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Tesla’s new social media manager used a sheep to land the job

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6 years ago

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Tesla has a new social media manager, and fans of the all-electric car maker were recently privy to the most important, very public part of the position’s hiring process in the form of a Twitter laugh challenge with CEO Elon Musk. Not many job seekers begin their journey to employment this way, but not many people inspire Musk to swap his profile picture for something they’ve posted on the internet, either. The new hire’s name is Adam Koszary, and he starts his new job in July.

If you follow Elon Musk closely on the platform (or are an avid Twitter user in general), you may recognize Koszary’s work as Programme Manager and Digital Lead for The Museum of English Rural Life (The MERL). More specifically, you’ve probably seen an Exmoor Horn aged ram (i.e., a big sheep) show up on your Twitter feed in various meme-type forms if not in its original glory: “look at this absolute unit.”

The phrase “absolute unit” is used online to jokingly refer to anything that’s large in size or stature relevant to its nature.

In April last year, The MERL shared its now-famous sheep photo and caption on Twitter, and the post went viral shortly thereafter. Fast forwarding to this year, MIT’s Technology Review Twitter account used a similar meme strategy to direct attention to an article it published about the first flight of Stratolaunch, the world’s largest aircraft. “Look at the size of this absolute unit,” MIT wrote alongside a link to the piece.

Musk later replied to MIT’s tweet with The MERL’s sheep photo, saying “I’m an absolute unit too.” He then changed his account profile picture and bio to reference the same sheep, and The MERL responded in kind by changing its Twitter photo to an image of Musk. The museum also changed its name to The Muskeum of Elongish Rural Life temporarily. Adam Koszary was apparently behind those clever jokes sent from The MERL’s account, and they’ve now earned him the new job with Tesla.

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Providing a source of amusement for Musk isn’t the only hiring qualification Koszary has, of course. His work with the museum’s social media account brought in some serious results in terms of engagement with an online audience. Before the museum’s sheep tweet went viral, its Twitter account had around 9700 followers. Today, that count is up to 133,000.

Tesla and Musk’s position on product advertising is clear – they don’t do it. Keeping that in mind, hiring on a social media manager with a proven track record of audience generation looks to be a smart move for the brand. Also, it’s just fun to see in action. While Koszary’s position is said to start in July, Tesla’s corporate Twitter account has already been warming up its audience for his style of social media engagement.

Earlier this month, the car maker began tweeting with a notable level of wit, sass, humor, and tons of attitude not previously demonstrated. Rather than keeping to its usual professional tone and business-oriented subject matters, tweets and responses were suddenly sharp and sarcastic in ways reminiscent to how Wendy’s Twitter account handles its social media platform. The response to the change from Tesla’s audience was overwhelmingly positive, and by bringing Koszary on board, it looks like the new voice of the company is here to stay.

Koszary’s creds for social media management were further on display in a column he published on Medium last November wherein several points of advice were offered to any institution looking to repeat MERL’s type of success on Twitter or other platforms. “If you want people to have a conversation with you, you’re going to have to have a bit more personality. This doesn’t mean being funny. This means being more relaxed in how you address and discuss things with people so they feel like they’re talking to a real person,” he recommended in the piece. “Social media is social, so be social.”

Overall, if the Twitter affair with Elon Musk was Koszary’s interview for his new position as Tesla’s social media manager, his post on Medium could be considered a type of work sample attached to his resume. All things considered, the parties look like a good matchup for an amusing and engaging ride ahead for everyone.

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Accidental computer geek, fascinated by most history and the multiplanetary future on its way. Quite keen on the democratization of space. | It's pronounced day-sha, but I answer to almost any variation thereof.

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Tesla’s new Robotaxi geofence shape is an FU by Elon Musk to the competition

Maybe it’s all pareidolia. But maybe it’s not. After all, Tesla embraced the first geofence expansion for what it appeared to be.

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6 hours ago

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August 4, 2025

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tesla austin robotaxi geofence and elon musk laugh from meme review

Tesla expanded its Robotaxi geofence in Austin once again early Sunday morning. The new shape seems to be somewhat of a proverbial, and potentially literal, middle finger to the competition.

If you thought the first expansion was a message to the competition and doubters of the company’s ride-hailing service, you probably will believe the second expansion is an even stronger gesture.

Tesla’s first expansion did not go unnoticed, as its shape was particularly recognizable. The company has always operated with a sense of humor, and it embraced what it did. Some, including me, took it as a message to competitors: We can expand in any direction, in any size, at any time. We’ll prove it.”

They picked a shape and went with it:

Tesla’s Robotaxi expansion wasn’t a joke, it was a warning to competitors

It is evident that Tesla is keeping its humor up to continue to show a few things. The first is that it really can expand in any direction it wants and that’s how it is choosing to show it.

The second, well, maybe it’s an edgier way to show doubters that it is really executing on Robotaxi:

Maybe it’s all pareidolia. But maybe it’s not. After all, Tesla embraced the first geofence expansion for what it appeared to be. This might be a similar occurrence, and it might be sending another message to the competition, critics, and doubters.

The expansion was a near-doubling of the geofence Tesla offered previously. After the initial geofence covered just about 20 square miles, Tesla was able to more than double it to 42 square miles with the first growth. This new geofence shape was just under double, and is about 80 square miles.

Tesla’s rapid expansion has impressed many, especially considering the service area has roughly doubled for the second time in well under two months. The Robotaxi service was first offered on June 22.

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Elon Musk

Tesla executes ‘a must’ with Musk as race to AI supremacy goes on: Wedbush

Dan Ives of Wedbush says Tesla made the right move getting Elon Musk his pay package.

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9 hours ago

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August 4, 2025

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Steve Jurvetson, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) executed what Wedbush’s Dan Ives called “a must” this morning as it finalized a new pay package for its CEO Elon Musk.

The move helped give Musk his first meaningful compensation at Tesla since 2017, when the company offered a pay package that was based on performance and proven growth. That package was approved by shareholders on two separate occasions, but was denied to Musk both times by the Delaware Chancery Court.

On Monday, Tesla announced on X that it had created a new package that would give 96 million shares of restricted stock to Musk to compensate him for the “immense value generated for Tesla and all our shareholders.”

The details of the pay package are designed to retain Musk, who has voiced some concerns about his control of Tesla, as “activist shareholders” have used lawsuits to disrupt the previously approved package.

You can read all the details of it here:

Tesla rewards CEO Elon Musk with massive, restricted stock package

Ives says Musk’s retention is ‘a must’

Ives said in a note to investors on Monday that with the raging AI talent war that Tesla made a smart move by doing what it could to retain Musk.

He wrote:

“With the AI talent war now fully underway across Big Tech, we believe this was a strategic move to keep TSLA’s top asset, Musk, would stay focused at the company with his priority being to bolster the company’s growth strategy over the coming years. With this interim award increasing Musk’s voting rights upon this grant, which Musk honed in on and mentioned was increasingly important to incentivize him to stay focused on the matters at hand, this was a strategic move by the Board to solidify Musk as CEO of Tesla over the coming years with this framework for Musk’s pay package and greater voting control removing a major overhang on the story.”

He went on to say:

“While the groundwork is now in place for the next few years, it will be critical for the Tesla Board of Directors to get this long-term compensation strategy in place prior to the company’s November 6th shareholder meeting which would address the elephant in the room and remove a significant overhang on the stock.”

Wedbush maintained its Outperform rating and its $500 price target on the stock.

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk reveals ideal timeline for insane self-driving feature

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has extremely optimistic expectations for Full Self-Driving progress by the end of 2025.

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12 hours ago

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August 4, 2025

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has revealed his ideal timeline for what would likely be the most insane self-driving feature: the ability for drivers to play video games at the wheel.

There are a handful of videos out there of drivers already performing this task. Nobody using Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite should perform these activities, as the company maintains the system is not fully autonomous.

Drivers are responsible for the vehicle and should be prepared to take over.

Tesla has put a lot of faith in its development of Full Self-Driving and has made tremendous strides over the past few years. Capabilities have gotten more refined and accurate through various methods, including data collection and hardware improvements.

Tesla kicks Robotaxi geofence expansion into high gear in Austin

It has gotten so good that Tesla launched a Robotaxi platform in Austin, Texas, on June 22. Passengers can hop in the back of a Model Y and will be transported around the city in a confined geofence that is about 90 square miles in size. There is nobody in the driver’s seat, but there is a Safety Monitor in the passenger’s seat.

Tesla launched a similar experience in California’s Bay Area last week, but the company has placed the Safety Monitor in the driver’s seat for that region for the time being.

Eventually, Tesla will get to a point where no monitor is needed, and the vehicles will be able to drive themselves. Many believe that it is a few years away, but Musk believes Tesla could achieve it very soon.

After a video of someone playing Grand Theft Auto in their Cybertruck while operating Full Self-Driving was shared on the social media platform X, Musk said this capability would be available in “probably 3 to 6 months, depending on regulatory approval in your city and state.”

It is important to remember that Musk has been very optimistic regarding autonomy timelines with Tesla projects. We heard for many years that the company would have self-driving vehicles “by the end of the year,” and those projects did not come to fruition.

While there was progress, there were no fully autonomous vehicles or software versions for customers.

With that being said, Tesla has made tremendous strides in its quest for autonomous vehicles this year, and launching a Robotaxi platform was a huge step in the right direction.

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