Musk gon’ give it to ya

When Elon Musk officially changed Twitter’s name and logo to the letter “X” on Monday, roughly 24 hours after first hinting at the move – it may have seemed like a spur-of-the-moment decision to wipe Twitter and its estimated $4 billion to $20 billion brand value completely off the map.

But according to industry experts and people close to Musk, the world’s richest man has consistently signaled his intention to transform Twitter into X since he first offered to buy the social media platform in April 2022.

🤔📱 So, what exactly is X?... Musk’s vision for the company formerly known as Twitter is an all-in-one app with nearly every service an online user could want in their daily life, similar to how WeChat currently operates in China.

These include:

• Text, audio, and video messaging
• Short- and long-form video content
• Mobile payments and banking
• Gaming
• E-commerce
• Ride-hailing

✋ Yes, but… Words like “tweet” and “retweet” have made their way into the everyday cultural lexicon. And critics say ditching the brand recognition Twitter has built up over the past 17 years carries significant risk, especially when the company is already facing financial and competitive challenges.

They also say it’s unlikely a WeChat-like superapp will be able to thrive in places like America or the EU, since unlike China – where many major apps like Facebook are banned from mobile stores – a high level of competition exists in each of the industries X is targeting.

📊 Flash poll: In your opinion, will X succeed as an “everything app” in the US?

Yes

No

Unsure/other