Twitter is Dead! – Will ‘X’ Survive?

Twitter is dead, everything from the bird logo, to the name has been laid to rest. ‘X’ has taken its place. Ever since Elon Musk took the helm of the social media platform, there’s been a never ending stream of headlines surrounding the enigmatic billionaire. One of the first moves Musk made was to take the platform from public to private, essentially giving him carte blanche to do as he pleased. A number of massive changes are expected, and here we see the first major change.

There are many ways to approach this sudden change. Some look at this as a desperate move from its billionaire owner, others see this as a confusing move. Even former President Donald Trump has been dismissive of the platform, interesting given that Truth Social has experienced an unprecedented level of success. Here’s what really matters, despite any critics, can ‘X’ survive the ensuing social media wars?

Changing the name from ‘Twitter’ to ‘X’ is a re-branding attempt. It’s not unheard of, major companies have done this before. Sometimes to great effect, other times not so much. The idea is to get rid of a pre-existing image people have in their minds. Elon Musk isn’t stupid, he knows full well that Twitters name has been dragged through the mud for far too long. In order to re-build a platform that was on the decline, you have to change the perception of people. It isn’t easy, but it can be done. Only Musk can’t refer to himself as the ‘chief twit’ any more.

If Musk wants to re-define the platform then he’ll need to change a lot more than the name. Musk has discussed bringing in content creators, expanding the current text/video limits of the platform and possibly even adding a trading feature. Interesting, but there’s another dimension to all of this that no one has considered.

Several years ago Elon Musk discussed his desire to create what he called the ‘X app’, or the ‘everything app’. He claimed it would be a single app with every feature you would ever need, all your shopping, business and social media would all be done on this single app. Given that Musk literally reaches for the stars no one payed him much attention at the time. It just seemed like another half-baked scheme.

I want to point out a commonly overlooked fact; Elon Musk overpaid for Twitter, by a lot. Professional economic analysts analyzed Twitters worth at around 20-25 billion dollars, on a good day. Musk paid 44 billion. Nobody overpays for anything just because they happen to have spare twenty billion dollars lying around. So what did we miss?

It seems the mistake that everyone made was to assume that Musk made the deal purely to get Twitter, instead of seeing the broader picture. This is all about creating the ultimate app, this supposed ‘everything app’ and he needed Twitter to serve as the foundation.

All right, so let’s review. Elon Musk makes the decision to buy Twitter, overpaying by 20 billion dollars ensuring that a surprise buyer doesn’t swoop in and snatch up the company. He then takes the company from public to private, giving him carte blanche to do as he pleases with it. He goes through a house cleaning session essentially getting rid of all unnecessary personnel. This allows him to custom-build his team from scratch. To summarize what has happened; Musk has taken Twitter and razed the platform to its very foundations. Changing the name to ‘X’ was the final phase of his plan. Now the way has been paved for the ‘everything app’ to actually happen.

If Musk is only trying to create another social media platform, then he has probably lost the biggest gamble of his career. If he is in fact attempting to use the bones of Twitter and integrate it into his ‘master app’, then perhaps this would work.

What would this ‘everything app’ even look like? Also, why would such a thing be necessary? Once again, we need to take a step back. If this ‘everything app’ is really in the works, then how would such a strange product come to market? Do you release it onto every major app store? That would be a headache in and of itself. Not only that, but how would you even turn this into a profitable venture? Do you put out a subscription service? None of that really make sense. The sheer magnitude of such a venture would also hamper the whole ‘occupy Mars’ project. So what is actually going on?

Several years back Musk made another announcement. He discussed the Model Pi, designed to be a truly unique smartphone. He made some vague references to integrating the Model Pi with Starlink, SpaceX and also mentioned his ‘X’ app. We have to bear in mind that Musk seems to have taken Einstein’s theory of time being relative quite literally. If he’s announced a project, there’s no way of knowing what the status actually is. It could be nothing more than a sketch on a restaurant napkin by the time he announces it. Nobody has heard anything about the Model Pi since the announcement. Now with the Twitter/X buyout, it appears that the groundwork for the Model Pi has been laid.

There’s a lot of speculation about the future of ‘X’, from my viewpoint, what Elon Musk will do is continue to build upon the ‘X’ platform and forge his ‘everything app’. If and when the Model Pi really does see production then the phone will probably debut with exclusive ‘X’ integration. There’s no point in attempting to fuse ‘X’ into every other app store, it would become a massive drain on resources. Users will probably be able to continue using the current media platform, but if they want to take advantage of all the upcoming features, then they’ll need to buy a Model Pi. This would solve another issue facing the Model Pi’s production; the app store. Rather than deal with third party developers, Musk will cut out the middleman so to speak. There won’t be an app store at all, instead everything will be handled from this one app. Exactly how this is supposed to work, I don’t know. How will people’s Amazon or Google accounts be synchronized? To say nothing of Netflix or restaurant delivery services. Will people still be able to post their photos and videos onto other media platforms part from X? If Musk attempts this approach, then there is a lot to consider. This is a daunting task to be sure, but it isn’t impossible. What Musk is attempting to do is re-shape the entire smartphone/software industry. Whether his venture will be successful or not remains to be seen.

On a final note there is an interesting effect that the Model Pi could have on the smartphone market. Abut ten-fifteen years ago, whenever Apple released a new iPhone, it made waves. Every year. People would line city blocks, waiting to get the latest iPhone. That was back when the Apple conferences were actually fun to watch, and your phone served as a ticket into the Apple Music Festival. Now all of that is gone. Sales are still good for both Samsung and Apple, but gone is that explosive excitement. Let’s face it, I like smartphones as much as anybody, but each new generation doesn’t have that exponential leap in tech that they used to have. If the Model Pi really is everything that Musk says it will be, then  it could bring back times when smartphones were exciting.