Twitter has erupted into a frenzy of memes and “eulogies” ostensibly bidding goodbye to the platform in the wake of Elon Musk’s recent hardcore ultimatum to employees to knuckle under and be prepared to work "long hours at high intensity, or quit".
The deadline that the SpaceX and Tesla chief executive issued to flabbergasted staff as part of his relentless slew of changes to the microblogging site he bought last month is believed to have triggered a mass exodus, leaving users agog. In an email, reportedly sent on 16 November, Musk opened up on his vision for “Twitter 2.0,” warning staff that they would have to “be extremely hardcore,” adding:
“This will mean working long hours at high intensity… Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade.”
Since the tech guru started off his first days as 'Chief Twit' by firing staff, management included, the number of employees is believed to have shrunk from around 7,500 to just under 4,000. With hundreds more prepared to look at Twitter soon "in the rear-view mirror", some appear to be concerned that Musk might be left with a skeleton crew.
As #RIPTwitter started trending, people on social media had a field day.
With little clarity regarding the scale of the exodus, in a private chat on Signal nearly 40 Twitter staffers out of about 50 revealed they were ready to claim severance pay and leave, according to one ex-employee cited by media. Amid the reported turmoil, Musk was said to be meeting with some of the top staff members in a bid to persuade them to stay. He appears to have exuded optimism in his recent tweets, insisting that Twitter had "just hit another all-time high" in usage.
Trolling those who were quick to predict the platform's demise, Elon Musk wryly joked that "there’s a chance we can keep Twitter alive."
Elon Musk, who also owns electric carmaker Tesla and spacecraft manufacturer SpaceX, bought Twitter as part of a $44Bln deal in which he vowed to rescue the company from debt and restore its profitability. Yet the slew of changes he brought in, along with mass lay-offs, have not gone down well.
On Tuesday, Musk announced that one of his proposed changes, ending the verification of accounts not paying for a Twitter Blue subscription, would soon resume after being put on hold earlier this month. After the verification was announced, it originally triggered a wave of fake accounts that wreaked havoc on the stock market.