The Daily Beast took a random sample of 133 current Twitter employees identified by their LinkedIn accounts and found that 31 of them – almost a quarter – have already signed up for Topics. In April, Musk said Twitter employs about 1,500 people, so hundreds of employees can use the competitor’s services.

Criticism, praise and espionage

• “I’m going to be fired for this but I work at Twitter right now and have never used it. Topics are so much better. For a new world!” – One of Twitter’s current employees wrote to Threads last week.
• Another employee said he was happy with the recording, which was very fast thanks to the integration and synchronization with Instagram.
• As the Daily Beast points out, some of these employees may just be sniffing at their competitors what’s going on. While one said he was “here to learn”, another employee’s single post read “Test 1”.
• But others seem to have come for their own pleasure. For example, throwing mud at your boss. A user reposted a photo taunting Musk for asking Mark Zuckerberg to measure his genitals instead of a cage fight. Another wrote: “Someone check on Elon. He’s not handling the situation very well”.

Even Esther Crawford, formerly known as nearly Twitter’s most devoted employee, joined in the criticism. Crawford is a former product manager who applauded Musk’s brutal management style, even as he slept on the floor in Twitter’s office in November to help him meet deadlines. But that didn’t help: Musk fired him in February.

Crawford now speaks out against his former boss, saying he often disagrees with Musk’s decisions and is disappointed when he makes them. “This is what happens when an influential person lives in an echo chamber of his own making”– Wrote Esther Crawford.

As a reminder, Threads amassed over 100 million users in its first 5 days of launch. In a letter to Zuckerberg last week, Twitter’s attorney accused Meta of “systematic, deliberate and misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property.” The letter also alleged that Meta hired dozens of former Twitter employees to copy Musk’s platform. A Meta representative denied the allegations, writing, “No one on the Threads development team is a former Twitter employee.”