Twitter 2.0 Update: Messing With How Journalists DM Sources

On June 12, Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino declared in a thread that “Twitter 2.0” is on a “mission to become the world’s most accurate real-time information source and a global town square for communication.” 

“That’s not an empty promise,” she reassured.  Well, thus far it seems as if this “global town square” is actually just becoming a small, cluttered arena for the loudest and most brash conservatives (the latest episode of “Tucker on Twitter” has been viewed millions of times). With glitches, lack of content moderation, an abrasive approach to press relations, and confusing changes to its verification policy, it’s hard to imagine how the app can get worse for journalists. But we can all count on Elon Musk to really screw things up!

Last week, Twitter Daily News, announced that the platform is “working on limiting the ability to send DMs to people who don’t follow you to Verified (Blue) users only.” In other words, if you don’t pay $8 a month for Twitter Blue, you won’t be able to DM anyone who doesn’t follow you. Musk claimed that this change would mitigate “AI bot” activity and Twitter Daily News also described it as a way of combating “DM spam.” A lack of transparency at the company leaves us all — besides a few people in San Francisco — wondering whether any of that is true. The company’s value has decreased by 66 percent since Musk’s takeover, according to Fortune. 

Getting more and more people to use Twitter Blue could possibly be a way to squeeze out as many dollars from users while he can. Yes, Twitter is for shitposts and memes and discourse over innocuous cultural artifacts that won’t survive a nuclear apocalypse, such as The Idol. But it’s also a tool for media workers to promote themselves and connect with sources who may want to be discreet. Musk’s DM changes put journalists in a difficult position: to fully benefit from Twitter as a tool for finding and reaching out to potential sources, you’d have to pay $8 a month. It’s unlikely that newsrooms would change their minds about paying for Twitter Blue. If this horrible idea comes to fruition, it can be yet another instance of Grimes’s ex-boo twisting the arms of media companies just because he feels like it.   

As the platform becomes more conservative, subscribing to Twitter Blue could potentially be seen as a political endorsement. Still, Mashable notes that buying a subscription to the platform seems like the only way to use it with ease. 

Maybe, as Twitter collapses, we as journalists will have to move on from the platform altogether and instead of sending DMs, will go back to the basics: picking up the phone and doing a good old fashioned cold call. 

Or, sources can send over carrier pigeons with scoops written on parchment. I don’t know. Just spitballing.

 

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