On Elon vs. Zuck and Elon's use of controversy to maximize media attention

*Sigh*

Okay, let’s talk about the fight between Elon and Zuck.

As you surely recall, in June, X owner Elon Musk tweeted that it would be “ready for a cage matchwith Meta head Mark Zuckerberg, in response to news that Meta was planning to launch a new rival app to X, ahead of the release of Threads. To the surprise of many, Zuckerberg, who has become more into MMA lately, replied that Musk just needed to “Send me the location,” implying that he was indeed ready for a real fight.

What ensued is a ridiculous back-and-forth between the two, as Elon used the potential encounter as a means to attract more attention and, as a result, likely bring more users to X.

A week after this initial exchange, Musk said there was “some chance.” the meeting could take place at the Colosseum in Rome, and hinted that he had spoken to Italian officials about hosting the meeting at the historic venue. Of Italy The Ministry of Culture has denied this.

A week later, Musk re-shared an image of himself training with MMA fighters.

Zuckerberg responded with his workout picture, even with UFC stars:

So both multibillionaires were actually training, which seemed to suggest that the fight could actually happen. Then things went quiet for a few weeks on the Elon v Musk front, as common sense seemed (briefly) to prevail.

Things picked up last week, with Musk detachment which was “llifting weights during the day, preparing for combat”. Elon then claimed the fight would be live streamed on X, with all proceeds going to charity, and further hinted that solid deals were now in place.

But Zuckerberg was quick to deny it and denied all of Musk’s various implications.

Elon has since made that clear he will likely need shoulder surgery before the fight, which will take months to recover, implying quite clearly that all of Musk’s various public statements about the potential fight have been a publicity stunt designed to garner more interest in his fledgling social media empire. Whether or not Musk plans to go ahead with the bout, he’s always known he probably won’t be physically able to take part in it, so really, it’s another part of the Elon circus, which he uses to get attention. of the media, and thus divert it to its various commercial interests.

Who, no matter how you feel about the man, is clearly very good. Throughout his Twitter/X tenure, Musk was able to continue to attract attention, which likely helped buoy the platform’s numbers and keep people coming back to the app.

There’s a reason Tesla doesn’t pay for advertising, because Elon himself is such a lightning rod for the media that he can get mass media coverage of his business without having to pay for it, which is also in line with his approach to advertising. cost minimization management.

Essentially, as noted by Platformer’s Casey Newton, Elon is using the corporate media’s established processes against them to gain mass coverage, whether by extending the truth, outright lying, or simply making up outlandish comments that spark an online frenzy.

According to Newton:

“It is in the nature of business journalism to assume that CEOs of public companies don’t always lie. And it’s inside Mossit is the nature to make frequent and bold statements about its companies, politics, the nature of conscience and so on, all of which are irresistible to publishers.“

Newton suggests that publishers should take a more skeptical approach and question Musk’s outlandish claims more, in order to prevent him from using the mainstream outlets, which he claims he despises, to keep getting more attention.

Which is entirely correct. There is seemingly no prospect that a fight between Elon and Musk could actually happen, yet even people within his extended orbit are now being asked about it in their interviews and media coverage. Just this week, X CEO Linda Yaccarino and his ex-wife Grimes were asked to give their thoughts on the meeting, giving more space to Musk’s latest call for attention, which is clearly working, as I too I’m writing about it.

But I resisted covering it for that reason. It’s not real, it’s not a real thing, and Elon is just using this as the last button to push to trigger the cycle of media hype, and next week it’s going to be one more crazy thing, then another one the week after.

In this sense, Elon seems to have been inspired by Trump’s book on media relations.

Various studies have shown that the only valuable indicator of election success in social media metrics is the volume of mentions, i.e. if your name is talked about more in social apps, you will end up winning the election.

Sentiment, Likes, Followers, all of these failed to provide any real indication of election results, but pure mention volume was a consistent indicator of success, as simple a metric as that may be.

In this context, attention is worth seeking, it is worth being the one to say the things that get more people talking, because that large discussion is generally all you need to occupy the public consciousness, which then affects how in which they vote.

Elon appears to be taking the same approach, in order to keep his social media platform afloat, by reflecting attention to his posts, which then elicit more in-app engagement.

From selling verification ticks, to allowing previously banned users back into the app, to backing up COVID conspiracy theories, to promoting LSD use. Whenever engagement seems to wane, Elon simply comes up with another controversial comment or position, and the media cycle kicks in to help him once again.

The question then is whether he can keep saying and doing enough things to keep getting attention, which he has so far proven he can.

Will that be enough to keep X relevant? Will this be the thing that keeps millions of users coming back to the app, even as a rival gains traction?

It’s hard to trust the usage numbers reported by X, given Elon’s aforementioned affinity for disinformation. But he says usage is on the rise, which would be largely, at this stage, a reflection of its attention-grabbing ability.