Elon Musk, the company’s new owner, thanked Twitter staff in a company-wide email on Friday for putting in long hours since he took over on October 28.
Musk claimed to have spent Thursday night at Twitter’s main office in San Francisco. Then he extended an invitation to coworkers who had returned to the San Francisco office after surviving the 50% personnel reduction last week to come visit him.
Twitter’s $7.99 per month Twitter Blue subscription program, which allowed users to pay to obtain a blue verified-subscriber check mark, appears to be suspended overnight. Many users took advantage of the new subscriber badge to mimic companies and well-known individuals who had already obtained a blue check mark through the company’s initial verification process.
Eli Lilly, a well-known maker of pharmaceuticals, Nintendo, and Tesla, Elon Musk’s electric car company, were among the impersonated brands.
According to two current Twitter employees who spoke with CNBC, they were taking calls from clients and coworkers about all the platform changes.
One person claimed that because they had to balance user behavior, safety, and financial impact, Twitter used to make product improvements more gradually and carefully. Advertisers and even the Federal Trade Commission have expressed concern about Musk’s new, more experimental approach.
Additionally, staff members stated Musk’s email raised problems for them and that they sought additional clarification on the company’s new time-off and return-to-office policies. Veterans Day is celebrated on Friday, a national holiday in the United States. Some employees did not anticipate having to report to work, while others are unsure if they still have approved exceptions that will allow them to continue working from home.
According to two employees who spoke with CNBC, the company’s human resources division has not provided them with any official direction.
The previous “work from home forever” policy at Twitter had been reversed by Musk, who announced this to the company’s staff on Wednesday. Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, a close personal friend and collaborator, had instituted the policy.
Here is Musk’s email to Twitter staff on Friday:
From: Elon Musk
Date: Nov. 11, 2022 [time stamp removed]
To: Team at Twitter
Subj. Being There (great movie)
I was at Twitter HQ again until late into the night yesterday and would like to extend a note of appreciation to those who were there with me, as well as those working remotely, some of whom had been up even longer.
To reaffirm, working remotely is fine if you cannot reasonably make it to the office and you are performing at an exceptional level. That said, I am a big believer in the esprit de corps and effectiveness of being physically in the same location.
I will be in the office again today. Stop by the 10th floor if you’d like to talk about taking Twitter to the next level. The priority is near-term actions.
Thanks,
Elon
