Twitter’s new CEO is here to put a ‘LinkedIn’ corporate-speak spin on Elon Musk’s vision

If there was any question as to whether a new CEO would take Elon Musk’s Twitter in a new direction, it was answered on Monday.

And that answer, at least as understood by the Twitter user base, is no.

Linda Yaccarino, Twitter’s new CEO, addressed her employees in a company-wide email Monday. And soon after snippets of the email began circulating online, Yaccarino Posted(opens in a new tab) an amended version of the letter in a multi-tweet thread on her account.

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Reviewing Yaccarino’s memo, it seems pretty clear that this is still about Elon Musk’s company and Elon Musk’s vision. Twitter owner, CEO and CTO Elon Musk remains primarily responsible for what is happening. And it’s not just Musk’s vision that’s selling Yaccarino. In her own first letter to employees, she even explicitly washes the myth of Musk.

“Elon knew space exploration and electric vehicles needed a change, so he did it,” wrote Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino. “It’s also becoming clear that the global city needs transformation – to advance civilization through unfiltered information sharing and open dialogue about the things that matter most to us.”

“Have you ever spoken to someone who is particularly insightful and thinks you should have the freedom to speak your mind,” Yaccarino continued. “We all should. Enter Twitter 2.0.”

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This is basically Musk’s talk of protecting Twitter from the “wake mind virus” and his arguments for “expanding the light of consciousness” wrapped in LinkedIn post-style corporate language. What does that mean realistically? Who knows, and Yaccarino’s contribution has done little to explain what that vision actually entails from her own perspective. The only thing that has really changed in terms of content on Twitter since Elon Musk took power was a spread of Twitter spam(opens in a new tab)bots and hate speech(opens in a new tab). Was this the transformation that old Twitter 1.0 needed? It’s one that has led to one great loss of advertising revenue for the company.

“The success of Twitter 2.0 is our responsibility,” Yaccarino tweeted, which probably worked better if emailed to Twitter staff. Users of the platform who are not paid by the company and do not have a skin in the game here understood this in a completely different way.

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“No, it’s your responsibility” answered(opens in a new tab) Author and public relations expert Ed Zitron.

Yaccarino, a former advertising executive for NBCUniversal, was rented appointed by Elon Musk last month to fill his role as CEO of Twitter. Highly regarded in advertising, Yaccarino appears to have been brought on board by Musk Help save Twitter’s fledgling advertising business, which is Twitter’s main source of income.

Yaccarino only took up her role as Twitter CEO last week, so it remains to be seen if she can pull it off. But her positive, brand-friendly tone in her pitch to users and advertisers on Twitter is in stark contrast to Musk’s.

For example on Friday, Yaccarino Posted(opens in a new tab) a tweet saying “everyone is invited” to Twitter 2.0 and calling on brands to say “#PartnerWithUs”. On the same day, her boss, Elon Musk, hosted one tweet(opens in a new tab) Marathon mocking(opens in a new tab) Transgender and Gender Identity.

Linda Yaccarino’s full email can be seen below and was received by The forget(opens in a new tab):

Building Twitter 2.0 together

Hello Twitter!

People keep asking me: Why Twitter? So I’ll tell you.

From space exploration to electric vehicles, Elon knew these industries needed change, so he did. More recently, it has become increasingly clear that the global city needs transformation – to advance civilization through the unfiltered exchange of information and open dialogue about the things that matter most to us.

Have you ever spoken to someone who was particularly insightful and thoughtful: You are brilliant – everyone should get a chance to hear that. Or, I am learning so much from you – can we do this again? Or maybe it’s as simple as: You should be free to express your opinion. We should all do that.

Enter Twitter 2.0.

Twitter’s mission is to become the world’s most accurate, real-time information source and a global marketplace for communications. We are on the brink of making history – and that’s no empty promise. That is OUR Reality.

When you begin to wrap your arms around this powerful vision, literally anything is possible. You have to really believe – and work hard for that belief. And in this moment of total reinvention, we have an opportunity to step down the aisles, forge new partnerships, celebrate new voices, and together build something that can change the world. And as far as I can tell so far You are made for this.

The success of Twitter 2.0 is our responsibility.

We have to think large.

We must transform.

We have to do it all together.

And we can accomplish all of this by starting with first principles—challenging our assumptions and building something new from the ground up. It’s rare to have the chance to put a new future in the hands of every human, partner and creator on the planet.

That’s why I’m here – with everything YOU.

So, let’s put our feet in (4 inches or flat!) and build Twitter 2.0 together.

linda