The on-again-off-again twitter takeover by Tesla owner Elon Musk has left employees at Twitter questioning their job security. The news of Musk buying Twitter resurfaced earlier this week and was disclosed to employees while they were in a planning meeting for 2023. A lot of employees took their frustration and despair to Twitter and other social media platforms saying, “they were just along for the ride.”  Most employees were not surprised by this news because they said to have adjusted their thoughts to expect nothing from musk and not make predictions at all.  A direct tweet from Twitter’s ML Ethics, Transparency, and Accountability Team said, “Living the plot of succession is fucking exhausting.” Parker Lyons, a senior financial analyst at Twitter, tweeted a meme lamenting the company’s 2023 objectives as being “worthless” now. At Twitter, they promote a vocally progressive workforce, and with the change in leadership, most fear that they will be able to have a healthy conversation.

By offering a real, authentic look at a company’s culture and the day-to-day experiences inside it, employees could serve as a brand’s greatest advocate. The Twitter policy says you must think before you tweet, consider the context, avoid abuse, report abuse, etc. However, they are not transparent about the dos and don’ts for their employees. Employees need to understand the impacts that their actions on social media can have on their fellow employers. The majority of the employees at Twitter have gone on record to say they’ll leave the company if Mr. Musk takes over. Some workers have already left in anticipation of a takeover. And if the sale closes, you can expect that many more will do the same. I believe that when higher-ranking individuals in the organization say statements like this employees tend to follow without analyzing the situation themselves.  On a platform as big as Twitter there ought to be people whose opinions are poles apart. So, employees openly describing their dissatisfaction or disagreement regarding this organizational change is unavoidable. But are there policies on what you can and cannot tweet as a Twitter employee?

1. If your organization was going through changes like this, would social media play a role in your decision to stay with the company?
2. Should Twitter have a more transparent social- media policy for their employees?
3. Should twitter employees be treated the same as other Twitter users?

 

Sources: 

Nolan, B. (2022, October 5). Twitter employees are venting on social media and in private forums about Elon Musk’s agreement to buy Twitter. Business Insider. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-elon-musk-employees-elon-musk-deal-2022-10

Roose, K. (2022, October 5). Elon Musk’s Twitter will be a wild ride. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/05/technology/elon-musk-twitter-predictions.html

Twitter. (n.d.). How to handle Twitter abuse and how we can help. Twitter. Retrieved October 7, 2022, from https://help.twitter.com/en/safety-and-security/cyber-bullying-and-online-abuse