Facebook is a crucial platform for businesses with a huge user base. However, there's a lot of content, and it's tough for algorithms to pick the right stuff quickly. Many businesses are competing for space in the news feed, making it hard to reach people naturally. To do well, focusing on attracting visitors is mandatory. Following the tips in this article can help you reach more people on Facebook. Basic Strategies to Increase Facebook's Reach Organically Tailor Your Content to Specific Audiences Recognize the importance of meaningful interactions and adjust your posting approach accordingly. Always consider the specific users your post is targeting. Publish posts that you believe will be genuinely interesting and relevant to your intended audience. Whether or not a post is sponsored, you can target each of your posts on your business page to a specific audience. Control Your Posting Frequency The frequency of your Facebook posts is a crucial factor. Aim to post as often as possible while maintaining quality content. It's essential to keep your Facebook page active to foster growth. Avoid over-posting, as it can become annoying, and don't post so infrequently that your audience forgets about you. Hubspot's research suggests that for pages with fewer than 10,000 fans, engagement per post drops by 50% if you post more than once per day. Consider a guideline of one post per day or up to five posts per week. Read more: How to Prevent Facebook Hacking: Security measures from Mobile, Desktop Encourage Audience Interaction Publish content that sparks conversations among your audience. Facebook's algorithm takes note when a post generates a lot of discussion among a user's friends and may prioritize such posts. Content that people want to share and discuss with their friends holds value. Time Your Posts for Maximum Impact The recency of a post is crucial, as the newest posts appear at the top of users' news feeds. To maximize visibility and engagement, schedule your posts to coincide with your audience's online activity. According to Coschedule, the best times to post are between 1-4 pm, with specific time slots based on each weekday. Keep in mind that these times may vary depending on your followers' behavior patterns. You can use Hootsuite to obtain custom recommendations for the best posting times. Share Longer Videos Facebook's algorithm prioritizes videos based on watch time and completion rates. Focus on creating videos that capture your audience's attention and keep them engaged for longer durations, preferably over three minutes. Additionally, native videos receive a boost in reach. Read more: How to Earn Money from Facebook Leverage Your Top Advocates Facebook prioritizes posts from person to person over those from pages to a person. Encourage your employees to post about your brand, as their content carries more credibility and authority with the algorithm due to their personal connections. Sharing your brand's posts on your personal timeline can also help improve visibility. Avoid Engagement Baiting Steer clear of engagement-baiting tactics, which involve creating posts designed to artificially boost engagement through likes, shares, comments, and other actions. These tactics can result in lower visibility, as Facebook demotes such posts. Examples include asking for reactions, comments, shares, tags, or votes. Read more: How Do Social Media Influencers Make Money?

YouTube has become an efficient platform for sharing ideas, entertaining audiences, and educating viewers on various topics. But creating a successful YouTube video involves more than just pressing the record button. A well-crafted script is the backbone of any compelling video, guiding the creator's message and ensuring a coherent and engaging delivery. Let’s take a look into the process of writing an effective YouTube video script that captivates your audience and keeps them coming back for more. Why is Scriptwriting Necessary to Make an Effective Youtube Video? A quality script can do more than just simplify the content creation process. Here are some reasons why aspiring YouTubers should dedicate time to scriptwriting. Enhanced Content Quality A skillfully crafted script enhances the video's quality by ensuring the content's structure is well-arranged and the message is lucid. With a clear plan in place, content creators can allocate more time to developing top-notch visuals, refining edits, and other aspects of video production, all while being confident in the meticulousness of their content. Elevated Engagement Through a solid script, creators can maintain viewer engagement and interest throughout the video, improving viewer retention rates. By pre-planning the content, creators can guarantee an engaging pace and a presentation style that facilitates effortless comprehension and assimilation of information. Read more: YouTube Explainer Videos: Ways to Make Money While Sharing Knowledge Consistency Amplification A proficient script ensures channel content consistency with a recurring series or thematic approach, resulting in a more devoted and engaged viewership. By pre-meditating content, creators can ensure that messaging and content delivery remain in harmony with past videos within the series or aligned with the overarching theme of the channel. Time-Efficient Approach An effective script streamlines the filming process for creators by offering a comprehensive guide to what needs to be captured and when. This contributes to an efficient filming process and empowers creators to generate high-calibre content promptly. Augmented Professionalism A meticulously composed script bestows a sense of professionalism and refinement upon the video, leading to a more favourable overall impression on viewers. By pre-planning content and presenting it coherently and succinctly, creators can demonstrate their commitment to delivering high-value content, ultimately conveying their dedication to producing content of the highest quality. Read more: How to Protect Your YouTube Channel from Getting Hacked Required Competencies to Be an Efficient Script Writer A path in screenwriting might be your destined route. The realm of screenwriting can offer an exhilarating and rewarding career if you possess a genuine passion for it. Discover the key aptitudes that every aspiring screenwriter should cultivate before making your YouTube Videos: Passion A passion for your craft is not only pivotal for any vocation but finds amplified significance in the realm of prospective screenwriters. It can revel in the enchantment of attracting experiences and narratives. Screenwriting entails more than the mechanics of script composition; it is a study of the art form, entailing an authentic appreciation for its nuances. Persistence Crafting an exceptional screenplay is a formidable undertaking. The screenwriter's path is laden with hurdles such as creative impasses, external discouragement, and the shifting tides of genre trends and concepts. Throughout this journey, a screenwriter must surmount these obstacles, defying the forces that seek to thwart their progress and resolutely pursue their aspirations. A solitary "yes" amid a sea of "no's" can prove transformative. Flexibility The life of a YouTube screenwriter demands adaptability across all facets. The writing process, critiques, troubleshooting – each domain necessitates nimbleness. Challenges like technical constraints, availability of sources of elements, and subject material shifts can lead to script-related exigencies. Read more: YouTube Affiliate Marketing: Tips to build a successful channel Notwithstanding these upheavals, the ultimate objective remains consistent: delivering impeccable content. You can transcend these challenges by persevering, embracing feedback, harnessing your vision, and exercising patience. Cultivating this flexibility is paramount. Knowledge A substantial component of this endeavour is immersing yourself in script reading. By engaging with scripts, you absorb the language of screenwriting, grasp distinct attributes and structures, and enhance your craft. Fully immerse yourself in the realm of screenwriting. Attend workshops and seminars, devour literature, devour podcasts, and engage with video content. Every nugget of insight is invaluable, and its relevance might emerge unexpectedly in the future. Consistency Consistency reigns supreme in the realm of content creation. As a wordsmith, you'll grapple with deadlines and time-sensitive obligations. The temporal canvas might range from ample expanses to brief windows. Regardless, punctuality in submission is non-negotiable. Read more: Best Educational YouTube Channels for Children Numerous techniques and tools, aiding organisation and surmounting creative blocks, await your utilisation as deadlines approach. Nurturing a reputation of dependability is indispensable; hone the skill of preemptively tackling deadlines to prepare for future challenges. Perpetual Writing The process is familiar: a surge of inspiration births a captivating concept, only to encounter an obstacle that halts your progress. Perplexity prevails, leading you to abandon the endeavour. This cycle, though understandable, should not be a reason to cease your efforts. Perfection eludes every initial draft; refinement and repetition are constants. Establishing daily page quotas, like completing five pages each day can help. Interjecting breaks during writing to recharge your mental faculties will also work on your behalf. The next time your creative flow falters, remember that even the most remarkable screenplay you've encountered embarked on its journey as a less-than-stellar initial draft. Read more: How to Increase YouTube subscribers for free

Elon Musk says Twitter is still losing cash because advertising has dropped by half. In a reply to a tweet offering business advice, Musk tweeted Saturday, “We’re still negative cash flow, due to (about a) 50% drop in advertising revenue plus heavy debt load.” “Need to reach positive cash flow before we have the luxury of anything else,” he concluded. Ever since he took over Twitter in a $44 billion deal last fall, Musk has tried to reassure advertisers who were concerned about the ouster of top executives, widespread layoffs and a different approach to content moderation. Some high-profile users who had been banned were allowed back on the site. Read: Tecno collaborates with Vogue to capture 'style in motion' at London Fashion Week In April, Musk said most of the advertisers who left had returned and that the company might become cash-flow positive in the second quarter. In May, he hired a new CEO, Linda Yaccarino, an NBCUniversal executive with deep ties to the advertising industry. But since then, Twitter has upset some users by imposing new limits on how many tweets they can view in a day, and some users complained that they were locked out of the site. Musk said the restrictions were needed to prevent unauthorized scraping of potentially valuable data. Read: Skoot-Walton to work on production of high-tech e-bikes Twitter got a new competitor this month when Facebook owner Meta launched a text-focused app, Threads, and gained tens of millions of sign-ups in a few days. Twitter responded by threatening legal action.

Just how similar is Instagram's chatty new app, Threads, to Twitter? In a cease-and-desist letter earlier this week, Twitter threatened legal action against Instagram parent company Meta over the new text-based app Threads, which it called a "copycat." Threads has drawn tens of millions of users since launching as the latest rival to Elon Musk's social media platform. Twitter threatens legal action against Meta over Threads: Report Threads creators pushed back on the accusations, and legal experts note that much is still unknown. For now, "it's sort of a big question mark," Jacob Noti-Victor, an associate professor at Yeshiva University's Cardozo Law School who specializes in intellectual property, told The Associated Press. The people starting to explore Threads, however, are already making their own observations. "People are calling it a Twitter clone but I think there are some key product differences," said Alexandra Popken, Twitter's former head of trust and safety operations. One difference, she thinks, will likely be the people who use it. At Threads, "you're essentially taking your audience from Instagram and putting this into a new text-based app, whereas Twitter is a kind of a niche audience for politicians, celebrities and news junkies," she said. Yet even though Threads makers have said they aren't particularly interested in making it a politics forum, it's likely to attract journalists and politicians, among others, looking for a Twitter alternative. What is Threads? All your questions about Meta's new Twitter rival, answered Instagram's CEO, Adam Mosseri, said Threads isn't aiming to replace Twitter. "The goal is to create a public square for communities on Instagram that never really embraced Twitter and for communities on Twitter (and other platforms) that are interested in a less angry place for conversations, but not all of Twitter," he said. Politics and hard news will inevitably show up on Threads, he acknowledged, "but we're not going to do anything to encourage those verticals." In a Wednesday letter addressed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Alex Spiro, an attorney representing Twitter, accused Meta of unlawfully using Twitter's trade secrets and other intellectual property by hiring former Twitter employees to create a "copycat" app. In a reply to a tweet about the possibility of legal action against Meta, Musk wrote: "Competition is fine, cheating is not." Meta spokesperson Andy Stone responded in a Threads post Thursday that "no one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee." Meta unveils Threads, targeting users looking for an alternative to Twitter From Spiro's letter, which was first obtained by news outlet Semafor on Thursday, Noti-Victor said it's hard to tell what the trade secrets referred to might be. Spiro says ex-Twitter employees "improperly retained" company documents and electronic devices — pointing to ongoing confidentiality obligations. There was no explicit reference, however, to a breach of any binding agreement in the letter, and most noncompete clauses, for example, are prohibited in California. In addition, despite Threads' similarities to Twitter, "just the idea of creating a social media platform involving text (is) certainly not something that would be a trade secret," Noti-Victor added. He is skeptical of intellectual property violations for similar reasons, noting that companies "can't patent something that's obvious" or copyright a general idea for a social media platform. Copyright can protect source code and the text of a website, but Noti-Victor said he doesn't see that reproduced in Threads. Experts add that companies in Silicon Valley are constantly making products or services inspired by competitors' versions. Meta is set to take on Twitter with a rival app called Threads "The industry has a storied past of borrowing ideas from each other," said Popken, adding that Threads and other platforms such as Mastodon and Bluesky are "trying to capitalize on what is demand for a suitable, safer alternative to Twitter." Meta has a track record of starting standalone apps that mirror competitors, although many later shut down. Beyond trade secret and intellectual property allegations, Spiro also wrote that Meta is prohibited from "engaging in any crawling or scraping of Twitter's followers or following data." He said the letter marked a "formal notice" for Meta to preserve documents relevant for a potential dispute between the companies. Any letter of this kind should be taken seriously, said Carl Tobias, law professor at the University of Richmond's School of Law — but he, too, added that much is still unknown. More specific allegations and documents could come forward if litigation is pursued. Tobias speculated that Twitter's move could be partly about publicity, as well as a strategic response both legally and business-wise. Musk's legal team has made similar moves before, such as a May letter to Microsoft objecting to alleged misuse of Twitter data to train artificial intelligence systems. Among those elevating the clone-or-not question this week was Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, who has championed Bluesky, and joked in a tweet: "We wanted flying cars, instead we got 7 Twitter clones." For Popken, who now works at content moderation startup WebPurify, what most stands out about Threads so far is how much fun she's having using it. "I see brands like Slim Jim trying to be funny. I see influencers who I follow on Instagram and people who I care about in my life," she said. "There's like this period of time where the bad actors haven't found it yet. It's like this non-toxic, happy corner of the internet." But "make no mistake," she added, those content moderation problems that have plagued other platforms "will certainly strike Threads over time."

Twitter has threatened legal action against Meta over its new, text-based app called Threads, according to a letter obtained by Semafor. In a Wednesday letter addressed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Alex Spiro, an attorney representing Twitter, accused Meta of unlawfully using Twitter's trade secrets and other intellectual property by hiring former Twitter employees to create a "copycat" app. Since launching Threads Wednesday night, Meta's new app has collected tens of millions of sign ups. The app, which was created by the company's Instagram team, arrives at a time when many are looking for Twitter alternatives to escape Elon Musk's raucous oversight of the platform since acquiring it last year for $44 billion. Also read: What is Threads? All your questions about Meta's new Twitter rival, answered Meta spokesperson Andy Stone responded to the report of Spiro's letter on Threads Thursday afternoon, writing, "no one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee — that's just not a thing." In the letter, which Semafor first reported on Thursday, Spiro said that Twitter "intends to strictly enforce its intellectual property rights" — and noted the company's right to seek civil remedies or injunctive relief. He added that the letter marked a "formal notice" for Meta to preserve documents relevant for a potential dispute between the companies. The Associated Press reached out to Spiro and Twitter on Thursday for further information. Twitter responded to an email seeking comment with a poop emoji, its standard automated response to reporters. Musk hasn't directly tweeted about the possibility of legal action, but he has replied to several snarky takes on the Threads launch. The Twitter owner responded to one tweet suggesting that Meta's app was built largely through the use of the copy and paste function, with a laughing emoji. Also read: Meta unveils Threads, targeting users looking for an alternative to Twitter Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino has also not publicly commented on Wednesday's letter, but seemingly appeared to address Threads' launch in a Thursday tweet. "We're often imitated -- but the Twitter community can never be duplicated," Yaccarino wrote. Still, some analysts say Meta's new app could be a significant headache for Twitter — pointing to the excitement surrounding Threads' launch and impressive download numbers so far. Success for the app isn't guaranteed, of course. Industry watchers point to Meta's track record of starting standalone apps that were later shut down, for example, and note that Threads is still in its early days — so time will tell. Also read: Meta is set to take on Twitter with a rival app called Threads Meta's new app has also raised data privacy concerns. While Threads launched in more than 100 countries Wednesday, it is notably unavailable in the European Union, which has strict data privacy rules.  

Threads, a text-based app built by Meta to rival Twitter, is now live. The app, billed as the text version of Meta's photo-sharing platform Instagram, became available Wednesday night to users in more than 100 countries — including the U.S., Britain, Australia, Canada and Japan. Despite some early glitches, 30 million people had signed up before noon on Thursday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Threads. New arrivals to the platform include celebrities like Oprah, pop star Shakira and chef Gordon Ramsay — as well as corporate accounts from Taco Bell, Netflix, Spotify, the Washington Post and other media outlets. Also read: Meta unveils Threads, targeting users looking for an alternative to Twitter Threads, which Meta says provides "a new, separate space for real-time updates and public conversations," arrives at a time when many are looking for Twitter alternatives to escape Elon Musk's raucous oversight of the platform since acquiring it last year for $44 billion. But Meta's new app has also raised data privacy concerns, and is notably unavailable in the European Union. Here's what you need to know about Threads. HOW CAN I USE THREADS? Threads is now available for download in Apple and Google Android app stores for people in more than 100 countries. Threads was built by the Instagram team, so Instagram users can log into Threads through their Instagram account. Your username and verification status will carry over, according to the platform, but you will also have options to customize other areas of your profile — including whether or not you want to follow the same people that you do on Instagram. Because Threads and Instagram are so closely linked, it's also important to be cautious of account deletion. According to Threads' supplemental privacy policy, you can deactivate your profile at any time, "but your Threads profile can only be deleted by deleting your Instagram account." CAN I USE THREADS IF I DON'T HAVE AN INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT? For now, only Instagram users can create Threads accounts. If you want to access Threads, you will have to sign up for Instagram first. While this may receive some pushback, VP and research director at Forrester Mike Proulx said making Threads an extension of Instagram was a smart move on Meta's part. "It's piquing (user) curiosity," Proulx said, noting that Instagram users are getting alerts about their followers joining Threads — causing more and more people to sign up. "That's one of the reasons why Threads got over 10 million people to sign up in just a seven hour period" after launching. Still, Proulx added, maintaining momentum and continuing to capture user attention past the initial curiosity bump will be crucial down the line — noting "the long term nature of threads is what's going to ultimately predict its success or failure." HOW IS THREADS SIMILAR TO TWITTER? Threads' microblogging experience is very similar to Twitter. Users can repost, reply to or quote a thread, for example, and can see the number of likes and replies that a post has received. "Threads" can run up to 500 characters — compared with Twitter's 280-character threshold — and can include links, photos and videos up to five minutes long. Also read: TikTok and 5 content creators ask federal judge to block Montana from banning app In early replies on Threads, Zuckerberg said making the app "a friendly place" will be a key to success — adding that that was "one reason why Twitter never succeeded as much as I think it should have, and we want to do it differently." IS TWITTER SEEKING LEGAL ACTION AGAINST META? According to a letter obtained by Semafor on Thursday, Twitter has threatened legal action against Meta over Threads. In the letter, which was addressed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and dated Wednesday, Alex Spiro, an attorney representing Twitter, accused Meta of unlawfully using Twitter's trade secrets and other intellectual property by hiring former Twitter employees to create a "copycat" app. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone responded to the report of Spiro's letter on Threads Thursday afternoon, writing, "no one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee." Also read: Meta is set to take on Twitter with a rival app called Threads Musk hasn't directly tweeted about the possibility of legal action, but he has replied to several snarky takes on the Threads launch. The Twitter owner responded to one tweet suggesting that Meta's app was built largely through the use of the copy and paste function, with a laughing emoji. Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino has also not publicly commented on Wednesday's letter, but seemingly appeared to address Threads' launch in a Thursday tweet — writing that "the Twitter community can never be duplicated." HASN'T THIS BEEN DONE BEFORE? The similarities of Meta's new text-based app suggests that the company is working to directly challenge Twitter. The tumultuous ownership has resulted in a series of unpopular changes that have turned off users and advertisers, some of whom are searching for Twitter alternatives. Threads is the latest Twitter rival to emerge in this landscape following Bluesky, Mastodon and Spill. HOW DOES THREADS MODERATE CONTENT? According to Meta, Threads will use the same safety measures deployed on Instagram — which includes enforcing Instagram's community guidelines and providing tools to control who can mention or reply to users. Also read: Elon Musk imposes daily limits on reading posts on Twitter Content warnings — on search queries ranging from conspiracy theory groups to misinformation about COVID-19 vaccinations — also appear to be similar to Instagram. WHAT ARE THE PRIVACY CONCERNS? Threads could collect a wide range of personal information — including health, financial, contacts, browsing and search history, location data, purchases and "sensitive info," according to its data privacy disclosure on the App Store. Threads also isn't available in the European Union right now, which has strict data privacy rules. Also read: Cage fight: Musk, Zuckerberg both up for face-off Meta informed Ireland's Data Privacy Commission, Meta's main privacy regulator for the EU, that it has no plans yet to launch Threads in the 27-nation bloc, commission spokesman Graham Doyle said. The company said it is working on rolling the app out to more countries — but pointed to regulatory uncertainty for its decision to hold off on a European launch. WHATS THE FUTURE FOR THREADS? Success for Threads is far from guaranteed. Industry watchers point to Meta's track record of starting standalone apps that were later shut down — including an Instagram messaging app also called "Threads" that shut down less than two years after its 2019 launch, Proulx notes. Still, Proulx and others say the new app could be a significant headache for Musk and Twitter. "The euphoria around a new service and this initial explosion will probably settle down. But it is apparent that this alternative is here to stay and will prove to be a worthy rival given all of Twitter's woes," technology analyst Paolo Pescatore of PP Foresight said, noting that combining Twitter-style features with Instagram's look and feel could drive user engagement. Also read: A ‘vast paedophile network’ connected by Instagram's algorithms, says WSJ report Threads is in its early days, however, and much depends on user feedback. Pescatore believes the close tie between Instagram and Threads might not resonate with everyone. The rollout of new features will also be key. "The real test is not if we can build up a lot of hype, but if you all find enough value in the app to keep using it over time," Instagram head Adam Mosseri wrote Thursday in a Threads post. He also acknowledged, as many users have already done, that there are "tons of basics" missing, including hashtags and direct messaging between users. "Full disclosure, it'll take time."  

Wish you could reword that snarky text message you just sent? WhatsApp is allowing users to do just that, for up to 15 minutes after they send a message. The popular chat app announced in a blog post Monday that users can correct misspellings, add more details or otherwise change what they have sent to friends, family and coworkers. The ability to edit messages has started rolling out to people worldwide and will be available to all users in coming weeks, according to the company owned by Facebook parent Meta. Read more: Encrypted video calls with up to 8, audio calls with up to 32 people on WhatsApp: Zuckerberg  To fix a text, press and hold the sent message and pick "edit." After the changes, it will then display "edited," but those receiving the message won't be able to see the edit history, WhatsApp says. Apple last year revealed the ability to edit and unsend iMessages between iPhones in a system upgrade. Those on the receiving end see that a message was unsent and the edit history, the company said.  

A lawyer for Twitter owner Elon Musk accused Microsoft of misusing the service's data and demanded an audit from the software giant. The letter primarily addresses a seemingly narrow set of alleged infractions by Microsoft in drawing information from Twitter's database of tweets. But the move could foreshadow more serious developments. Musk has previously accused Microsoft and its partner OpenAI in a tweet of "illegally" using Twitter data to develop sophisticated AI systems such as ChatGPT. " Lawsuit time," Musk wrote in that April tweet. But the letter, signed by Musk lawyer Alex Spiro, tiptoed around that concern. It noted that Microsoft's agreement with Twitter barred it from overuse of the service's data such as exceeding "reasonable request volume" or "excessive or abusive usage." Spiro then noted that "despite these limitations," Microsoft had retrieved more than 26 billion tweets in 2022 alone. He provided no context for those numbers. The process of training AI systems requires enormous amounts of data such as written text, which AI algorithms scour for patterns that the AI can use to make sense of language and large bodies of knowledge. In other respects, the letter primarily laid out a series of vaguely worded allegations. For instance, it noted that while Microsoft was required to inform Twitter about its intended use of the data, it failed to do so for six of the eight Microsoft apps that drew on information from the Twitter database. Similarly, the letter asserted that at least one Microsoft app had supplied Twitter data to a number of virtual locations that "reference a government entity or agency." That apparently violated Microsoft's agreement with Twitter, the letter stated, which prohibited the company from retrieving Twitter data "on behalf of 'any government-related entity'" without first notifying Twitter. The letter stated that Microsoft had failed to provide such notification. Microsoft spokesman Frank Shaw provided a statement noting that Microsoft will review questions raised by the letter and then will "respond appropriately." The statement added that "we look forward to continuing our long term partnership" with Twitter, which it did not refer to by name. Shaw declined to address specifics from the letter. Spiro's letter demanded that Microsoft describe in detail the Twitter data it possesses or has previously destroyed, the purpose for each of its apps that drew on Twitter information, and any government entities that used these Microsoft apps and whether they received data from Twitter's database.  

Elon Musk said Thursday he has found a new CEO for Twitter, or X Corp. as it's now called — and it's a woman. He did not name her but said she will be starting in about six weeks. Musk, who bought Twitter last fall and has been running it since, has long insisted he is not the company's permanent CEO. The Tesla billionaire said in a tweet Thursday that his role will transition to being Twitter's executive chairman and chief technology officer. In mid-November, just a few weeks after buying the social media platform for $44 billion, he told a Delaware court that he does not want to be the CEO of any company. While testifying, Musk said "I expect to reduce my time at Twitter and find somebody else to run Twitter over time." More than a month later, he tweeted in December: "I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job." The pledge came after millions of Twitter users asked him to step down in a Twitter poll the billionaire himself created and promised to abide by. In February, he told a conference he anticipated finding a CEO for San Francisco-based Twitter "probably toward the end of this year." Analysts who follow Twitter's business welcomed the news even without knowing who the replacement will be. Twitter's advertising business has taken a hit under Musk's mercurial rule, though the billionaire told BBC last month that the company is now "roughly" breaking even. "A new CEO is the only way forward for Twitter," said Insider Intelligence analyst Jasmine Enberg. "The single biggest problem with Twitter's ad business was Elon Musk. As he steps back, Twitter can begin to unravel Musk's personal brand from the company's corporate image and attempt to regain trust among advertisers. The success of those efforts will depend on who takes over, but it's difficult to imagine that the new CEO could be more controversial or damaging to Twitter's ad business than Musk has been." Shares of Tesla rose about 2% Thursday after Musk made the announcement. Shareholders of the electric car company have been concerned about how much of his attention is being spent on Twitter. Last November, he was questioned in court about how he splits his time among Tesla and his other companies, including SpaceX and Twitter. Musk had to testify in the trial in Delaware's Court of Chancery over a shareholder's challenge to his potentially $55 billion compensation plan as CEO of the electric car company. Musk said he never intended to be CEO of Tesla, and that he didn't want to be chief executive of any other companies either, preferring to see himself as an engineer. Musk also said at the time that he expected an organizational restructuring of Twitter to be completed in the next week or so. It's been nearly six months since he said that. Musk's tenure at Twitter's helm has been chaotic, and he's made various promises and proclamations he's backtracked or never followed up on. He began his first day firing the company's top executives, followed by roughly 80% of its staff. He's upended the platform's verification system and has scaled back content moderation and safeguards against the spread of misinformation. Bantering with Twitter followers late last year, Musk expressed pessimism about the prospects for a new CEO, saying that person "must like pain a lot" to run a company that "has been in the fast lane to bankruptcy." "No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor," Musk tweeted at the time.  

This time it's for real. Many of Twitter's high-profile users are losing the blue checks that helped verify their identity and distinguish them from impostors on the Elon Musk-owned social media platform. After several false starts, Twitter began making good on its promise Thursday to remove the blue checks from accounts that don't pay a monthly fee to keep them. Twitter had about 300,000 verified users under the original blue-check system — many of them journalists, athletes and public figures. The checks — which used to mean the account was verified by Twitter to be who it says it is — began disappearing from these users' profiles late morning Pacific Time. High-profile users who lost their blue checks Thursday included Beyoncé, Pope Francis, Oprah Winfrey and former President Donald Trump. The costs of keeping the marks range from $8 a month for individual web users to a starting price of $1,000 monthly to verify an organization, plus $50 monthly for each affiliate or employee account. Twitter does not verify the individual accounts, as was the case with the previous blue check doled out during the platform's pre-Musk administration. Celebrity users, from basketball star LeBron James to author Stephen King and Star Trek's William Shatner, have balked at joining — although on Thursday, all three had blue checks indicating that the account paid for verification. King, for one, said he hadn't paid. "My Twitter account says I've subscribed to Twitter Blue. I haven't. My Twitter account says I've given a phone number. I haven't," King tweeted Thursday. "Just so you know." In a reply to King's tweet, Musk said "You're welcome namaste" and in another tweet he said he's "paying for a few personally." He later tweeted he was just paying for King, Shatner and James. Singer Dionne Warwick tweeted earlier in the week that the site's verification system "is an absolute mess." "The way Twitter is going anyone could be me now," Warwick said. She had earlier vowed not to pay for Twitter Blue, saying the monthly fee "could (and will) be going toward my extra hot lattes." On Thursday, Warwick lost her blue check (which is actually a white check mark in a blue background). For users who still had a blue check Thursday, a popup message indicated that the account "is verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number." Verifying a phone number simply means that the person has a phone number and they verified that they have access to it — it does not confirm the person's identity. It wasn't just celebrities and journalists who lost their blue checks Thursday. Many government agencies, nonprofits and public-service accounts around the world found themselves no longer verified, raising concerns that Twitter could lose its status as a platform for getting accurate, up-to-date information from authentic sources, including in emergencies. While Twitter offers gold checks for "verified organizations" and gray checks for government organizations and their affiliates, it's not clear how the platform doles these out and they were not seen Thursday on many previously verified agency and public service accounts. The official Twitter account of the New York City government, which earlier had a blue check, tweeted on Thursday that "This is an authentic Twitter account representing the New York City Government This is the only account for @NYCGov run by New York City government" in an attempt to clear up confusion. A newly created spoof account with 36 followers (also without a blue check), disagreed: "No, you're not. THIS account is the only authentic Twitter account representing and run by the New York City Government." Soon, another spoof account — purporting to be Pope Francis — weighed in too: "By the authority vested in me, Pope Francis, I declare @NYC_GOVERNMENT the official New York City Government. Peace be with you." Fewer than 5% of legacy verified accounts appear to have paid to join Twitter Blue as of Thursday, according to an analysis by Travis Brown, a Berlin-based developer of software for tracking social media. Musk's move has riled up some high-profile users and pleased some right-wing figures and Musk fans who thought the marks were unfair. But it is not an obvious money-maker for the social media platform that has long relied on advertising for most of its revenue. Digital intelligence platform Similarweb analyzed how many people signed up for Twitter Blue on their desktop computers and only detected 116,000 confirmed sign-ups last month, which at $8 or $11 per month does not represent a major revenue stream. The analysis did not count accounts bought via mobile apps. After buying San Francisco-based Twitter for $44 billion in October, Musk has been trying to boost the struggling platform's revenue by pushing more people to pay for a premium subscription. But his move also reflects his assertion that the blue verification marks have become an undeserved or "corrupt" status symbol for elite personalities, news reporters and others granted verification for free by Twitter's previous leadership. Twitter began tagging profiles with a blue check mark starting about 14 years ago. Along with shielding celebrities from impersonators, one of the main reasons was to provide an extra tool to curb misinformation coming from accounts impersonating people. Most "legacy blue checks," including the accounts of politicians, activists and people who suddenly find themselves in the news, as well as little-known journalists at small publications around the globe, are not household names. One of Musk's first product moves after taking over Twitter was to launch a service granting blue checks to anyone willing to pay $8 a month. But it was quickly inundated by impostor accounts, including those impersonating Nintendo, pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Musk's businesses Tesla and SpaceX, so Twitter had to temporarily suspend the service days after its launch. The relaunched service costs $8 a month for web users and $11 a month for users of its iPhone or Android apps. Subscribers are supposed to see fewer ads, be able to post longer videos and have their tweets featured more prominently.