Narrative Trends for Elon Musk, the Newest Twitter Exec
A brief narrative analysis of Elon Musk’s recent $3 billion dollar investment in Twitter, and his joining of the social giant’s board of directors
Elon Musk’s impact on Twitter just became more substantial than ever. The billionaire’s tweets have historically been consequential, with a single tweet sending entire markets into flux. Now, Musk is the single largest shareholder in Twitter, with a $3 billion dollar investment.
Kudzu Narrative Intelligence is tracking the media’s reaction to Musk’s investment via a narrative brief analyzing over 800 stories.
Among the top keywords with 222 mentions was the term “free speech,” a clear point of interest for Musk, who has been frequently critical of Twitter’s censorship. This explains another top keyword: “intense critic.”
Of the 848 unique narratives amplified from April 3rd to 8th, around half (396) of them occurred on April 5th, the day after the announcement.
In the subsequent days, more keywords began to emerge surrounding Musk as a board member, with Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal’s tweets welcoming him to the board cracking the top mentions (“bring great value” and “improvements to Twitter”).
Speaking of improvements, the 180 mentions of “edit button” show that already media outlets are focusing on Musks’ input into the decision-making process on Twitter. The edit button, of course, refers to Elon’s tweet on April 4th in which he ran a poll asking whether or not users would want an edit feature on the platform.
Elon Musk’s tenure at Twitter has just begun, but it is clear that U.S. news media will scrutinize his every move. This Kudzu Narrative Intelligence brief will update routinely as the narrative of Musk and Twitter shifts over time.
