Twitter is continuing to struggle with its business and it has now laid off more employees. The layoffs are said to be in the 50s and come after Twitter cut hundreds of jobs earlier this year. The company is still trying tofigures out how to make money, but it may be struggling since people are not using its products as much.
Twitter is restructuring in an effort to recapture its once prominent market share, with layoffs and changes in leadership likely in the near future. The firing of Esther Crawford, CEO of Twitter Blue verification and most of the remaining product team, has lead many to speculate that CEO Elon Musk is cleaning house to redecorate with a new regime.
After the Twitter takeover, many pundits predicted that Crawford would be pushed out. However, she has thrived under Musk’s management and is now an integral part of Twitter’s team. She is often seen working late into the night, handling all of the company’s day-to-day demands.
The mass layoff of Twitter employees this weekend was a shocking event, but it wasn’t completely unexpected. Months ago, rumors started circulating that Twitter may be planning on cutting its workforce. When executives finally confirmed the layoffs this week, many employees were worried that this signaled the start of sweeping cuts to their department. Luckily, morale was still high among those who remained on board and everyone managed to cope with the sudden change in communication style. The platform remains unstable as a result of these layoffs and it’s unclear if or when they will improve.
The workers of Blind, an anonymous platform for verified workers, are concerned about the conditions under which they are working. One post on Blind reads, “Slack is gone so noone know what is going on, People receive email at 2am on saturday and access cut immediately. This will go down as one of the most extreme layoff in entire corporate history.” These employees may lose critical information if their access to Slack is interrupted.
Industry analysts say that Twitter’s recent layoffs could be a sign of trouble ahead. The company has been struggling to keep users and advertisers on its platform, and the recent cuts could make it even harder to do so.
Twitter layoffs have started to hit other areas of the company. On February 17, Twitter let go of its ad sales staff, signaling a shift in strategy for the social media platform. The layoffs are likely part of Twitter’s drive to focus on increasing user growth and weakening its dependence on advertising revenue.
Martijn’s story illustrates how reliant we are on electronic communication, leading to a problem when something goes wrong. Martijn found out about his lack of a job after being locked out of his email account, depriving him of the ability to apply for new positions or check up on the status of open jobs. He tweeted about the experience, illustrating how technology can wreak havoc when it fails us in unexpected ways.
The loss of de Kuijper’s Revue journey is a reminder that no one ever escapes the reality of their mistakes. De Kuijper was let go from Twitter shortly after developing an unpopular opinion article about how the company was mishandling employee retention. The article stirred up negative sentiment within the company, which likely led to his dismissal. Even though he ultimately failed in his goal of creating a newsletter for employee connection, Revue still served as a valuable tool for exchanging information among employees.
So far, Musk’s Twitterannonce to “no more layoffs” has not been heeded by the company. In November, Musk promised that no more layoffs were coming and it seems as though this latest round of layoffs was just a way to keep his promise, but investors may be starting to lose patience with him.
In response to a request for comment, Elon Musk failed to provide a statement. This led many in the tech community to question his motivation and implied lack of commitment. With most other companies releasing statements supporting LGBT rights in order to advocate for equality, this omission may be interpreted as insensitive or even cowardly by some. However, others argue that Musk’s company does not yet have any products targeted at this market and he has not released any information about how his company
