Twitter’s Rebrand to X: What To Know
Bird is no longer the word for this social media platform, as Elon Musk officially rebrands Twitter to X. Starting with the name and logo change, the rebrand will slowly phase in new features. Although there is minimal information in regards to what the new Twitter will look like, here is what you need to know.
History of Twitter
In 2006, Twitter launched their “microblog” format which was inspired by SMS messaging. The 140 character limit forced concise thoughts, opinions, or one-liners. The platform saw great prosperity in its first few years and continues to hold a position amongst the major social media platforms. Over the 17 years of it’s life, Twitter grew to include character limit extension (up to 240 characters), profile customization, retweets, quote tweets, threads, and more. But it generally kept to sharing short text-based updates.
Fun fact: Twitter is also known for being the first place to inaugurate hashtags into social networking. The intended purpose, which still holds true today, was to categorize user-generated content into topics. That way, users could search for their subjects of interest, and algorithms can recommend similar content.
After 17+ years of Twitter, it’s officially bye-bye birdie and hello to X.
What is X?
Who better to explain this than the executive Chairman and Chief Technology Officer, Elon Musk. In a tweet from July 24, 2023, Musk wrote;
“Twitter was acquired by X Corp both to ensure freedom of speech and as an accelerant for X, the “everything app”… now you can post almost anything, including several hours of video… we will add comprehensive communications and the ability to conduct your entire financial world.”
Although there has yet to be clear communication on when these features will be phased in, or what they will look like, it’s clear that the platform will be completely different than what it was. For example, the ability to “conduct your entire financial world” is indistinct and has us wondering what the intention of the platform has become.
It will be interesting to see X’s vision come to life over the next few months. With that in mind, there have been some note-worthy monetary additions to the platform.
Monetization on X
Previously, ad revenue was the main income source for Twitter. This was famously the demise of the decommissioned subsidiary Vine. With millions of users at its prime, Vine stars began to surge and diminish with the inability to financially compensate top creators for their content. Now, years after the Vine-era ended, Musk has launched a creator Ad Revenue Share program. This allows qualifying users the ability to earn money from their content creation. The “Subscription” option, similar to Patreon and other services, is an additional income stream for accounts that offer exclusive content to subscribers.
Verification Badge and Golden Checkmark
A note-worthy addition to the platform’s revenue is the paid-for verification badge. Back in the Twitter days, the renowned blue check mark symbolized authentication for celebrity, business, government, and other reputable pages with a large following. Now, any personal account that meets the criteria can be verified for $8 per month. For brands, a Willy Wonka-worthy golden check mark will be given – at a price. Brands that have spent a minimum of $1000 in ads on Twitter over the last 30 days or those willing to pay $1000 per month will be as good as gold. This has come with discounted ad pricing to encourage participation. The new “Twitter Blue” tiers have various features available respectively, which differs from the monochromatic accounts Twitter offered.
Quick Recap
If you are looking for a Twitter-like platform that offers short-form, easy-to-digest content, X does not mark the spot. However, competitors are quickly rising to the challenge, with public opinion suggesting that Instagram’s new text-first app extension Threads will likely replace Twitter.
At this point, the jury is still out on the new platform, but we don’t have much hope for Musk’s direction.
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