Don't panic, Twitter advertisers -- it's still worth it

A reality check is in order. There are upsides and downsides to Musk’s Twitter experiment, but there is absolutely no need to go overboard with our reactions – positive or negative. The First Amendment remains very much alive in America. Twitter remains very much a robust social media platform, where public discourse is still engaging and mostly healthy (emphasis on mostly). Since Musk took over Twitter, user growth has actually picked up, so Americans remain largely receptive to Twitter discourse.

Musk needs time to act and the general public needs to be patient. As Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings recently said at The New York Times’ 2022 DealBook Summit, “Can you give the guy a break? This guy just spent all this money trying to make things better for democracy and society, to have a more open platform, and I am sympathetic to that agenda.” …

To the extent that Twitter users are optimistic about Musk’s takeover, they look forward to his planned defense of free speech across the political spectrum. Left, right, and middle, Americans believe in a Twitter that upholds the First Amendment, rejecting the impulse to censor content or stifle speech in a partisan manner. Indeed, 84% of Americans claim free speech on social media is important, a view that Musk seemingly shares.

A more open landscape can benefit advertisers, expanding the range of possibilities for ad content while empowering them to communicate with larger and more diverse target audiences of U.S. consumers. In the future, Twitter ads may be more creative and perhaps even more provocative, transcending the confines of Silicon Valley groupthink that once permeated the platform.