One billionaire can only do so much damage, as evidenced by Elon Musk's careless rebranding of "X," the "everything app," from Twitter.
The solution may be more intricate and engrossing than the erratic man-child himself.
Musk intends to transform the social media platform once known as "Twitter" into a WeChat-like "everything app." This ostensibly means that "X" now designates the location of a developing platform for chat, news, banking, shopping, streaming video, and other services.
Musk intends to transform the social media platform once known as "Twitter" into a WeChat-like "everything app." This ostensibly means that "X" now designates the location of a developing platform for chat, news, banking, shopping, streaming video, and other services.
What is the X Elon Musk Everything App?
Consider a single app that contains the whole functionality of an operating system like iOS or Android, allowing you to do everything from text a buddy to watch breaking news to buy a hamburger, look for a suit, and pay your rent. You might have just one app on your phone instead of 100, and it could be called "X."
Essentially a mashup of PayPal, YouTube, TikTok, WeChat, Venmo, Amazon, Medium, and Google Search, Musk's ambition is a global powerhouse. It is a blatant attempt by Musk to seize more wealth, authority, and the title of "king of the nerds," which he has been waiting a very long time to claim.
Why doesn’t an “everything app” already exist in America?
Musk is not the first to pursue a universal app similar to China's popular WeChat. It has long been the Holy Grail for tech titans in Silicon Valley who are clamoring for more money and influence.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, outlined intentions for WhatsApp to develop in 2019 to become a platform for "calls, video chats, groups, stories, businesses, payments, commerce, and ultimately a platform for many other kinds of private services." Evidently, it hasn't materialized.
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The CEOs of Uber and Snap invested much on this idea as well, but to no avail. Making a universal software is more challenging in America than it is in China. In addition to increased regulatory and antitrust scrutiny, we now face concerns about consumer trust and privacy.
Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, doesn't really care about those laws, and he'll probably 'double dog dare' anyone who attempts to stop him.
I may have more real-time information about the state of the world's economy in my head than anyone else ever thanks to Tesla, Starlink, and Twitter, Musk tweeted in April.
That sentence terrifies me since it is unfavorable for all of us and it is likely true.
Why did Elon Musk change Twitter’s name?
Musk probably wants to make amends with the influential Silicon Valley figures who fired him the last time he attempted to rebrand an app as "X."
Musk founded X.com, an online finance startup, in 1999; it later merged with PayPal. Musk was appointed CEO of the newly formed business and pushed for a name change to "X."
In The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley's Pursuit of Power, Bloomberg journalist and author Max Chafkin describes how Musk was fixated on renaming PayPal to X at a time when the payment business was, like Twitter, popular but losing money.
Chafkin claims that Musk disregarded focus groups that disliked the moniker X due to it conjuring images of pornography among other things. In part because he continued to promote the makeover, Musk was fired within a year. Is this Musk's method of settling an old score in the present? Probably.
According to Isaacson, Musk began planning the X makeover before finalizing the $44 billion purchase of Twitter last year. Additionally, Musk told Isaacson that X "can easily be a trillion-dollar corporation.
What’s changed now that Twitter is called X?
Currently, it is the same as Twitter, albeit with a new name and logo that most users absolutely despise.
A short search of the app store for "Twitter" reveals the simple black "X" logo, the new tagline "Blaze your glory," and an increase in unfavorable reviews:
"Don't want to use X; it sounds like a porn site."
the phrase "Burn in hell."
"Poor site. poor app. Adorable rebrand.
Early in August, Anthony Bartolacci of Market Intelligence Company Sensor Tower retrieved the most recent usage statistics. Even while more individuals had downloaded the Twitter/X app over the previous week, "installs grew 20% week-over-week," he claimed that engagement had decreased.
The most recent usage figures were retrieved by Anthony Bartolacci of Market Intelligence Company Sensor Tower at the beginning of August. He stated that although more people had downloaded the Twitter/X app over the previous week, "installs grew 20% week-over-week," engagement had dropped.
Numbers from the internet analytics company Similarweb confirm these findings. According to statistics it provided to USA Today, Musk's branding temporarily increased site traffic, particularly from Android and web browsers, but it hasn't necessarily had a positive impact on sales.
The corporation continues to lose customers' trust, employees' trust, and money (it has lost two-thirds of its value since Musk took over).
Why was the X removed?
He supported the placement of the company's obnoxious luminous "X" logo sign, which was put up on the roof of the San Francisco offices on July 28.
Without getting permission, the business erected the sign and took it down three days later. But that was after at least a dozen neighbors raised concerns about the strobe lights from the signs blasting into their bedrooms at all hours, not to mention the possible safety hazards of a partially sandbag-secured steel sign on top of a tall structure in a seismically active area.
The amount of money, time, and effort this sign gaffe cost the business, the building's landlord, and the city could have been much better used to address a real issue, like the large number of homeless people hiding out in the shadows of the very "doom spiral" (as Musk recently posted about San Francisco).
Subscribers to X Blue can now conceal the blue checkmarks they paid for.
Speaking of the doom spiral, can you picture being so arrogant that your flippant tweet, um, Xeet, erm, post may destroy one of history's most enduring and renowned brands? (At the moment, the official term for what you do on the X app, other from squandering time you'll never get back, is "posting," though Musk speculates that someday it may be referred to as X's. (Insert snarky face emoji.)
Speaking of the doom spiral, can you picture being so arrogant that your flippant tweet, um, Xeet, erm, post may destroy one of history's most enduring and renowned brands? (At the moment, the official term for what you do on the X app, other from squandering time you'll never get back, is "posting," though Musk speculates that someday it may be referred to as X's. (Insert snarky face emoji.)Speaking of the doom spiral, can you imagine being so conceited that one of history's most enduring and well-known businesses may be destroyed by your flippant tweet, sorry, Xeet, er, post? (At the moment, the official term for what you do on the X app, other than wasting time you'll never get back, is "posting,"
What does Musk have to say about all of this? He uploaded a photo of himself wearing a "I love Canada" shirt, but he changed the word "Canada" to read "anal" with the help of his jacket.
Possibly amusing if you're 12 years old. When will Elon Musk mature, though, if he truly wields the kind of global influence that he claims to?
Any other successful businessperson could consider this an excellent opportunity to gain a tiny bit of consumer, advertiser, and even regulatory confidence.
He could at least be a little more cautious while destroying a legendary brand and expecting everyone to hand over even more trust, private information, and ultimately money.
Consumer technology columnist and on-air correspondent Jennifer Jolly is a recipient of an Emmy Award. The author's thoughts and opinions are his or her own and may not necessarily represent those of USA TODAY. Send her an email at JJ@Techish.com.