Elon Musk needs to rebrand Twitter – this is why it will be such an unlimited problem

If somebody instructed you to sort x.com into your browser, you’d understandably be moderately suspicious.

But that is what Elon Musk needs you to do to go to the location previously – in his thoughts not less than – often called Twitter.

Nine months after the world’s richest man bought one of the world’s most popular social media platforms, the most important rebrand he has lengthy threatened has begun.

Twitter’s iconic bird logo has vanished, changed by a generic X, as a part of an audacious transition into “the everything app” that handles excess of simply your need to get into arguments with strangers on-line.

What is ‘the all the things app’?

Audio, video, and even banking shall be among the many core options, says chief govt Linda Yaccarino, impressed by Musk’s admiration for China‘s all-encompassing WeChat app.

More than one billion folks use WeChat for all the things from enjoying video games and making funds, in addition to conventional social media options like public posting, personal messaging, and sharing images.

Musk would love such a person base for X – it might definitely assist an organization that is lengthy been unprofitable and is saddled with debt grow to be a extra sustainable enterprise.

But it might require a stark change within the path of the way in which the platform’s winds have been blowing.

From verification checkmarks going behind a paywall, to applying reading limits and reinstating controversial banned accounts like these of Andrew Tate and Donald Trump, Musk’s selections to this point have seen many customers and advertisers alike search pastures new.

‘Huge problem’ to rebrand Twitter

But no matter your impression of the platform, there isn’t any doubting its affect.

“Tweet” has grow to be as synonymous with communication as electronic mail or textual content messages. It’s in each the Cambridge and Oxford dictionaries. And simply consider what number of news bulletins and articles start with these fateful phrases: “[Insert politician’s name here] has tweeted…”

Ed East, chief govt of social media consultancy Billion Dollar Boy, instructed Sky News that Twitter has grow to be “engrained in society”. Forcing its customers – and the world – to adapt shall be a “huge challenge”.

Read extra:
Why are so many apps adopting the same look?
How Boris Johnson’s premiership collapsed on Twitter

Musk could also be taking a web page out of rival Mark Zuckerberg‘s e-book by making an attempt to alter what for a lot of has grow to be a poisoned model.

But even in his desperation to distract folks from how poisonous the Facebook title had grow to be following a sequence of moderation and information privateness scandals, Zuckerberg did not go as far, with Facebook placed under new parent company name Meta moderately than the platform itself altering too.

Of course, it is Meta that poses the most important menace to Musk’s platform, with its unashamedly related Threads having grow to be the fastest growing app in history earlier this month.

Imitation is the sincerest type of flattery relating to social media, and Zuckerberg has proved the grasp of copying from rivals. What Musk should show is whether or not Twitter customers are longingly taking a look at WeChat.

He could have performed a pivotal function within the founding of PayPal, however it’s tough to envisage anybody taking a look at how Twitter’s been run this previous yr and pondering: “Now there’s a company I’d trust to manage my banking.”

From free chook to lifeless chook

But in the end, Musk has lengthy proven a disregard for what others take into consideration how he ought to run issues.

Having been all however compelled to purchase Twitter after trying to back out of his initial offer in April 2022, he has appeared to search out probably the most enjoyment in merely changing into its predominant character.

And given he is the founding father of SpaceX and infamously named one of his children X, the title change ties the platform extra intently than ever to Musk’s private model.

Never thoughts “the bird is free”, as Musk tweeted shortly after his takeover, it is now lifeless – and Musk would not need anybody in any doubt as to who killed it.

X is being given to us, whether or not we prefer it or not.