That One Time Elon Musk Was the CEO of Twitter: Elon Musk’s Ambitious Quest to Rule Twitter and Its Effect on His Public Image

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2023-06-29

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en

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On October 27th, 2022, Elon Musk announced his acquisition of Twitter for $44 billion and expressed his goal of implementing fewer content moderation restrictions. Twitter, founded in 2006, started as a micro blogging platform allowing users to exchange short messages called tweets. Musk's Twitter account gained immense popularity and had over 140 million followers by May 2023, making him the most followed user on the platform. This acquisition aligned with Musk's vision of using technology to benefit humanity and added to his portfolio of successful companies, including Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, OpenAI, and PayPal. The thesis mentioned aims to explore the impact of Musk's takeover of Twitter on his online persona and how he is perceived as an entrepreneur. It employs theories and concepts from media and entrepreneurship studies, including Fairclough's discourse model and Foucault's theory of power. The research examines Musk's language, narratives, and communication strategies regarding his new position as CEO of Twitter. The study is divided into two parts: the construction of Musk's online identity following the acquisition and the perception of Musk as an entrepreneur in news articles. Analysing these aspects provides insights into Musk's public image and how influential figures are portrayed and perceived in the media. The study's outline includes chapters on theoretical foundations, the analysis of Musk's tweets using Fairclough's model, the analysis of news articles using Foucault's approach, and the presentation of findings and conclusions.

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