The 'X' Factor

Not even a year since Elon Musk's historic $44 billion purchase of Twitter and the world's richest man is already trying to wash his hands of the social media company. While Twitter's former management was all too happy to dump the company's problems on anyone adventurous (read: stupid) enough to buy the business, the fact that Musk got duped into doing so will be remembered for years to come.

But instead of 'freeing' the bird like he promised, Musk now wants to bid adieu.

Left with what is effectively a failed experiment in running a social media business, Musk has decided to pull the plug on the Twitter branding and accelerate plans for the "everything app" known as X. Yup, Twitter is going to become 'X' in the near future and the announcement came from the man himself who has already begun brandishing his profile with the new branding.

Presumably, the shift to the everything app is being done to make Twitter profitable, something the company has struggled with since its inception. What that means for Twitter's existing goodwill is a whole different topic, but Musk is clearly bothered by the drop in the company's revenues.

Ironically, with Musk still in the driver’s seat, Twitter's actualCEO Linda Yaccarino feels like a puppet CEO. After Musk's announcement, Yaccarino took to Twitter to explain the thought process in what was essentially corporate speak.

"Yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, everything app" Yaccarino said.

So what will this 'everything' app entail? Well, based on everything we know so far, it's going to function like China's WeChat, a one-stop app that does literally everything, to the point that it is impossible to survive without it in the country. Just don't think too hard about how the Chinese government uses it to spy on its citizens and a bunch of other nasty stuff.

Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg is already trying to capitalize on the fallout of Twitter with his copycat app, Threads. However, Zuck's take on Twitter has barely been able to capture the imagination of the internet at large. It seems Threads is just as likely to suffer the same fate as the ones before it: lack of user engagement. Though what Zuck does to reverse this trend is yet to be seen.

In the meantime, let's toast to everything™.

Twitter ranked #34 on HackerNoon's Tech Company Rankings this week.

In Other News.. 📰

• OpenAI's Sam Altman launches Worldcoin crypto project — via Reuters.
• It’s Spotify’s turn to increase prices — via The Verge.
• Threads has lured some creators who never loved Twitter — now Meta has to keep them— via CNBC.
• With the rise of AI, social media platforms could face a perfect storm of misinformation in 2024 — via CNN.
• Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey urges ‘calm’ after Elon Musk eliminates the last traces of his original company — via Fortune.
• Leaders, experts offer artificial intelligence advice for real people — via Axios.

And that's a wrap! Don't forget to share this newsletter with your family and friends!

See y'all next week. PEACE! ☮️

— Sheharyar Khan, Editor, Business Tech @ HackerNoon