United Airlines has suspended its Twitter ad spend. That’s not surprising, it’s the most woke of the major carriers in an industry that’s simultaneously one of the most carbon-intensive and most virtue-signaling.
Most of the companies pulling their ad spend are spinning it as caution in the face of uncertainty over what the platform will look like under Elon Musk’s ownership (little has actually changed so far other than a vibe shift), and major corporations are certainly risk-averse, but at the same time how much of it is really just a pullback in ad spend more generally in the face of broader risk to the economy? For United, though, that explanation seems less likely as at least outward statements by travel executives have remained so bullish (in my view overly so).
I certainly feel badly for the half of Twitter employees who were laid off. Several thoughts,
- Twitter has been a money-losing enterprise. Twitter needs to generate a billion dollars a year just to cover interest on debt used to finance Musk’s acquisition. Cost cuts are as much part of the equation as revenue generation to make this possible.
- Twitter’s workforce seems to have been mind-boggingly bloated, with programmers who did little programming and staff doing this other than creating value for the business.
- For all of the talk about how sudden it was, and all the talk about lawsuits, Twitter employees let go are being given more severance than required and not being required to work. It’s hardly the generous tone struck by Stripe but Stripe is profitable.
The layoff email from Twitter is the first email in history that should have been a meeting.
— Chris Bakke (@ChrisJBakke) November 4, 2022
- However doing these layoffs so quickly may have been a huge mistake, this many this quickly almost certainly means making many mistakes and losing some of the best talent in the process. Maybe ‘shock and awe’ is part of the turnaround strategy but would waiting a few weeks to figure out whom to fire and not just that to fire have been worse?
Twitter’s cost cuts won’t help if revenue dries up, but ad spend is likely drying up in social media anyway. Facebook’s problems seem just as great as Twitter’s, though Facebook starts from a base of far more revenue. Remember that Twitter was troubled and underperforming when Musk took over!
And while the consensus seems to be that Musk’s approach has been haphazard, and ‘destroying’ the platform he just spend $44 billion to buy, everybody has been talking about Twitter. It’s managed to capture a large piece of the national conversation even in the days leading up to midterm elections, during war in Ukraine, and as the economy teeters amidst inflation and higher interest rates. Musk makes Twitter focal, so I’m not sure he’s doing quite as badly as most people imagine.
Ironically given Musk’s public statements in advance of buying Twitter, one of the least-touched groups of employees (led by one of the most anti-Trump executives at the company) is.. content moderation. Could they be necessary for a pivot to porn?
Yesterday’s reduction in force affected approximately 15% of our Trust & Safety organization (as opposed to approximately 50% cuts company-wide), with our front-line moderation staff experiencing the least impact.
— Yoel Roth (@yoyoel) November 4, 2022
I have no idea what the future holds for Twitter. It was a bloated laggard under CEO Parag Agrawal and before. Musk is blowing things up, and that will either go very well or very badly. But it will be more interesting and more focal for awhile in either case. It seems like a mistake to walk away rather than to be a part of it, at least a little bit even if you’re hedging your bets elsewhere int he meantime.
Are you really that desperate for traffic that you need to sink to the level or fox news, msnbc, breitbart & co and label everything woke etc? Be better. Jeez
Using woke in this context is just lazy clickbait. Sadly not uncommon these days for VFTW.
@Darin – considering United’s explicit efforts over the past two years, including getting involved in California politics over affirmative action, I stand by my characterizastion
Elon Musk has only himself to blame for all of this. Musk for opening his mouth in the first place. It’s not the beginning, but definitely the end of Twitter. It can’t succeed as a mainstream social media platform if opened up to every form of free speech that he and others believe that they have. Yes, speak your mind. Yes, disagree. But no company wants to see its ad running next to a tweet that is advocating hate, discrimination, and violence. And you’re right. Corporations are cutting back on advertising and Twitter is an easy choice to cut back. Take a back seat and see what happens. But I do think that Twitter could succeed at one thing. And that is finally driving a stake into tRumps platform. Actually, Twitter could become the Republican right-wing platform. Of course, it will be boring. It will just be them patting themselves on the back for hating anything that is not just like them. You can’t have a successful social media platform without both sides disagreeing. That’s what drives viewers to engage and then of course to see the advertising. And advertising and money is all that it’s really about anyway.
Gary, can you define “woke” in the article? The word “woke” has turned into a pejorative that basically means “anything that changes the world in any way that I don’t like.”
What do you mean by woke, Gary?
United is “woke”. So the term ks absolutely appropriate. I’m not a member of a political party— but it seems as if the Twitter-Left thinks they can impose their religion and dictionary, among other things, on anyone (and their children). Thankfully the Twitter-Left is not the entirety of the Dem Party— there are many truly liberals left despite the fact that they are shouted down and out routinely.
Don’t feel bad for Twitter employees. They are or were overwhelming leftist bigots who used their positions to persecute and prevent free speech. They used their positions to ban or encourage people be banned for stating actual facts. Feel bad that they will receive severance and will continue on pushing hate of freedom.
The United Airline management is toxic and has no business being in those positions. Republican states should be banning their state employees from traveling on United for official business and Republican states that own UA stock through pension funds or whatever should be suing United for breaching their fiduciary duty by participating in one sided bias that alienates passengers and businesses. Republican states should also pass laws that ban management of public companies from violating the interests of minority shareholders by engaging in politics when business and earning money should be the only purpose of a public company.
@Robert,
Your understanding of truth is not the truth as you imagine. Twitter was filled with bots and hateful comments under CEO Parag. So many stories that they claimed as disinformation or false were all proved wrong(remember NYPost news about Jr Biden, COVID origin, Russia collusion etc) Sadly many woke liberals are embodiment of dictatorship. They cannot tolerate anything or anyone with opposing views. Most liberals want complete authority of everything(exact definition of dictatorship) or else they will throw tantrums.
I believe in having opposing views as that gives an opportunity for me to learn and correct myself if I’m incorrect or to correct those who misunderstood.
Perhaps the moniker “anti-woke” should be applied to your postings. From a business perspective, what long-term value is delivered to United by removing an advertiser during the Twitter upheaval? They are a small player in online advertising, they don’t offer access to a unique segment of the population (their audience can be easily reached on platforms). Why would United want to take the risk?
@HT Woke is those who like to stay angry and like to stay woke(read past of wake), that’s exactly what’s happening now with United. What changed at Twitter other than employees being fired?
$220 billion man who just fired 3700 Americans needs your $8 to turn a profit. Can you spare the price of one cup of coffee to help a billionaire sell your free speech back to you?
More clickbait from right wing Gary.
California has a higher GDP per capita than Texas. It makes sense to focus on that as a company with two hubs in CA and with significant service to the Asia-Pac region. Any smart business pays attention to key regions.
But yeah, Gary can’t help it. He’s been indoctrinated into the right wing echo chamber since moving to Texas years ago and it shows more everyday in View From The (Right) Wing.
Gary are you and/or the Boarding Area group looking into including your content on alternative services like Mastodon?
Clickbait trash.
Wow. The woke censorship crowd is out in full force in this comments section to stifle debate.
For all your Woke readers Gary, which seem to be a very happy bunch given their comments.
Two words for them: November Eight
Another reason NOT to fly United.
Gary is totally correct. They are in fact the most “woke” airline, and wokeness includes suppressing opinions of people you don’t like. That part is obvious if you just open your ears. Why is anyone disagreeing about this?
The majority of people let go from twitter belonged to the teams that promote or downgrade tweets, the team that famously blocked private messages and posts that discussed the laptop story (now proven true according to NYT), and non-technical staff that otherwise govern policy at twitter. It is totally natural that new management would replace or eliminate them when going in a new direction. They are also being paid until Feb. and have skills that will land them on their feet.
For those saying this is the end of the twitter, twitter was dying a slow death before.
@Gary Leff “I stand by my characterizastion [sic]”
And you continue to be the captain of team wrong.
Woke companies like United obviously didn’t wait to see what will happen at Twitter. A better choice would have been to see how Twitter turns out. Instead, they pulled ads to punish Twitter and Mr. Musk because they are offended somehow.
The idea that any of y’all think a large corporation can be “woke” is hilarious and sad. Truly that word has now lost all meaning except to be thrown around as a verbal cudgel in superficial political opinions.
Lazy and biased writing. I don’t come here to be insulted by your political perspective. You can make the same argument without using language that is inteded to label and divide.
As someone who works in the Digital Ads space, this has ZERO to do with politics. Brands spend a fortune to associate themselves with appropriate content. That is one reason why news is really struggling as a category, because so many brands won’t run ads against crime/war content, etc… Brand won’t run ads on any digital platform that doesn’t adhere to strict brand safety guidlines. Given Elon’s erratic behavior and the demonstrably clearly rapid increase of hate speech on Twitter this week, no brand in their right mind is going to advertise on there right now. Especially now that Elon has pivoted to bullying advertisers with his latest incendiary language.
I hope and expect better from you Gary.
A new broom sweeps clean. I personally do not use Twitter, but getting rid of all of the biased employees can only give Twitter a better foundation as Musk rebuilds it. Unlike many, I prefer to see what the finished product is before commenting as to it’s value.
Governments are large corporations’ real customers. Just like China won’t do business with a company who claims Taiwan is a separate country or with the NBA if an owner bashes it, the US government/ state governments have so much money now and regulate so much of society (see national debt in last decade), corporations need daddy democrats bail outs/“ look the other direction on regulations” to exist. Since 90% of DC and fed government employees are dems, it’s no surprise what corporations are gonna say when it comes to aborting babies or black nationalist movements- they know not to bite the hand that feeds them
@Gary,
Seriously? Why is a company that expresses a different opinion that you labeled with a pejorative term? This article isn’t even about travel, but rather the machinations of Elon Musk over at Twitter.
I agree: I expect better.
United = Woke
Delta = Woke
American Airlines = Woke
Alaska Air = Woke
Interesting that “woke” is now considered pejorative by some who (presumably) support woke activities. I have many woke friends who talked about being woke for YEARS before it entered the popular lexicon. It never bothered them to talk use the word “woke” when talking about each other and their efforts to push certain social and political agendas.
Good for United.
Another dumb clickbait headline from Gary. Shocking.
Good for United. The radical, fascist right love to throw the word “woke” around at anything and everything they don’t agree with. So glad I left America for good when I did. Awful place.
Gary should be BANNED from flying United Airlines instead. That’ll teach him a lesson. Stick to AA Gary, perfect garbage carrier fit for the mentality of someone like you!
@ Gary: Well done.
@ BlackHill: Precisely.
@GaryLeff
You are correct about United being woke.
In the era of printing money and getting endless “bailouts” has resulted in a corporate class that carries water for the power structure. Providing a product/service is secondary to the woke religion.
AMEX is even worse than United. They told me they were hurting for money when I insisted on a reasonable refund yet they had no issue giving millions to a communist front organization in 2020 that led to its organizers living like Lenin.
“Woke United Airlines”
Give me a break. This is what I will NEVER understand from you right-wingers…when a company does something that you *perceive* to be political, you ALWAYS immediately go to woke or snowflake.
Meanwhile, when a company or person you happen to agree with does something controversial, you ALWAYS say “it’s their first amendment right, whether you agree with it or not”.
Remember, remember, the 8th of November. Independence Day II.
BTW… completely off topic but can someone point me to info on the laptop? And what what was found and who has it?
General Motors, Volkswagen, Audi, Pfizer, General Mills, Oreo maker Mondelez International, and others have stopped ads on Twitter. IPG, one of the world’s largest advertising agencies, has stopped Twitter. This week, Publicis Groupe SA, an ad agency giant that works with companies such as Anheuser-Busch InBev and Samsung might recommend stopping ads on Twitter. What shall we call these companies and ad agencies?
Adidas, Balanciaga, Foot Locker, Gap, JP Morgan Chase, Peloton, TJ Maxx, just to name a few, have all severed ties with Kanye West based on his antisemitic comments. What shall we call these companies? The NBA has fined a Brooklyn player for antisemitic comments. What shell we call the NBA?
Nowadays, virtually every major corporation’s ads feature individuals who are not Caucasian, who are in multi-racial/ethnic relationships, who have mixed-race children, and who are impliedly in homosexual relationships. What shall we call these companies?
What shall we call individuals who speak out against the two youths in Brooklyn who beat to death a grandmother simply because she’s Asian?
Just askin’.
For those who are not students of history, it is worth noting that the Nazi Party used the terms awake, awaken, woke, and woken in propaganda to create a sense of self-worth among the German people (in the context of WWI reparations humiliating and crushing the German self-image).
Would love to see Gary try to define what he thinks “woke” means.
Disappointed to see this politically charged slang on VFTW.
I think Twitter will bounce back once all the bots are removed and more truth is revealed. As for UA; I do everything I can to avoid them and will take a flight on AA that arrives after 10pm instead one that arrives at 6pm to do so. Corporations need to keep their political views to themselves.
You have absolutely No Idea Why United has pulled out of Twitter. Woke is a right wing catch all for everything (including free speech) that they don’t like. The right wing is a lying bunch of snakes these days. From: No longer a republican-
@ Sco: Everyone knows what woke is and, if you don’t, you’re part of the problem.
I agree it should be illegal to not give money to the world’s richest man.
Let’s cut to why United really is doing this – to disconnect itself further from its customers and their ability to communicate with United when needed.
Just as with United’s vax mandate that they quietly withdrew when they started needing pilots, United will cut off its own nose and then backtrack quietly.
Along with many other companies.
If a channel has been effective at what the company used it for – primarily to communicate – then it is beyond stupid to cut it off because of a change of owners.
This move says more about the stupidity of United and GM and other companies’ managements than about any political ideology.
1KBrad, SCO was not suggesting he himself doesn’t know what “woke” means (and needs to be enlightened). SCO asked what Gary thinks “woke” means. There’s a difference.
@ Lee: Sco was preaching. As the woke do.
His response was arrogant and frankly stupid.
United is neither “woke” nor anythign else. They’re a company looking to maximize their profits and reviewing their advertising accordingly. If Twitter now allows groups they don’t wish to be associated with, that’s within their rights, and sensical. This was a LCD article
Lefties HATE it when their world view in challenges. The only way these woke nazi can spread their propaganda is when their opinions are the only ones that are presented it’s why everyone as they get older and wiser rejects left wing nonense.
This week we will see the GOP make their biggest gains in decades because the american people are sick of the cultural marxism.
They won’t be able to steal this one.
@Uncle Jeff
the only reasons CA has such a robust economy is because of the decades of GOP pro business’ growth. But Texas is taking away all their companies because people can’t even go to their cars without being assaulted.
@Dom
actually we’re the majority as you will see on nov 8th,
@Thing 1
Thats because lefties have no shame or self-awarness.
Remember united had a drag show in their terminal.
United also thinks men can become women and gleefully attack womens rights by promoting so-called “Trans right”.
Don’t feel too bad about it. Once the $8 blue checks come online, we can all be United Airlines! Sure I can help you with rescheduling that flight! Please give me your credit card number and login information.
Lefties are losing their echochambers and they can’t stand it.