Introduction

In the short but long weeks since Elon Musk took over Twitter, it seems like the platform, along with the social media class, has been put through the spin cycle. Between debates over who could be verified and how much that might cost, employee layoffs, and, of course, the lingering question of whether and when Donald Trump might be replatformed, there have been many questions about the fate of Twitter. 

Vanity Fair’s Nick Bilton, who literally wrote the book on Twitter, joins this week’s episode of Inside the Hive, taking listeners inside his notebook to lay out the problems that Twitter faces as both a company and a barometer of the mindset of the country. 

“Jack Dorsey and all the folks at Twitter used to say that Twitter is a reflection of society,” Bilton tells ITH listeners. “I think that it is a reflection of the extremes in society, and it brings out the best and, a lot more times, the worst in people because of the way it is designed.” What will happen to the platform given the political atmosphere, and can it help propel someone into the White House—or keep them out?