# The "Non-Musk Effect" at Twitter

**Authors:** Dmitry Zinoviev, Arkapravo Sarkar, Pelin Bicen  
**arXiv:** [2304.11272](https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.11272)  
**Date:** 2023-04-21  
**Summary page:** https://www.summarizepaper.com/en/paper/2304.11272v1/

## Key points

- Research examines the impact of Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter on tweeting behavior of entrepreneurs
- Study utilizes dataset of 9.94 million tweets from 47,190 self-declared entrepreneurs across seven English-speaking countries over 71 weeks
- Only about 2.5% of entrepreneurs displayed significant change in tweeting behavior during this time
- Provides insights into how Musk's actions impact Main Street (social media activity) compared to Wall Street (financial markets)
- Identifies characteristics of entrepreneurs most affected by the "Musk Effect"
- Analyzes tweet and hashtag frequencies, observing decline during holiday season and between April and early July
- Examines user perception of Elon Musk's online persona through mentions and hashtags
- High frequencies of mentions and hashtags observed after Musk's offer to purchase Twitter and following finalization of acquisition
- No significant response in terms of hashtag and mention frequencies during legal dispute in July 2022
- Uses trajectory clustering approach to classify users' reactions to acquisition process, revealing different subgroups with varied reactions
- Overall provides insight into how Elon Musk's acquisition impacted tweeting behavior among entrepreneurs on Twitter

## Summary

This research examines the impact of Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter on the tweeting behavior of entrepreneurs, specifically focusing on the "Musk Effect" and its comparison to the effect Musk has on Wall Street. The study utilizes a dataset of 9.94 million tweets from 47,190 self-declared entrepreneurs across seven English-speaking countries over a period of 71 weeks, starting from the rumor of Musk potentially buying Twitter until the completion of the acquisition. The findings reveal that only about 2.5% of entrepreneurs displayed a significant change in their tweeting behavior during this time. This study is one of the first to analyze and quantify the effect of Musk's acquisition on actual tweeting behavior, providing insights into how his actions impact Main Street (social media activity) compared to Wall Street (financial markets). Additionally, the research identifies characteristics of entrepreneurs most affected by the Musk Effect, offering practical implications for both academics and practitioners. The study also analyzes tweet and hashtag frequencies, observing a decline in tweeting frequency during the Christmas/New Year holiday season and between April and early July. Furthermore, user perception of Elon Musk's online persona on Twitter is examined through mentions and hashtags. The analysis reveals two instances where entrepreneurs exhibited high frequencies of mentions and hashtags: shortly after Musk's offer to purchase Twitter in late April to early May, and following the finalization of the acquisition from late October to early November. It is worth noting that there was no significant response in terms of hashtag and mention frequencies during a legal dispute in July 2022 when Musk declared his intention to terminate the acquisition. To classify users' reactions to the acquisition process, a trajectory clustering approach is employed which reveals different subgroups with varied reactions despite overall stable tweeting activity throughout the observation period (excluding holiday season dips). Overall, this research provides an insight into how Elon Musk's acquisition impacted tweeting behavior among entrepreneurs on social media platform Twitter as well as identifying characteristics most affected by it offering practical implications for both academics and practitioners.