Internal memo: Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino tells employees that the platform is “on a mission to become the world's most accurate real-time information source”

Linda Yaccarino, who joined company last week, describes her mission to employees

Wall Street Journal 2023-06-13 Alexa Corse

Context & Ripple Effects

Yaccarino arrived from an advertising leadership role under a division of labor in which she would handle business operations while Musk focused on product and technology. Her mandate was already closely tied to repairing advertiser relationships, making an information-quality goal commercially consequential rather than merely editorial.

The memo establishes an early public standard for her tenure. Subsequent coverage of planned full-screen video advertising in the short-video feed shows how that positioning could be paired with ad-product expansion.

First-order effects

Employees gain a stated operating priority: Twitter’s product, policy, and business decisions can be evaluated against whether they improve the platform’s real-time information quality.
Yaccarino takes ownership of a trust-oriented business narrative at the same time she is expected to rebuild advertiser confidence, while Musk retains the product-and-technology focus described at her hiring.

Second-order effects

Advertiser discussions can shift from the platform’s leadership transition toward whether Twitter can offer a more dependable environment for brands and timely information.
A stronger emphasis on information quality would create pressure to align distribution and moderation choices with that claim; otherwise the message becomes harder to use in commercial negotiations.

Third-order effects

The episode is an early test of whether social platforms can make information reliability a business-facing product attribute, not only a policy commitment.
If that model holds, ad sales, content ranking, and trust safeguards become more tightly coupled; if they do not, executive messaging alone is unlikely to resolve the advertiser challenge.

The trend: Social platforms are increasingly tying their commercial recovery efforts to demonstrable trust and information-quality positioning.

Discussion

@djcentos7.bsky.social Andy Wentland on bluesky
excruitiatingly hollowed words. the glass cliff is real.
@lindayacc Linda Yaccarino on x
Hello Twitter. People keep asking me: Why Twitter? So, I'll tell you. 👇
@lindayacc Linda Yaccarino on x
Twitter is on a mission to become the world's most accurate real-time information source and a global town square for communication. That's not an empty promise. That's OUR reality.
@lindayacc Linda Yaccarino on x
Have you ever been talking with someone particularly insightful and thought, you should have the freedom to speak your mind. We all should. Enter Twitter 2.0.
@lindayacc Linda Yaccarino on x
It's also becoming clear that the global town square needs transformation—to drive civilization forward through the unfiltered exchange of information and open dialogue about the things that matter most to us.
@lindayacc Linda Yaccarino on x
The success of Twitter 2.0 is all of our responsibility. We need to think big. We need to transform. We need to do it all together.
@scottbudman Scott Budman on x
Update: If a reporter asks Twitter for comment on, say, the new direction the company is going .. you still get a poop emoji as a response. https://twitter.com/...
@joserosado Jose Rosado on x
Fire your ghostwriter, Linda https://twitter.com/...
@keithedwards Keith Edwards on x
Have you every been talking with someone completely brain dead and thought, racial slurs would make this better. Welcome to Twitter 2.0 https://twitter.com/...
@mehdirhasan Mehdi Hasan on x
How does that happen if the owner himself is spreading and amplifying misinformation and conspiracy theories on a near-daily basis? https://twitter.com/...
@juansaaa Juan Escalante on x
Good luck but extremely skeptical it'll go as she envisions https://www.theverge.com/...
@zaleskiluke Luke Zaleski on x
The world's richest man has taken possession of a global social media platform used by the world's journalists, scientists, governments, private citizens, businesses, religions, militaries and health/emergency services to share all vital information—It's going as you might expect…
@lindayacc Linda Yaccarino on x
Our first principles are questioning our assumptions and building something new from the ground up. It's rare to have the chance to put a new future into the hands of every person, partner, and creator on the planet. That's exactly why I'm here - with all of YOU.
@patricklenton Patrick Lenton on x
never on this app lol https://twitter.com/...
@jamespmanley Jim Manley on x
Has she told Elmo this? https://twitter.com/...
@kremlintrolls @kremlintrolls on x
Sounds like this thread was pulled straight from a powerpoint presentation. Not scripted, much 😕 https://twitter.com/...
@tylerhower Tyler Hower on x
This thread is great because it is filled with the most banal B-School bullshit imaginable. It's like what you get from an overpriced firm hired to provide your university with a new “mission statement”. None of it means a damned thing, but it's great cover for what's happening. …
@sarahfrier Sarah Frier on x
Yaccarino makes it clear she's aligned with Musk's Twitter vision, wants “particularly insightful” people to be able to speak their mind, without giving details on what that means https://twitter.com/...
@rajeev_goi @rajeev_goi on x
This is an outright lie by @jack - perhaps an attempt to brush out that very dubious period of twitters history Facts and truth @twitter undr Dorsey n his team were in repeated n continuous violations of India law. As a matter of fact they were in non-compliance with law... https…
@esaagar Saagar Enjeti on x
NEW: @jack joined Breaking Points today for his 1st interview since @elonmusk took over Twitter Topics: His support for @RobertKennedyJr, thoughts on Elon's leadership so far, reacts to Twitter files/censorship from his tenure, AI regulation and more https://www.youtube.com/...
@titterdaily @titterdaily on x
NEWS: Jack says he has ‘confidence’ that Elon will figure out how to run Twitter. He also says he backs the new CEO, Linda, in a new interview with Breaking Points. Jack points out he still owns 3% of Twitter's shares, so remains supportive of the company. 🧵 https://twitter.com/.…
@alx @alx on x
Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey (@jack) says Twitter “remains the most important public square in the world right now.” [video]
@journoviv Vivek Gupta on x
Indian government made several requests of Twitter, relating to the farmer protests, and journalists critical of the Centre and followed it up by exerting pressure and threatening to raid Twitter employees, former CEO Jack Dorsey has alleged https://www.youtube.com/...
@bendobrown Benjamin Strick on x
@jack on India's pressure on Twitter. “India had many requests of us around farmers protests, around particular journalists critical of the govt. It manifested in ways such as ‘we will shut Twitter down in India’, ‘we will raid the homes of your employees’ - which they did.” [vid…
@krystalball Krystal Ball on x
Thanks to @jack for sharing his thoughts with us on Elon at Twitter, extreme censorship pressure from governments like India and Turkey, @RobertKennedyJr endorsement, AI fears and a whole lot more. https://www.youtube.com/...
@kantrowitz Alex Kantrowitz on x
.@jack on @elonmusk: “I do have confidence he'll figure it out. I do have confidence in his new CEO. I own 3% of this new company so I'm supportive.” https://www.youtube.com/... via @esaagar @krystalball

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