05:57 AM

The benchmark index traded flat.

Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei wins Environment Court appeal for recognition

Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei wins Environment Court appeal for recognition

07 Jul 05:00 AM
Butlers Chocolate Cafe closes stores after going into liquidation

Butlers Chocolate Cafe closes stores after going into liquidation

07 Jul 04:56 AM
Premium
'Grit their teeth': Sweeney on Dubliners living on proposed MetroLink route

'Grit their teeth': Sweeney on Dubliners living on proposed MetroLink route

07 Jul 03:05 AM
Gold demand soars amid global turmoil
sponsored

Gold demand soars amid global turmoil

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP