Ten strategies for replacing Twitter from people who used to work there

Today, we’re thrilled to share an announcement that has been in the works all year. Zoë’s book about Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, Extremely Hardcore, comes out February 27, 2024. And you can pre-order it today.

Extremely Hardcore is the culmination of more than a year of reporting from Platformer on what was perhaps the wildest corporate takeover in the history of Silicon Valley. We think you’ll really like it — but don’t take it from us. 

Legendary Bloomberg columnist Matt Levine called it “the definitive book on perhaps the weirdest business story of our time. A fast-paced and riveting account of a hilarious and tragic mess." And Vanity Fair’s Nick Bilton said “Zoë Schiffer’s incredibly written and astonishingly reported book about the Musk era of the world’s craziest company tells the story of a man who took the clown car, strapped a rocket to the back of it, and then slammed it into a wall at 100,000 miles an hour. You simply won’t be able to put this book down.” 

Extremely Hardcore is scoopy, juicy, and full of fresh details from the workers left to pick up the pieces after Musk let that sink in. If you’re so inclined, we invite you to snag a hardback copy, which we’re told is helpful in claiming a place on the bestseller lists. We’ll have more to say about the book in weeks to come — but in the meantime, that pre-order link again can be found right here. If you want a signed copy — an exclusive for Platformer subscribers — fill out this form once you’ve pre-ordered.

To celebrate the book’s announcement, today we reached out to a wide range of former employees who used to work at (and, in one case, study) Twitter for their thoughts on how to build its replacement. Threads, Mastodon, Bluesky and others have all gained momentum to varying degrees, but all have a long way to go to reach their full potential. 

Where to go from here? Here’s what they told us, lightly edited for clarity and length. 

1. Focus on shipping — Seth Wilson, former director of threat management

You have to constantly innovate and experiment. Speed of innovation is critical in the early stages. In the early years of Twitter, one of the things I loved seeing was new features being rolled out every day.