Elon Musk X: Everything everywhere all at once

Musk's Twitter rebranding points to his larger plans for the social media company linked to his vision for a new kind of social media platform that does "everything" that he has called "X" in the past.

A new super-app

Musk indicated in May of 2022 that he might look for inspiration from Tencent's WeChat, a Chinese social media giant that's one of the largest super-apps in the world. The app acts as an all-encompassing service that includes messaging and video chatting, video games, photo sharing, ride services, food delivery, banking, and shopping.

"If you're in China, you kind of live on WeChat," he said. "It does everything — sort of like Twitter, plus PayPal, plus a whole bunch of things, and all rolled into one, with a great interface. It's really an excellent app, and we don't have anything like that outside of China."

Last year Musk told his staff there was a "real opportunity" to create a similar app outside of China.

"I think if we could achieve that, or even close to that with Twitter, it would be an immense success," he said.

Matt Navarra, a top social media consultant, told Insider last year that Musk could turn Twitter into a "mini-app" within his larger platform.

Musk has also discussed creating a social media platform built on a blockchain. He is known for his love of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Dogecoin.

Last April, the billionaire privately outlined his idea for a "Doge" social media platform in texts to his younger brother, Kimbal Musk. The messages were made public as part of Musk's court battle with Twitter.

"I have an idea for a blockchain social media system that does both payments and short text messages/links like Twitter," Musk texted. "You have to pay a tiny amount to register your message on the chain, which will cut out the vast majority of spam and bots."

Musk said the site would have a "massive real-time database" that would keep permanent copies of messages and followers, and a "Twitter-like app on your phone" that can access the database in the cloud.

In February, the Financial Times reported that the billionaire plans to add crypto functionality to Twitter after the site is approved for payments. The social media company has applied for a series of licenses to allow the platform to process payments, a major feature of super apps like WeChat, per the FT.

A subscription model

Musk's idea for a blockchain-based platform feeds into some of his discussions around Twitter's revenue model.

The billionaire has repeatedly expressed his distaste for ads, but advertising makes up the vast majority of Twitter's revenue. In a since-deleted tweet from last April, Musk said the company should exist without ads.

Elon Musk overhauled Twitter Blue in an attempt to boost subscription revenue when he bought the company.

Instead, Musk has talked about making money from the social media site via alternative methods, including charging some users to be on the site. Shortly after buying Twitter, Musk began charging users for the app's blue check mark.

The billionaire has also noted the app could help foster payments directly to users. The company launched a "Tips" feature in 2021 that includes an option to pay users with Bitcoin.

"It's important for content creators to have a revenue share," Musk said at a May event for the "All-In" podcast.

Earlier this month, Twitter rolled out ad revenue sharing to some users who qualified, with some accounts reporting that they received as much as $100,000 from the feature.

Source: Insider Africa