Intense Interviews & Horrible Bosses
5 in 5 - Brave & Heart HeartBeat #151 ❤️
This week we’re digging a bit deeper into Elon Musk’s snap interview with the BBC, does he understand what misinformation is, and is his dog actually the brains behind new Twitter?
We’re also taking a peek at women in coding and seeing how benefits packages can be personalised to keep talent happier for longer.
Let’s get into it.
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#1 BBC’s Last-Minute Interview With Musk Himself
When BBC correspondent James Clayton sent an email to Elon Musk correcting the label he’d just added which described BBC as “government funded media”, explaining to him that the BBC is actually funded by a licence fee paid by the public, he didn’t expect to get a reply from Musk himself, never mind an exclusive interview that night.
When he replied to Musk’s email asking for an interview on his first six months as Twitter boss, he replied “Sure, how about tonight?”. He also insisted the interview be broadcast on Twitter Spaces. Say what you want about Musk, you never know what he’s going to do next. Bill Gates could never.
The interview was predictably odd, covering subjects from misinformation, AI, and his love life. His answers were described as “at times, absurd”, like when he said his dog is the one actually running twitter.
He gave his hot take on whether TikTok should be banned, noting that while it would be good for Twitter but he’s generally against banning things.
He denied that hate speech had spiked on Twitter since his takeover, defended ending Trump’s Twitter ban while admitting that he voted for Biden, and said that he would turn down an offer to sell Twitter for the same price he bought it for.
He patted himself on the back for the current financial situation at Twitter, which he claims is now breaking even – unsurprisingly, firing almost everyone who works for you probably does cut costs.
Should we drop him an email, see if he’ll give us an exclusive too?
#2 - So What About Hate Speech?
Now, as noted above, Musk denied that there is more hate speech and misinformation on Twitter since his takeover. When the BBC reporter James Clayton suggested that the former had risen since he has been in charge, Musk asked him to give specific examples.
When he couldn’t, possibly because the interview had been planned about fifteen minutes in advance, Musk accused him of not knowing what he was talking about, and lying. Harsh.
So, who’s right?
Well, both in-depth studies and anecdotal evidence suggest that hate speech has in fact been growing under Musk.
Previously banned accounts which have been reinstated include Andrew Anglin, founder of neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer, and Liz Crokin, one of the biggest names in QAnon who uses her platform to spew conspiracy nonsense at an alarming rate.
New rules around the blue tick have also seen some pretty not cool people take advantage, for example one account with a racial slur literally in their username managed to buy a blue tick, along with a neo-Nazi who simply tweets videos of himself reciting Mein Kampf. Bet Clayton wishes he’d had those written down on a little notepad before the interview.
Research shows that anti-semitic tweets doubled from June 2022 to February 2023, with takedowns of such content increasing but not being able to keep up, and that the use of all slurs on the platform have increased substantially since Elon Musk has been at the helm.
So, that’s a tick on hate speech.
#3 And Misinformation?
While Musk claims that there is actually less misinformation, again, outside experts disagree. An early study showed that engagement with popular accounts spreading misinformation spiked after his takeover – in the week following there was an almost 60% increase in engagement with these accounts.
While Musk states that his effort to delete bots has decreased misinformation and that the community notes feature where users can comment and add context to tweets will also be helpful in getting the ever so important truth out there, the question of what the truth actually is seems to be problematic on Twitter.
The issue here may be that Musk doesn’t actually know what misinformation is. He states that he prefers “ordinary people” to information from journalists – you know, people whose job it is to bring us correct information.
During the interview he literally took part in misinformation himself, stating that the BBC had not reported on Covid vaccine side effects, which they in fact had, being a trusted news source ran by impartial journalists.
Again then, a tick on misinformation.
#4 - The Women Turning From Burnout To Coding
A recent news story put the spotlight on women who have left roles which had left them feeling burnt out and underappreciated to become self-taught coders, making moves to bridge the gender gap still evident in tech jobs.
Interestingly, the two women interviewed were switching from traditionally feminine jobs, teaching and healthcare, into coding, and both mentioned feeling burnt out and underappreciated in their previous roles.
Both women stated that they didn’t originally see themselves working in tech, due to it being a bit more of a boy’s club, with one taking the plunge to take a 14-day bootcamp on coding after reading an article about another young woman who had become a coder. How meta…
Statistics show that the gender gap is in fact getting smaller. In 2021 there were 15,000 more women working as programmers and software developers in the UK than in the previous year, and the number of women working as web designers increased by almost 10,000.
And while one of the women interviewed noted that her current team is all men, she’s taken the first step in changing that.
#5 - Getting Creative With Benefits
When Biden announced he would forgive student loan debt there was a collective sigh of relief. When he announced he would forgive student loan debt UP TO 20,000 dollars, there was a collective “oh dear” as they realised it wasn’t going to be enough.
However, employers are now catching on and trying to sweeten the deal for recruitment and retention for university, or “college” grads, by starting to include student loan repayment in their strategies.
A report from ASA which surveyed 500 employees aged 22 – 33 confirmed the negative effect that student loans have on the focus, long-term financial planning and overall well-being of young people. Because of that, 86% of them would commit to a company that helped pay their student loans for a minimum of five years.
In a context where quitting is cool, and young employees are becoming less and less loyal to employers, a long-term benefit such as student loan repayment is changing the game.
The takeaway? Companies shouldn’t choose from the same old set of classic benefits, and nor should they only focus on the short-term flashy benefits – a long term strategy may be the key to retaining younger talent.
Brave & Heart over and out.
Bonus
Worst Boss of The Week Award
Shark Tank judge Barbara Corcoran, basically the US’s answer to Deborah Meaden from Dragons Den, is in hot water this week after making some pretty terrible comments.
She said that she loves firing people on Fridays, and “couldn’t wait” to fire people on Friday afternoons after sowing the seeds of doubt in their minds earlier on in the week.
How nice!
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