Since Elon Musk purchased Twitter — you heard about that? — the richest man on earth has been doing a lot of things with his new toy, including soliciting advice from the public.
Musk just got some free advice from fellow billionaire Mark Cuban, who can charge a great deal for his counsel under normal circumstances. Ask a Shark Tank fan.
But for Musk? Cuban delivered some very detailed feedback for free. Hey, Elon, this check mark verified business isn’t working so smoothly, Cuban offered. He’s a Twitter customer, after all.
@elonmusk, from one entrepreneur to another, for when you have your customer service hat on. I just spent too much time muting all the newly purchased checkmark accts in an attempt to make my verified mentions useful again. Hope this helps.
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) November 10, 2022
When Cuban was challenged by another user about whether he tweeted at Musk because felt dissed by the new setup (“Are you that upset that another elite said you aren’t elite? Does it matter that much? Really?”), the Shark Tank star and NBA owner replied with his customary calm.
No, that’s not it, he explained, I’m giving customer feedback…
@elonmusk, from one entrepreneur to another, for when you have your customer service hat on. I just spent too much time muting all the newly purchased checkmark accts in an attempt to make my verified mentions useful again. Hope this helps.
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) November 10, 2022
Cuban is accustomed to having his words given weight. And no matter who you are, when you give advice it’s gratifying to get a response. Musk didn’t disappoint.
Musk responded to Cuban with a dreaded phrase that anyone who has ever struggled through a tech help conversation has heard plenty. Musk wrote: “It’s working for me.” Ugggh.
The implication that Cuban was too obtuse to correctly perform this operation is plain, but that’s Musk’s style. His autobiography will probably be titled: It’s Working For Me.
After implying that Cuban just didn’t know how to do the simple thing that was working for him, Musk followed on with: “That said, we can definitely make the verified mentions tab more usable.”
More usable. It’s an interesting phrase, especially in the tech world, where usability is often a binary quality — a function is either usable or not.
But it’s also an interesting phrase for another reason: if Musk has been clear about anything, it’s his hope that Twitter becomes broadly more usable — he wants to turn it into a super app. As soon as he’s done with the check mark stuff.
