Twitter has seen nothing but changes since the company was purchased by billionaire Elon Musk at the end of last year, but with the news that he will be handing the reins over to a new CEO, what changes should users expect?
Musk shared last week that he has decided to step down, handing his company off to the former chairman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal, Linda Yaccarino.
Karen North, the founder of the Digital Social Media Program at USC Annenberg, spoke with KCBS Radio’s Keith Menconi about what changes could be in store for the social media site.
North shared that one of the biggest challenges Yaccarino will face in her new role is building back “the trust of the company,” as well as its partnerships with other companies.
While many have criticized Musk for his numerous changes on the platform, which have included paying for verification, community notes, and several other services, North says that she has the unpopular belief that they have made the platform better.
“Honestly, I think some of the changes are good,” North said. “It’s a very unpopular belief, but if you look at it objectively, versus looking at it through the eyes of the frustration with Elon Musk personally,” then it’s not a question.
North said one example of this is the blue checkmarks.
While she still thinks celebrities and high-profile people deserve to be separated from the rest of us, North says his ability to open the checkmarks up to the rest of the public is beneficial.
“There’s every reason, for example, a high school principal to want to have a blue checkmark so he or she can send out an announcement to the school community and know that it’s not being frauded,” North said.
Looking at how the changes came to be on the platform, North says that the “chaotic” rollout of the changes caused people not to trust what he was doing.
Even though North thinks that the updates to Twitter have been overall beneficial, she says that Musk, who owns the “most powerful communication platform in the world,” has failed to communicate effectively in a shocking way.
When it comes to Yaccarino and her background, North says that at first, she was shocked that Musk was considering her, but as she thought about it more, it seemed to fit what the billionaire wanted.
“He wants to stay with the company as a chief sort of visionary and technology person, and he wants to hire somebody to run the company. For the last dozen years, she’s been at NBCUniversal as the head of advertising and partnerships.”
North said that Yaccarino has won numerous accolades for her work and that she has been able to show she can affect change and create a culture through her work, something that is needed at Twitter.
With Twitter remaining an essential part of the news and social media world, North says it’s vital it get back to being “the good guy.”
“[Yaccarino] seems to be that kind of person who brings people together, building a team, and putting things on the course of good rather than evil,” North said.
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