I like to think that somebody who loves a product and wants it to be important and impactful in the world can learn from their mistakes. I'm fundamentally an optimist about human behavior. One interpretation of this activity is that it is trying to rebuild trust with a constituency for a platform that rightfully or wrongfully has felt maligned and mistreated. In the process, you risk alienating all of your other users. You risk alienating advertisers. You risk alienated regulators. And that's a problem. But I think you can make a rational case for trying to win back parts of your community that have felt underserved.
Elon Musk's Twitter is a spectacle, and the drama and meaning of the last six months is perhaps best unpacked by Yoel Roth. The company’s former head of trust and safety survived the early flood of firings and resignations — in fact, he was ascendant, in the early days of this new Twitter, and he became the face Musk presented to advertisers. Kara asks Roth whether he felt “used” by Musk and why — having been embraced by Elon’s inner circle — he ultimately decided to abandon Elon.
Before the interview, Kara and Nayeema weigh in on Elon Musk’s seeming needling of Tim Cook, and they discuss whether Apple has too much power. Stay tuned until the end for Kara’s rant on this very topic.
You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema.
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