Scott Nover Profile picture
Slate contributing writer covering media and tech. Writing the GZERO AI newsletter. Recently seen in Fast Company, Time, Vanity Fair, Vox. sgnover@gmail.com
Apr 24, 2023 4 tweets 1 min read
The worst person you know will get Tucker Carlson’s job. That person, yes, will be worse than Tucker.
Apr 2, 2023 5 tweets 1 min read
Verification in itself is not a product.

Verification is a way for Twitter as a company to 1.) help users figure out who real celebrities, public officials, and companies are, 2.) imbue shortcuts for trustworthy news sources, and 3.) make itself safe enough for advertisers. Twitter Blue is a suite of paid products and it’s a great idea. But conflating verification with that package has never been a good idea. The company instantly loses way more than it can ever gain.
Apr 2, 2023 4 tweets 1 min read
Oh boy, the finale of the boygenius album is bone-chilling. Full-body shivers. Jesus.
Nov 30, 2022 18 tweets 4 min read
What is Elon Musk's feud with Apple about anyway? You're probably confused.

Is it about advertising, or about those 30% in-app purchase fees, or about removing Twitter from the App Store? Well, all of it, really. Let's dig in. 🧵 1. Musk said that Apple stopped advertising on Twitter. @washingtonpost reported that Apple is one of Twitter's largest advertisers, so that'd have been bad for Twitter. 50 of its top 100 advertisers have stopped spending since Musk took over, @mmfa reports, not including Apple.
Nov 30, 2022 9 tweets 3 min read
Okay so I’m insufferable. Let’s take a look at this #SpotifyWrapped thing. This is gibberish.
Nov 28, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
Elon Musk could've avoided a lot of pain if he did any research into Twitter's business before spending $44 billion on it. From October: qz.com/elon-musk-will…
Nov 18, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
I am taking my drafts to the grave! I’ll give you one! Image
Nov 3, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
It’s almost like the tech sector got an easy ride for a long time and then that ended when it became the US’s most valuable industry. Also Silicon Valley changed too. It became more about platforms and their power than ‘hey look at this cool gadget.’
Nov 3, 2022 5 tweets 1 min read
A lot of people seems confused about these little text boxes with annotations. That’s part of the Birdwatch program on Twitter, a user-generated fact-checking system. As illustrated here, it’s not some top-down content moderation from Twitter but rather bottom-up from users. I’ve seen a lot of people on the left pointing out Birdwatch blurbs on the White House account and claiming that Twitter’s editorial stance is moving rightward under Musk. That might ultimately prove true for Twitter’s actual decisions but not with Birdwatch unless it changes.
Nov 2, 2022 5 tweets 1 min read
Ad spending is now across the board right now and Musk is giving media buyers an easy excuse to save money and look responsible while doing it. Unless something has changed in the year since I last worked at an ad trade pub, Twitter is a nice-to-have for many brands and buyers not an essential platform like Facebook and Google (as Mike also suggested.)
Nov 2, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
Oct 31, 2022 5 tweets 1 min read
I don’t think Elon Musk realizes how much money he’s going to lose on Twitter at this rate. Firing everyone, bashing his own employees, publishing their internal messages, charging for verification because he thinks it’s just a clout thing. These are all quick ways to degrade the company and the quality of the platform. Advertisers are going to leave very quickly.
Oct 30, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
[trying to resist the urge to correct this well intentioned tweet] Ok: hate speech is protected under the first amendment. twitter cannot violate your first amendment rights, only the government can.
Oct 28, 2022 10 tweets 2 min read
Elon Musk never really had a legal path out of the Twitter deal. He proposed it, pressured Twitter to do it at his price, inked it + signed a specific performance clause. It was more so a matter of whether Twitter would settle and end the pain. I never expected them to do so. 1/ What's tricky as a journalist is weighing what's likely to happen with the chance that it might not. We don't want to make predictions that don't pan out and want to prepare our readers, so we search for nuances that could maybe possibly give Musk a way out. 2/
Apr 5, 2022 4 tweets 2 min read
Twitter gave @elonmusk a board seat so he won’t take over the company. Image Great value to the board!
Apr 26, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
Rick Santorum has been so bigoted for such a long time, it's truly absurd that he is employed in any capacity by a mainstream news organization in 2021. Dan Savage coined the term santorum to mean [google it] in 2003. That was 18 years ago.
Mar 13, 2021 6 tweets 5 min read
WEEKEND READS/LISTENS:

1. These Precious Days by Ann Patchett in @Harpers (from Jan.) harpers.org/archive/2021/0… 2. Private Schools Have Become Truly Obscene by @CaitlinPacific in @TheAtlantic theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…
Jan 7, 2021 6 tweets 1 min read
New: Twitch disabled Trump's account:

"Given the current extraordinary circumstances and the President's incendiary rhetoric, we believe this is a necessary step to protect our community and prevent Twitch from being used to incite further violence." This is updated in my story from earlier: adweek.com/media/facebook…
Jan 7, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
I don't even think it'll take another hour before Twitter takes the same action as Facebook. *publishes story knowing it'll quickly need an update*
Nov 7, 2020 4 tweets 4 min read
A look at the front pages.
Nov 7, 2020 4 tweets 1 min read
Cheers and applause erupts from D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood. “We won baby! Bye bye motherfucker!” a man screams from his car.