Twitter, the popular social media platform that recently fell under the helm of tech billionaire Elon Musk, has been making headlines for a series of technical challenges and radical policy changes. Here’s a comprehensive look into what’s happening at Twitter and how these developments might shape its future.
Musk’s Limitations on Tweet Consumption
One of the most significant changes to the platform is the imposition of limits on the number of tweets users can read per day. Verified users, who pay a monthly fee of £6 (equivalent to the announced $8), can now view a maximum of 6,000 tweets daily. Unverified users have to make do with a drastically reduced limit of 600 tweets per day. Newly registered, unverified users face an even more stringent cap, with a daily allowance of just 300 tweets. Musk later increased these limits to 10,000, 1,000, and 500, respectively.
The Battle Against Data Scraping
The rationale behind these temporary limitations, according to Musk, is to counter ‘extreme levels of data scraping’ from multiple organisations and to prevent system manipulation. Data scraping is a significant concern, particularly for a platform like Twitter that deals with vast amounts of user-generated data daily. However, the identities of the organisations allegedly involved in such practices and the specifics of the system manipulation claims remain undisclosed.
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Technical Hiccups or Self-sabotage?
While Musk lays the blame on external entities, some developers suggest that Twitter’s woes are largely self-inflicted. According to them, the main issue appears to be a bug within Twitter’s web app that sends requests to the platform in a relentless loop, causing service disruptions.
Effects on the User Experience
Regardless of the cause, these changes and technical issues have had significant implications for Twitter users. The limitations on tweet consumption resulted in tens of thousands of users encountering a ‘rate limit exceeded’ error message when trying to update their feeds. Moreover, Twitter started restricting access to users who weren’t logged in, further impacting the user experience.
Competition on the Horizon?
As Twitter grapples with these challenges, rumblings about potential competition are adding another layer of intrigue. Reports suggest that social media behemoth Meta is planning to launch a rival to Twitter. If true, this development could significantly impact Twitter’s standing in the social media landscape and potentially influence its strategy going forward.
A Pivotal Moment for Twitter
Twitter’s journey under Musk’s leadership is turning out to be a tumultuous one. As the platform navigates these obstacles and implements unprecedented changes, the question remains how this will shape Twitter’s future and the experience of its millions of users worldwide. With potential competition on the horizon, Twitter’s actions in the coming months will be closely watched and could determine its trajectory in an ever-evolving social media landscape.
