{"id":10589,"date":"2023-11-07T11:15:26","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T11:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/business\/he-was-laid-off-by-elon-musk-within-hours-he-had-a-plan-to-outdo-twitter\/"},"modified":"2023-11-07T11:15:27","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T11:15:27","slug":"he-was-laid-off-by-elon-musk-within-hours-he-had-a-plan-to-outdo-twitter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=10589","title":{"rendered":"He was laid off by Elon Musk. Within hours, he had a plan to outdo Twitter"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Just over a year ago, Alphonzo Terrell received an email letting him know he\u2019d been laid off from Twitter.\n <\/p>\n

\n Terrell \u2013 who\u2019d spent three years heading the platform\u2019s social and editorial teams \u2013 was among the roughly 3,700 employees let go from the company on Nov. 4, 2022, just a week after Elon Musk closed his $44 billion Twitter acquisition. That day, Terrell tweeted<\/a> that it was \u201ctime to build something new,\u201d and then got on the phone with friend and former colleague DeVaris Brown.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI called him and I said, \u2018I think it\u2019s time to build and if we do this together, I think this can be really successful,\u2019\u201d Terrell, who\u2019s also known as \u201cPhonz\u201d online, told CNN in an interview in September.\n <\/p>\n

\n Within hours, Terrell and Brown had laid out plans to launch a new app capitalizing on their experience building communities online and thwarting some of the typical problems known to plague legacy social media platforms. They wanted it to be everything most social media struggles to be: positive, safe and inclusive. They named it Spill, a nod to the phrase \u201cspill the tea,\u201d which refers to sharing gossip or information.\n <\/p>\n

\n Terrell for years has been working at the intersection of tech, media and culture, largely behind the scenes. Now he\u2019s making a big bet on a concept tried by other social networks before, but which has consistently fallen short: Create a safe, rewarding and financially successful platform for Black, LGBTQ+ and other historically marginalized users.\n <\/p>\n

\n Those users, he says, often play an outsized role in driving online culture but are more likely to face harassment, like threats of violence or attacks on their identity, or to have others profit from their ideas. Spill is open to anyone, but by focusing on serving communities typically marginalized online, including with new content moderation and creator payment strategies, Terrell believes, the experience on the platform will be better for all of its users.\n <\/p>\n

\n Spill clearly lays out that mission in its community guidelines, noting that it wants to create \u201can inclusive space that centers the experiences of the people that are typically left behind by social media platforms\u201d while also \u201cleaving plenty of space for hot takes and debate.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Such a platform is even more important, Spill\u2019s leadership believes, in the wake of Musk\u2019s takeover at Twitter. Under the billionaire\u2019s leadership, policy updates, changes to content moderation practices and controversial statements from Musk himself have led to a reported rise in hate speech on the platform and left many users searching for alternatives. And as the user base of the platform now known as X splinters, so does Black Twitter, the community of Black users that was a big part of Twitter\u2019s growth and culture. Terrell wants to create a home for those users on Spill.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cHaving worked at Twitter, I was very familiar with where the challenges of that platform were,\u201d said Terrell, who now serves as Spill\u2019s co-founder and CEO. \u201cOur core thesis with Spill was to focus on the culture drivers \u2014 Black women, the queer community, other culture-driving communities around the world that are often setting the tone, the trends, the lexicon, all the amazing magic that will happen on social platforms, but getting the lion\u2019s share of hate, abuse [and] not getting credited or rewarded the way they should for their contributions.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

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\n But Spill is clear that it\u2019s not trying to recreate Twitter,<\/s> or any other existing platform.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe distinction here is that Spill is not trying to be Black Twitter 2.0,\u201d said April Reign, the equity advocate and #OscarsSoWhite creator who is now an advisor to Spill. \u201cI think that Black Twitter thrived \u2026 sometimes in spite of the platform itself. Spill is intentionally creating a foundation.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Still, as legacy platforms have repeatedly learned the hard way, building a safe social network is not easy, especially as bad actors are becoming more sophisticated. Beyond safety, Spill also faces steep competition from the scores of new platforms that have launched in the year since Musk bought Twitter.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI think the biggest challenge is making sure that we stay focused and block out any noise,\u201d Terrell said. \u201cThere\u2019s so much going on, and I think it\u2019s easy and tempting to sort of compare and be like, \u2018All these [platforms] are trying to do the same thing.\u2019 And we know we\u2019re doing something fundamentally different.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u2018You have to understand it on a visceral level\u2019
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\n During his time at Twitter, Terrell effectively served as the voice of the brand, with his team in charge of, among other things, running the company\u2019s own accounts on the platform. Prior to Twitter, he worked in digital and social marketing for major brands such as HBO and Showtime.\n <\/p>\n

\n In those roles, Terrell saw what kinds of content and creators drove conversations on the platform, which he says gives him a leg up in building a new social media app.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe concept for Spill really goes back to something that I\u2019d seen throughout my career working in culture and technology and media,\u201d Terrell, who is based in Los Angeles, said. \u201cGoing back to the days of early digital platforms, whether it was Myspace, YouTube and then Vine, and more recently with TikTok, Black folks, especially Black women, over index on social media usage. More than any other identity group, they are consistently driving these trends \u2026 This is something that if you work in the space, you know.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n But, he said, \u201cno platforms had really said, hey, we\u2019re going to build and center and focus on the challenges that face those communities from the beginning.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Terrell bonded with co-founder Brown \u2014 a developer who\u2019s spent time at tech giants like Intel, Cisco and Microsoft and helped to found several tech startups \u2014 during their first-day orientation at Twitter,<\/s> as two of the few people of color in their on-boarding group.\n <\/p>\n

\n Since that first conversation about launching a new app last year, Terrell and Brown have built a powerhouse early team, including Reign and brand strategy and culture pro Kenya Parham, who is serving as Spill\u2019s vice president of community and partnerships.\n <\/p>\n

\n Asked why he thinks other platforms have so far failed to create a consistently safe and inclusive experience for a wide range of diverse users, Terrell said: \u201cWell, let\u2019s talk about the obvious: Most of them weren\u2019t founded or created by people from marginalized groups or from underserved communities.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe have been very intentional about the people building this platform and the audiences that we\u2019re centering from the beginning,\u201d he said. \u201cIn building for culture-driving communities, you have to understand it on a visceral level.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

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\n \"Spill<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n Spill users have already come up with a name for themselves: \u201cSpillionaires.\u201d And they\u2019ve developed community traditions, including a weekly movie viewing where users agree to watch the same film at the same time and post their reactions, a phenomenon that\u2019s come to be known as \u201clive spilling.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThat\u2019s been one of the most exciting and special things that we\u2019ve seen happening so far is the community really taking ownership of the platform teaching us what they want,\u201d Terrell said.\n <\/p>\n

\n The app is designed to be something \u201cbetween a group chat \u2026 and a meme machine, so that you can create and express yourself in real time using visuals and using the native language of the internet,\u201d according to Terrell. The feed features posts with large, block text, often superimposed over images or GIFs; on certain posts, users can swipe through to view a series of images. At the top of users\u2019 feeds is the \u201cSpillboard,\u201d which highlights trending posts and is meant to help elevate creators on the app, Terrell said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Spill takes design inspiration from its name, too. A teacup has replaced the heart as the platform\u2019s \u201clike\u201d button, and users can choose from a range of different colorways for the app, aptly named things like \u201cgreen tea\u201d and \u201chibiscus.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n And beyond its design choices, Terrell said Spill is aiming to cultivate a more positive, upbeat culture than Twitter and other social platforms.\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s a tack that other platforms have also tried to take, but it often proves difficult to carry out in practice, especially when they\u2019re reliant on boosting engagement to appease advertisers.\n <\/p>\n