Elon Musk's Vision: Twitter's Transformation to X

Unveiling X: Elon Musk's audacious plan to reshape Twitter into "the everything app" - a transformative journey unfolds.

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Jul 30, 2023

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In the realm of tech titans, Elon Musk stands apart as an audacious visionary, ever yearning to break barriers and redefine possibilities. Long before he made headlines with his monumental $44 billion purchase of Twitter Inc., Musk tantalized the world with talks of an all-encompassing venture called "X." Like the enigmatic letter itself, the concept seemed vast, amorphous, and shrouded in intrigue. Then, with characteristic flair, Musk orchestrated a weekend spectacle in July, abruptly rebranding the influential social media platform into the enigmatic entity he had envisioned. Welcome to the dawn of X - the audacious cornerstone of Musk's vision to metamorphose Twitter into what he boldly refers to as "the everything app."

Let's embark on an exploration of the rebranding saga that is set to leave an indelible mark on the digital landscape.

1. Why did Twitter rebrand to X?

Musk wants to evolve the social media site from a public messaging service into something much broader, including a one-stop shop for financial assistance. The original name and blue bird logo made sense when the service was just 140 characters, “like birds tweeting,” he said. “X is the future state of unlimited interactivity — centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking — creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities,” said new Chief Executive Officer Linda Yaccarino. No specific products were announced, so it’s not clear what shape it will take.

2. Where did the name ‘X’ come from?

Musk has shown a personal affinity with the letter X. Consider that his electric carmaker Tesla Inc. makes a Model X, his rocket maker is known as SpaceX and X is what he calls his son with the singer Grimes, whose actual name includes symbols. He has compared his ambitions for Twitter with the vision he had for another entity called X.com, a financial services company he founded in 1999 that ultimately became PayPal Holdings Inc. When he was CEO, Musk wanted to broaden the platform and phase out the PayPal name, a move that eventually led to his ouster. In October, Musk tweeted that buying Twitter was “an accelerant” to creating X.

3. What’s an ‘everything app?’

The idea is to consolidate and bundle a variety of services into an app that handles most of what a user would need on their phone. In China, WeChat by Tencent Holdings Ltd. functions as effectively as its own operating system, fulfilling everything from digital payments and food delivery orders to booking flights, entertainment, and dentist appointments. In a July 24 tweet, Musk said that in the coming months, Twitter will add “comprehensive communications and the ability to conduct your entire financial world.” He didn’t provide details, but Musk has openly admired WeChat, which has grown into a mini-internet used daily by more than a billion Chinese.

4. What can be learned from WeChat?

Musk has mused aloud about making Twitter more useful, indicating he wants it to be more like WeChat and TikTok, the video-sharing service owned by ByteDance Ltd. WeChat is central to hundreds of millions of people’s digital lives because of its vibrant network of “mini programs” that connect directly to its app interface. It’s also one of the country’s most popular news and entertainment portals — combining the uses of apps like Facebook, Twitter, Uber, Instagram, and Substack. For Musk to realize his vision, he’ll have to turn Twitter from a monolithic news and conversation platform into one that hosts additional services and providers.

5. Has this been tried before in the US?

Tech platforms have long searched for ways to better monetize their customer base and product offerings. Several have tried to take on the banking behemoths, only to scrap their plans in the face of competition and regulatory scrutiny. Meta Platforms Inc. spent years investing in a project called Libra that was supposed to revolutionize cross-border payments but ultimately abandoned the push. Apple Inc. offers its own credit card, though banking partner Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is looking to exit the deal. Other endeavors, from Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Amazon.com Inc., never became a reality. Musk does have experience in financial technology from PayPal. But he has also created trust issues with his social network’s users by cutting staff, loosening content rules, and spurring technical matters. Recently, Twitter limited the amount its users — even the paying ones — could access the platform. People may be hesitant to manage their money on X during Musk’s erratic leadership.

6. Do users want a single app?

That’s unclear. Users in the US and Europe, at least, have so far shown a willingness to use multiple apps to accomplish their tasks, rather than wanting a one-stop shop. Several different messaging, social media, and banking platforms remain popular. “I know that there are other regions around the world, in particular Asia, where there are apps that have gone down this model,” said Meta Chief Financial Officer Susan Li in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “We haven’t seen that use case to the same extent in North America.”

7. What are Musk’s chances of success?

It’s hard to judge, based on the scarcity of concrete plans or strategies detailed by the company. The evidence suggests that Musk’s push to rebrand was an impromptu decision over the weekend of July 22, with the new logo being the product of a 24-hour crowdsourcing effort among Musk’s Twitter followers. The strength of his personal brand and the hundreds of millions of active Twitter/X users should not be taken lightly, but initially, at least, the X project was too immature to fairly assess. The envisioned X app will connect Twitter’s underlying infrastructure with X.com, a web address that for now was redirecting to Twitter.

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