Twitter has discarded its iconic bird logo as part of a move to rebrand the social network as X.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk has replaced Twitter’s iconic blue bird with “X” to reflect what his ambitions to transform the social media platform to an “everything app.”
The latest change in the infamous social network has come as a shock to most users, with some anticipating yet more changes in the near future.
Since acquiring Twitter in a $44 billion deal, the Tesla tycoon has voiced his ambitions to turn the platform into a WeChat-style “super app” with numerous functions in one site.
“If you’re in China, you kind of live on WeChat; it does everything. It’s sort of like Twitter, plus PayPal, plus a whole bunch of other things. And all rolled into one […] great interface. It’s really an excellent app,” said the controversial businessman.
As explained by Dan Murray-Serter, Twitter is transforming from the uncomplicated platform that captured the attention of billions to a converged social media medium that supplies instant messaging and payment services, akin to the famed Chinese app WeChat.
Changing features
After rebranding the Twitter name to X, the new domain name will be http://x.com, with the old logo vanishing.
In a tweet this month, Musk also implied that a change could be made from “followers” to “viewers.”
Several changes will also be made concerning creators on the platform in terms of payouts and updates. As stated by Dan, creators will be paid for profile visits, and Musk’s new platform will no longer require influencers to have 5M impressions per month.
More importantly, users won’t need to have a subscription button.
Ad sharing will also be available for creators in several countries, including Qatar, Algeria, Gambia, Botswana, Nigeria, South Korea, and several others.
“You’ll soon also be paid for ads appearing when others view your profile page, approximately doubling payouts,” said the South African-born entrepreneur.
Stressing that ad revenues are the priority, Musk has dealt with a company cash flow that remains negative because of a nearly 50 percent drop in advertising revenue and a heavy debt load since his acquisition.
Bookmarks will also be changed as there will be shifts in the system with
(bookmark from timeline), (bookmark search functionality) and weekly emails with saved bookmarks.
Moreover, Twitter’s new rollout of updates will set the record straight on shadow banning.
Twitter will also display shadowbans immediately on user accounts, Elon confirmed.
Includes:
• The active shadowban
• The reason for shadowbanning
• Potential solutions to get out of Twitter Jail pic.twitter.com/GYaynE3pwN— Dan (@danmurrayserter) July 24, 2023
A display of shadowbans immediately will be placed on user accounts, including the reason for the ban and potential solutions to revoke the restrictions.
Before the “revamp” of Twitter, shadowbanning occurred when posts or activity weren’t viewable to other users, including never receiving an official ban or notification.
With countless bots and fake accounts on the social media page, the coming update will allow users to report a scam easily. Complaints have been made as the existing scam reporting system is tedious and lengthy, requiring several steps from users.
Meanwhile, speculations on further changes have run rampant, with some pointing to a potential dating platform, an e-commerce platform, and integration with food ordering apps can more being integrated with Twitter.
However, Musk has not always followed through on his public pronouncements and has appeared to entertain ideas on his account.
In October of last year, he tweeted that the company would create a content moderation council to judge what kind of speech is acceptable on the site.
It’s still being determined whether Twitter will become an all-in-one app, as Musk has expressed his super app can be built on something other than Twitter.
“It could be something new, but I think this thing needs to exist,” said the billionaire, adding that there must be a “maximally trusted and inclusive” platform where individuals can perform various digital tasks and essential ideas are discussed.
“We just want something that’s incredibly useful and that people love using. It does need to happen somehow.”
