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Twitter CEO Elon Musk plans to eliminate a Twitter feature that provides details on what device a tweet was sent from, information that has gotten Android promoters in hot water multiple times over the past several years.

huaweiiphonetweet.jpg

Musk said in a tweet this morning that Twitter will be eliminating the line that says "Twitter for iPhone" or "Twitter for Android," as this is a "waste of screen space." He said that "no one even knows" why the feature was introduced in the first place.

Device details have been used several times to catch employees promoting Android-based smartphones from their iPhones. In 2019, for example, a Huawei employee wished Huawei followers a happy new year, but used an iPhone to do so. A screenshot of the tweet went viral, and the employees involved were demoted for causing "damage to the Huawei brand."

Samsung employees have tweeted Samsung promotions from iPhones multiple times over the years, and celebrities have also gotten into trouble. Actress Gal Gadot, for example, sang the praises of her new Huawei Mate 10 Pro while tweeting from an iPhone.

It is not clear when the device labels will be removed, but as of right now, the feature is still in place. Musk also said that he has instructed Twitter employees to turn off unspecified "microservices" bloatware, as "less than 20% are needed for Twitter to work."


Musk last week implemented his new $8 Twitter Blue subscription service, which provides a verification badge that was previously limited to verified individuals. It resulted in immediate chaos with a number of people paying $8 to impersonate companies and celebrity accounts. Insulin maker Eli Lilly, for example, saw its stock fall more than 4 percent after a verified account impersonated the company and announced that insulin was free. Another person impersonated LeBron James and announced he was requesting a trade, while yet another account impersonated Nintendo and tweeted an image of Mario making a rude gesture.

Twitter ended up pausing the Twitter Blue verification temporarily, and people are not able to purchase Twitter Blue subscriptions at this time. Twitter has been considering another "Official" verification badge, and it is not yet known how the company will solve the problem.

Article Link: Android Promoters Won't Get Caught Tweeting From iPhone Anymore With Upcoming Twitter Changes
 
I don't publicly disrespect my boss, do you? Sure I can say whatever I want but I also am an intelligent human being and I know that would be frowned upon.
Knowing i'm right, and also in a very unstable employment position already in a company going downhill that has had mass layoffs, I'd probably go with it. Money/Positions of power can't save you from looking like a clown, which the employee was able to do to Elon.
 
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I am sure employees across many companies will have a sigh of relief. Probably constantly had that thought in the back of their if they used the right device.
 
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By the time all the work is done, I imagine Twitter will look completely different from the ugly beast it had become. I'll likely never return to using the platform, but what a roller coaster ride it's been.
I worked for Samsung for a couple of years, I always hid my iPhone when I was in the office.
Stories like this always make me laugh. Just because one works at a place doesn't mean you have to live & breathe their products. Personal preference remains a thing.
 
I worked for Samsung for a couple of years, I always hid my iPhone when I was in the office.

I remember working for them in product development. Sometimes I was so grateful to have a job where I evaluated competitor data (smart phones etc.) an excuse to carry a device I might prefer LOL

But yeah. You don’t flaunt that in the office LOL

By the time all the work is done, I imagine Twitter will look completely different from the ugly beast it had become. I'll likely never return to using the platform, but what a roller coaster ride it's been.

Stories like this always make me laugh. Just because one works at a place doesn't mean you have to live & breathe their products. Personal preference remains a thing.

Oh but the culture there is very different than many western companies. You really are expected to live eat and breath Samsung. (There’s even “the Samsung Way” training you go through in Korea.)

Besides, how would it look if an Apple Engineer shows up to a meeting with a Dell Inspiron or HP Envy laptop? LOL
 
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I tried using Mastadon, but it’s confusing. I am sticking with Twitter for the time being. I ultimately suspect Elon is gonna resell it at a loss, either Snap Inc, Bytedance or wait for it…Meta. I actually think it would thrive under Meta. The first thing Zuckerberg would do is hire back all the employees and restore all the features.
 
I don't publicly disrespect my boss, do you? Sure I can say whatever I want but I also am an intelligent human being and I know that would be frowned upon.

My boss isn’t a holy spirit. If he’s wrong he’s wrong and I tell it to his face and he’s happy to be corrected. Thats how a good work relationship should work. I wouldn’t even let my mother talk down on me as a grown ass person
 
It wasn't necessarily to show what device, but to show what developer source. So besides Twitter for iPhone and Android, it would show 3rd party Twitter apps, social media management tools, simple bot programs, etc. Anyone can create something that uses Twitter's API and the name of their application (not necessarily an "app") would show. It was useful to know if a tweet was likely tweeted by a person or a script.
 
I don't publicly disrespect my boss, do you? Sure I can say whatever I want but I also am an intelligent human being and I know that would be frowned upon.
Does your boss tweet at you publicly in a way that strongly implies you're incompetent?

All the guy did was answer Musk's questions, quite professionally, in the same place where they were asked. It's not his fault Musk made himself look like a complete idiot in the process.
 
Charging money for features that are currently free and taking away features that have always been there… great way to keep your user base and grow your business!

A new hobby for 21st century billionaires.... bankrupting their businesses.... one company at a time!

In the footsteps of the Genius Kanye 🤣
 
Does your boss tweet at you publicly in a way that strongly implies you're incompetent?

All the guy did was answer Musk's questions, quite professionally, in the same place where they were asked. It's not his fault Musk made himself look like a complete idiot in the process.
An employee is not supposed to manage internal communication or PR in a public forum unless authorized to do so. Come on, I don’t like that Musk tweeted about him getting fired but the guy was dead wrong.
 
I don't publicly disrespect my boss, do you? Sure I can say whatever I want but I also am an intelligent human being and I know that would be frowned upon.

How did he disrespect him though? Musk made a statement, the guy engaged with him in a conversation (that should have STARTED offline in the first place) and when Musk ended up being in the wrong, he got offended like a little boy.

You all sound like you work in toxic work environments btw. NO THANKS
 
How did he disrespect him though? Musk made a statement, the guy engaged with him in a conversation (that should have STARTED offline in the first place) and when Musk ended up being in the wrong, he got offended like a little boy.

You all sound like you work in toxic work environments btw. NO THANKS
That’s not how the hierarchy works. The CEO - and in this case the owner - can bring to the public whatever he wants. An employee can’t, especially if such employee is using his employment to write the public communication.
 
How did he disrespect him though? Musk made a statement, the guy engaged with him in a conversation (that should have STARTED offline in the first place) and when Musk ended up being in the wrong, he got offended like a little boy
I'll just go out and say it. Anyone defending Musk here either hasn't read the twitter thread we're talking about, has no idea what they're talking about, or is outright incompetent.

The engineer Musk went after here easily made the best he possibly could have out of the situation by remaining professional and answering his boss's questions in a clear and competent manner. Sure, he could have just sucked up to Musk and taken the abuse, but why? Even with the layoffs in the news, there are still plenty of places hiring.
 
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