Every need a demonstration of how unchecked greed, combined with an out-of-control ego, can destroy a business? Look no further than Twitter. I have been on Twitter for over twelve years, and had many animated, stimulating discussions upon the platform. I have made friends via Twitter. It has, in the past, been a good place. Unfortunately, under Elon Musk’s stewardship, Twitter has rapidly gone downhill.

You might be wondering how, and the root of of how Twitter has fallen so deep, so fast, rests with Musk’s unrealistic expectations. Twitter has rarely been profitable, but that seemed to be of no concern to the owners, until Musk stepped in, spent $44 billion to buy the platform, and then… well, he thought it was a good idea to sack half the workforce, and demand the rest work longer hours. His blue-tick verification scheme has proven to be awkward, and Twitter is now overrun by spambots and scammers.

In his desire to maximise profits without regard for consequences of his choices, Musk has begun the slow death of Twitter, which could have personal repercussions for him, given how much money he paid for the platform. Rivals (such as Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook) are developing their own, similar entities, and pre-existing platforms, such as Instagram (not exactly Twitter-esque but not a million miles away) and Mastodon may yet pick up the slack.

Never ever assume you are too big to fail. Twitter may be a huge enterprise, but if you mismanage something for long enough, you can ruin it.