Twitter and its Like to Trump

The world is a constant machine that generates news of all kinds. For this reason, it’s rare the occasion in which some media interest manages to transcend a couple of days and stay longer; it’s something only reserved for huge events, whether positive or negative, and mainly associated with politics, unfortunately, almost always associated with its worst expression. Oh, and for a month, so will soccer... but I'm not here to talk about sports.

The last few weeks have been an example of what I mentioned above, when certain events made the headlines in the “big international press” and then lost media attention.

This is the case of the outcome of the purchase of Twitter by Elon Musk. We watched until boredom the dance of the 44 billion dollars at stake for that operation, the debates around Musk's statements about new policies that he would assume, threats to charge for services until then free, and the dismissal of the entire Board of Directors of the company.

It’s also the more recent case of the aspirations of former President Donald Trump to return to the White House. By launching his candidacy, Trump tried to close the chapter on a mid-term election that, although it evidenced progress for his party in various political arenas, was far from the results expected by donkeys and elephants (I clarify that I’m not offending anyone: those pets represent respectively Democrats and Republicans).

As expected, both news soon languished, since no one in the audience was going to receive a dollar from the sale of Twitter, nor did Trump's dreamt comeback take those who follow his public life by surprise. But as a whim, this weekend Twitter and Trump were in the news again – just as ephemeral, but news nonetheless – due to an event that involved them both.

It turns out that Musk launched a survey from his Twitter profile, which showed that 52% of the more than 15 million users who voted did so in favor of Twitter rehabilitating the former president's account. And, consequently, this is how the social network of the little blue bird proceeded. Pretending to identify who wins with this decision would be tempting speculation, especially when there are immediate repercussions such as the drop in the company's shares or the withdrawal of some sponsors. However, the collapse of these shares creates an ideal scenario for them to change ownership, and Twitter continues to be a highly competitive organization with a global reach and where each profile is a potential consumer, so new sponsors will soon fill in.

In any case, nobody should be surprised if both —Musk and Trump— emerge as beneficiaries in this context. Under a shared vision of egos, and of economic and political projects, Twitter would do well for the former president to resume the platform as his personal spokesperson, considering that the one created by him (Truth Social) has not quite caught on with audiences and users; simply, the metrics and the traffic that any controversy around Trump can generate, would favor the positioning and the shares on the company's stock market.

For his part, Trump, with his sights set on the 2024 presidential elections, has just recovered 87 million followers. Although the results of recent elections suggest that he has lost influence and weight in his party, he maintains not inconsiderable levels, enough to prevail in the primaries or so that, even losing, he has to be taken into account in the party's strategy. As an interesting fact, the figure who aims to be his main Republican contender, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, does not reach 4 million followers on Twitter. The truth is that Trump remains alive in the political landscape of the United States, and he already knows what Twitter can represent in the battles ahead.

Let’s hope that in the next few days the media maelstrom will again displace Trump and Musk. Let's hope that, for a change, it will be with happier and more hopeful news. By the way, one could be that Twitter restores the hundreds of profiles of Cuban revolutionary cyber activists that were blocked weeks ago, or that it eliminates the discriminatory treatment of the media and officials who identify with the Russian and Cuban governments; or that Trump announces that he will change the policy of his previous term towards Havana. All in all, there are likes and news that are not allowed to click.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / Cubasi Translation Staff