By: Natalie Duke
Within the last week, you may have noticed some changes to your social apps. One in particular used to be a distinct bright blue bird which has now been replaced with a black icon stamped with the white letter ‘X’ in the middle of it.
July 23rd, 2023 was when Elon Musk’s social network made its big debut rebranding from the previously known Twitter to ‘X’. The name has familiarity with Musk’s other projects such as his first creation of X.com, SpaceX, and Tesla’s model X. Since Musk has now acquired a social media platform of his own, this means he is in the race against other dominating social media outlets and their owners such as Mark Zuckerberg, the original creator of Facebook which is now known as Meta. Musk is not only going head-to-head with individuals but also industry-dominating social platforms owned by other mega-corporations such as YouTube (owned by Google) and LinkedIn (owned by Microsoft).
Musk claims that the platform has been undergoing more than just a few changes. According to X’s CEO Linda Yaccarino, she had stated: “To our passionate, growing communities of movie buffs, sports fanatics, tech trailblazers, and the world over -- the future of X belongs to YOU – blaze your glory!” It looks as though X will be releasing more features that are geared toward creators.
With numerous updates rolling out, we have listed a few eye-catching changes below:
6/19 | Blue subscribers can now create long-form posts expanded up to 25,000 characters
7/13 | Content creators had their first revenue payout
7/17 | A community spotlight module was added for professional profiles
7/25 | Video download feature became available to verified users
It looks like there will be more updates and changes coming soon. However, outside of content-creating curators, what does this mean for companies and digital businesses? Yaccarino shared on her own X account the following statement “X 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’re just beginning to imagine.”
As X makes these changes for their users, we will be taking notes from the sideline. It will be interesting to see if the previously known Tweeting platform can regain its bird wings and take flight with its new branding, or if it will succumb to being another social media app infiltrating its users by pushing ads at every swipe and scroll.
As of today, if you punch into your search engine https://x.com, you will be redirected to what previously was known as Twitter, but with a new X branded on the site. If you are not already on the platform you can create your X account today after filling out their 5 simple steps.
May the race still continue! We look forward to analyzing how audiences work with these changes and how the app develops in the upcoming months.