The app formerly known as Twitter recently announced a name change, which has caused quite a stir online. Twitter still invites users to “tweet,” despite the fact that X.com has been redirected to Twitter.com.”
The rebrand is an additional step in Twitter’s ongoing transformation.
According to CEO Linda Yaccarino, the social media platform wants to develop into an “everything app.”
Elon Musk, the company’s billionaire owner, wrote on Monday that Twitter had been acquired by X Corp “both to ensure freedom of speech and as an accelerant for X, the everything app.”
Now, what will the app do?
Musk has been outspoken about his desire to transform Twitter into a so-called super-app, comparable to WeChat in China. There isn’t currently a similar app available in America, but business insiders envision one that would allow users to perform virtually any online activity.
According to Nii Ahene, chief strategy officer of marketing company Tinuiti, “consumers of the app can do a lot of different things on the platform, whether it’s listen to a podcast, shop, or watch videos.”.
Twitter already enables users to have live audio conversations, send more detailed text messages, and broadcast videos, like the recently launched new show on the platform by former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Twitter may eventually decide to share some of the subscription revenue with users if its push into paid subscriptions is a success.
Why is the letter X there?
Musk named his first company X .com, suggesting that he has had a long-standing obsession with the letter X. (Despite Musk’s alleged push for it to retain the name X, according to biographer Walter Isaacson, the app eventually merged and became known as PayPal. Musk allegedly texted Isaacson after purchasing Twitter to express his excitement over “finally implementing X.com as it should have been done, using Twitter as an accelerant!”.
The letter X appears in many of Musk’s other projects as well, including his space exploration company SpaceX, his recently released artificial intelligence app xAI, and the Model X, one of the original Tesla models. Even his son from his relationship with singer Grimes, X, is mentioned by Musk.
He recently explained how to pronounce the name of his son X A-XII on the Joe Rogan Experience by saying, “It’s just X, the letter X.”
Six years ago, Musk reclaimed control of X.com. In April, he officially renamed Twitter to X Corp. Over the weekend, X.com was changed to Twitter.com, and on Monday, a crane started to take down Twitter’s recognizable bird logo from its San Francisco headquarters. Police quickly put a stop to the work, though.
How does this affect Twitter?
The platform’s rebranding currently only involves a name change; no new features have been added, adhering to Musk’s ostensible preferred product strategy of building hype first and delivering features much later.
However, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mandeep Singh, the name change suggests Musk will probably continue to be in charge of the business for the foreseeable future. Some observers thought Musk, who acquired Twitter in April 2022, could make some changes to the company and then quickly sell it to another owner, Singh said.
Given the name change, he said, “That option is no longer an option, and I don’t believe any other potential buyer will take it at this time.”.
