As Israel is heads to elections, one of the most significant arenas where candidates can try to gain influence are the social networks. Of these, Twitter stands out from the rest, having already played a role in Israel’s previous rounds as well as in other campaigns around the world. In an exclusive interview with Federico Paderni , managing director of Twitter in Israel, says Twitter, "Does not intend to make a profit from the elections in Israel or anywhere else in the world".
Twitter policy prohibits posting political ads on its social network in general and particularly on election days. The company defines political content as content referring to a candidate, political party, elected or appointed government official, election, referendum, voting methods, legislation, regulation, directive, or judicial result.
"There are several efforts we make in every election system in the world, and specifically in Israel. Our goal is to preserve the integrity that exists on Twitter," Paderni says. "Of course, we have a very clear policy against manipulation in this arena, and we aim to preserve that integrity with the help of artificial intelligence tools and human teams that will check content. During elections, it is very important to stop, block or suspend any effort or attempt by any type of entity that wants to interfere in the elections."
Paderni explains these diligent checks apply to Israel as well. "We follow the conversations in Hebrew, of course, and we respond to user reports. Along with this, we also cooperate with the Israeli authorities, which is very important for the success of the elections in Israel. Our policy and communication teams work directly with them and there is a direct open channel."
There have been attempts in Israel to influence election results through bots, among other things. How do you combat that?
"It’s important to clarify that ‘bot’ is a definition of a user account and ‘spam’ is a behavioral definition. To fight bad bots or spam, we use machine learning, artificial intelligence and human teams. To make clear, over 50% of all content that violates our rules in this arena is detected automatically and presented for human review. Our goal is not to eradicate all bots but to stop those bots which violate our laws and policies."
Right before its dispersal, the Knesset approved legislation stating that any paid-for election propaganda - whether on behalf of a party, candidate, or person working on their behalf - must be signified as such. In other words, any bot, comment, or influencer receiving payment from a political entity - will be required to be linked to the political party or funder.
Twitter was not familiar with the legislation when asked about it, but made clear its commitment to working with all relevant parties in the government and civil society, along with experts. Regarding paid partnerships on the platform, Twitter stated, "Ads that are published as organic tweets will require disclosures to viewers indicating the commercial nature of this content. In addition, to comply with the rules of the social network, users - including creators and brands, participating in paid partnerships - are responsible for complying with all laws and regulations."
There is a sense that Twitter highlights toxic arguments conducted on the platform, and sometimes misrepresents support for politicians. What is your position on this matter?
"We are testing a new mode on Twitter called Safety Mode that will be launched soon [the feature temporarily blocks accounts for seven days for using potentially harmful language or for posting unwanted comments to other accounts - N.T.]. The idea is to boost the health of the platform, and it's in line with other tools I’ve mentioned such as conversation control, and also options to control the conversation more."
"These will actually help reduce and minimize the visibility users have in a certain interaction on Twitter, and in this way avoid the conversation. We’re trying to provide a healthy user experience, it is definitely one of our top priorities."
Reaching the global audience
Paderni is an Italian residing in Ireland, married and the father of two children. He has managed Twitter's operations in Israel for three years and oversees its advertising business in Israel. He has worked at Twitter for a decade, and before that, was at LinkedIn and Microsoft.
Twitter maintains continuous commercial activity in Israel with sales teams that have been focused on the Israeli market for almost six years, working with companies in the fintech, crypto, marketplace, technology and other sectors. "These companies want to leverage the potential on Twitter to reach a global audience, as in the US or Europe, and we like to call them 'professional advertisers.' Our goal is to improve their commercial and marketing activities," explains Paderni.
"The startup ecosystem in Israel is very large, of course. We have worked with a variety of companies, from eToro to Plus 500, including Wix, Fiverr and monday.com. These companies mainly focus on launching new products or new campaigns on Twitter."
According to Paderni, Israeli companies advertise mainly outside of Israel, in order to reach a wider audience. "All the big companies in Israel advertise mainly outside of Israel, and I think this is true for all the other platforms as well."
Twitter has two teams, based in Dublin, that work on the Israeli market and serve the Israeli companies: the first team is responsible for large advertisers, the second team is responsible for small and medium-sized businesses.
Sales teams to double in size
In 2019, activity in Israel grew by 35%, says Paderni, a figure higher than global growth overall. Now, he reveals, the company has decided to double the sales team serving Israeli customers.
"Over the last three years, business has doubled and the team has also doubled in size, and there are three reasons for this," he says, "The first, we work in Israel mainly with startups, and they raised more than $25 billion in 2021, which is like a twofold increase, year on year. It's great for the ecosystem in Israel and it's something we leverage because it means there are more companies to work with."
"The second element in our growth is related to the fact that in terms of audience and companies, entities are always looking for a successful platform to reach new users. We have over 238 million users that can be monetized, and very strong double-digit growth in the last two years. And the third reason is the features and products that we’ve launched to help companies get new users."
Paderni visited Israel last month to hold a workshop event in Tel Aviv for clients, advertisers and partners, called TweetsMeanBusiness, that updated them on the impact of conversation, the features, and tools under development, and to help them recruit users.
How important is Israel to Twitter?
"In terms of our commercial revenue, Israel is definitely one of the fastest growing markets in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region in the last two or three years. The growth in revenue and the size of the team, also gives you an idea of how important Israel is to us, and how right it is."
Twitter is seeing global growth in the number of its communities, including those relevant to Israeli advertisers. For example, tweets about #finance and #investment from non-professionals grew by 78% last year, and tech enthusiasts post 7.8 times more tweets than the average Twitter user, discussing topics like #NFTs, #Metaverse, #startups, and more.
Competition in the advertising market is very tough. Facebook and Google have accurate information about users, opportunities and highly developed tools. Why should companies put their money with you?
"Ultimately, Twitter is used because they want to join interesting conversations, and because Twitter is the fastest social network to see what’s happening in the world. Companies and brands are very interested in these tools. We’ve seen that 35% of Twitter users tend to use new products more, and companies want to take advantage of this to their benefit. So, it's true, platforms like Google and Facebook have capabilities and a large reach, but we provide great engagement and very valuable conversations."
Not afraid of TikTok
Paderni notes Twitter’s point of view on marketing. "There are three different moments that people or companies will use Twitter, and they are not necessarily unique only to us. The first, companies that want to create buzz and noise, so that the product or service is front and center; the second, connecting to what’s happening. I'm sure you've tweeted something while watching something on TV or Netflix. These types of engagements happen with us much more than on any other platform, so brands want engagement at those moments, like for example the World Cup or the Super Bowl. In the end, companies try to get new users and generate returns on their investments."
While major competitor, Meta (formerly Facebook) may fear losing users to a growing TikTok, Paderni is not afraid and points to Twitter’s efforts over the past two years. "We use this time to focus on developing tools for content creators to improve their monetization capabilities on the platform, such as Super Follow (a paid monthly subscription service), or tips for content creators."
Are you developing new tools for advertisers?
"Some clients want to convince the consumer that it’s worth downloading their app or service in a more efficient way. Therefore, in a few months, there will be three new developments: first of all, the algorithm will be significantly improved through machine learning, so advertising campaigns will be more targeted.
"Secondly, soon we’ll have a new interactive ad service, on the blockchain, called Playable. Today, when you an advertisement for an application, there is a video or an image. In a few months, you’ll be able to preview the application within Twitter, and download it if you like that service.
"Thirdly, companies want to drive traffic to their own websites and for their benefit. To that end, we’ll soon launch our new Pixel website tag. This is actually a snippet of code, through which advertisers will be able to better track app downloads, whether it came from Twitter and more."
Along came Musk
Over the past year, one of the main topics making headlines was Elon Musk's offer to buy Twitter for $44 billion. Since then, Musk has been trying to terminate the acquisition, claiming that he was not presented with all of the relevant data. Now, the issue is has gone to the courts.
When the takeover deal was in its infancy, Musk claimed Twitter had new opportunities, new ways of monetization and revenue streams, and that he could help with that. Twitter was criticized at that time, during the days of then-CEO Jack Dorsey, for setting a goal of 315 million daily users by the end of 2023 and increasing annual revenue to $7.5 billion - quite ambitious goals, even today.
Paderni cannot comment on Musk or his claims, but he points to the company’s new processes that should bring it closer to meeting those goals: "Historically, most of our revenue came from advertising. When we launched Twitter Blue [in June 2021, available only in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, N.T.], it was a new way for us to monetize our platform, in a subscription model.
"This was one of the significant milestones for us, because it is completely different from advertising. There are other options for monetization that are being reviewed and tested. But right now, these are our two revenue sources. This is where we are today and I’m optimistic about it and about what will come next." Paderni clarifies that the company intends to launch Twitter Blue in other markets, and that Israel is on the list.
And what about the metaverse ?
"It's an interesting topic," Paderni responds. "We won’t launch products in the short term, mainly because there are different ways of looking at this matter. What's for sure is that over a year and a half, Twitter has made a clear investment in Web 3, and in crypto and NFTs. We think Web 3 is still a top priority for Twitter and our current CEO Parag Agrawal, and is a clear long-term vision."
What’s the conversation in Israel?
What were Israelis talking about in 2021? According to Twitter, the tweet in Israel that received the most likes last year was that of the current Prime Minister, Yair Lapid, when he announced "I was able" to form a government. That tweet garnered over 15,000 likes, along with several other very popular tweets, most of which are also related to political figures: Gideon Sa'ar with "ignore the spin" in reaction to rumors he would join forces with Benjamin Netanyahu in the coming election (9,654 likes), and tweets by late night host Lior Shlain (11,833 likes) and his partner Minister of Transport and Road Safety Merav Michaeli (9,880 likes), announcing the birth of their son Uri.
Paderni explains the Israeli discourse, and breaks it down into several elements. "There are some conversations and discussions on Twitter that are important globally, like politics and sports. This is especially true for Ligat Ha'Al (Israel's top soccer league) - I think that Maccabi Tel Aviv is among the most ‘followed’ teams in Israel. There’s a very dominant conversation on the platform about it.
"The second type consists of conversations from the global arena that also affect Israel. Let's say, conversations around finance, trade and crypto, and we’ve seen a two-fold jump in growth from year to year. This is also very noticeable in Israel. The third type are discussions and conversations arising from the tech industry and the start-ups".
Federico Paderni
- Personal: 39 years old, married, father of two, Italian but has resided with his family in Ireland over the last decade.
- Professional: Has managed Twitter 's activities in Israel for the past three years including overseeing the company's advertising business in Israel. Began working at Twitter about a decade ago. Before that, he was at LinkedIn and Microsoft
- One thing more: Made a nighttime climb to the highest summit crater of Mount Etna, the active volcano on the east coast of the island of Sicily, when he was just 14 years old.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on October 2, 2022.
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