Elon Musk has been pushing for major and frequent changes on Twitter since he bought the platform. He has been unstoppable in his mission to revamp the platform into a “digital town square” with multiple purposes, including promoting free speech. But the first and foremost task he had at hand was to create multiple revenue streams to keep Twitter afloat.
When Elon Musk completed the deal in October 2022, many advertisers pulled out their advertisements. So, the billionaire introduced an $8 subscription to avail himself of exclusive features and different checkmarks for celebrities, businesses, and governmental institutions. When he introduced Twitter Blue, he ensured that the legacy check marks would go away if any verified personality had not paid the $8 subscription. Recently, when the check marks disappeared, the hashtag inventor, Chris Messina, quit the platform.
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Who Is Chris Messina?
The hashtags revolutionized social media with their categorization of topics, amplifying the voices of various social media platforms. The inventor of such a noble and integral part of social media is Chris Messina. Messina co-founded various companies when he started his career. He has worked with Google as a UX Developer and Developer Advocate. Chris has also worked with Uber in the capacity of Developer Experience Lead.
Along with helping companies boost their reach, one of his most significant inventions was creating hashtags. Chris Messina, when he was working for multiple ventures, had an idea. During an interview, Messina said, “There was a small group of us in San Francisco using an early social network called Twitter. We were thinking Twitter needs some kind of group organizing framework.”
When they pitched the idea to Twitter, they refused to pay heed to their “nerdy venture.” He got the idea from the pound symbols in front of the Internet chat rooms. But, in 2007, during a wildfire in San Diego, Chris asked his friend to use the hashtag, #sandiegofire. Other people jumped on it, and they started using it. In 2009, Twitter decided to incorporate it. Instagram and Facebook also adopted the feature.
Talking about the initial use during the wildfire, Messina said, “The fact that other people actually emulated him in real time during those fires gave me a sense that this could actually work. It turned out that lots of people wanted to have their voices heard and participate in a global conversation.”
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Why Did He Quit Elon Musk-Led Twitter?
The Twitter CEO, Elon Musk, decided to do away with the legacy checkmarks. Twitter started an experiment in 2009 with ‘verified accounts.’ The purpose of these legacy marks was to get rid of any impersonators. After celebrities like Kanye West complained about this problem, Twitter took action, launching the beta experiment. Musk claimed that the way these legacy checkmarks “were given out was corrupt and nonsensical.” However, the check marks of personalities with more than one million followers are retained.
Chris Messina, after the badges were removed, quit Twitter due to the unacceptable ways in which Elon Musk was handling the issues. As per The Verge, Chris tweeted, “My choice isn’t about the badge; it’s about everything that lead up to the badge and how it has been handled. Whatever Twitter was before deserved more dignity and consideration than it’s received in the last six months.”
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