Since its acquisition, the social media platform “Twitter” has changed forever. But what does it mean?
Billionaire businessman and founder of SpaceX, Elon Musk, purchased and rebranded “Twitter” to “X” and has begun to roll out a variety of changes to alter the app’s functionality as well as its appearance and overall mission statement.
“Twitter was acquired by X Corp both to ensure freedom of speech and as an accelerant for X, the ‘everything app,’” Musk posted on X. “This is not simply a company renaming itself but doing the same thing. The Twitter name made sense when it was just 140-character messages going back and forth…but now you can post almost anything, including several hours of video.”
It is an ambitious prospect given what Twitter was used for prior to its X rebranding, but it has yet to inspire much confidence. It could be because of Elon Musk’s less-than-stellar reputation, or it could simply be because the changes seem unnecessary.
To be fair, there are potential upsides to an “everything app,” like not having to create countless logins and whatnot, but there are still numerous negatives to consider if the recent changes are anything to go by.
Some superfluous changes have been implemented like non-X users being unable to view content without a login, which Twitter permitted.
But then there are some petty changes being made, like how a system has been put in place to ensure that users will get banned upon mentioning or promoting other apps on X.
And then there are the bigger, more insensitive changes, like how X has gone out of its way to integrate systems that prohibit users from blocking people. With Twitter, blocking people was useful in case someone was mercilessly being harassed by a flock of angry Twitter users, but with this new change, now nobody is safe from social media harassment and dogpiling.
Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X, posted on her X account that the platform “is the future state of unlimited interactivity – centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services and opportunities. Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we are just beginning to imagine.”
Again, while ambitious, it seems naïve, and if the current changes are anything to go by, it may only incite stronger vitriol. Somehow even more than what Twitter already managed. Somehow.
On top of all that, X could potentially prove to become an even greater headache since, if Musk implements all the changes he wants, tons of people’s personal information and accounts would become accessible from a single, central, concentrated platform.
Security issues, login errors and privacy concerns would arise now more than ever. All this information would be entrusted in the problematic hands of Musk and his team.
With that being said, X has been taking its time with the roll out of its changes, so for those who want to jump the X ship, now would be a suitable time.
Elon’s determination to create a super “everything app” has led to Twitter getting needlessly updated and tinkered with, mostly to people’s dismay. Hopefully, Musk gets X together soon, to prevent both the collapse and erasure of what used to be Twitter and change all that he wants to before his ambition comes back to bite him.
