Twitter tech glitches mount as staffers depart – Axios
Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios
Waves of layoffs and departures from Twitter last week led many users to fear the service might face a sudden crash of some kind, as hashtags such as #RIPTwitter and #TwitterDown trended in the U.S.
Yes, but: It's far more likely that the social network will experience an increasing volume of glitches, delays and decay around the edges, as small breakdowns pile up and the teams responsible for fixes have been decimated.
Driving the news: The gutting of half of Twitter's staff and most of its contractors and top executives, along with a slew of rushed product updates over the past two weeks, have left Twitter vulnerable and put users on alert for problems.
The breakdowns so far aren't in the core functions of Twitter — posting and reading messages — but around the edges.
Advertisers are more concerned than everyday users.
As more senior sales executives quit Twitter, advertisers tell Axios it's become difficult to understand who within Twitter they should be consulting with about optimizing their campaigns, or even pausing them.
Between the lines: Many of the warnings about Twitter's technical problems are coming from current and recently-departed employees who say teams that were responsible for managing Twitter's infrastructure have been gutted.
Be smart: Experts warn that the World Cup, which began Sunday, could be a particularly important stress point for the app's hosting capabilities.
Musk himself doesn't seem worried about problems caused by sweeping changes to support teams and products.
What to watch: Twitter may face bigger technical challenges as Musk tries to roll out new programs and features on the platform.
Of note: Monday night, Musk announced a second delay of his top-priority new $8-a-month subscription plan that comes with a verified blue check.