BEIJING, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) According to a comprehensive report, one year ago today, American entrepreneur elon musk bought social platform Twitter for $44 billion. At that time, his vision was to turn the platform into an "everything app".
Now, "Twitter" has been renamed as "X" and "Little Bluebird" has also flown away. Has Musk realized his vision of "super application"?
[From "Twitter" to "X",What’s changed?】
Data Map: In October 2022, after the acquisition of Twitter, Musk issued a document saying, "This bird is free." Image source: Musk social media screenshot.
"This bird is free." A year ago, after the acquisition of Twitter, Musk immediately posted on this social media. One year later, what did you experience without Little Bluebird’s "X" platform?
— — The number of active users has declined.
In August 2023, Musk posted that the "X" platform has set a record of "user active seconds" in recent months. According to The Wall Street Journal, the "X" platform announced in September that its daily active users were 245 million, which was lower than the 259.4 million released by Musk in November 2022, but higher than the Twitter platform’s 237.8 million users in the second quarter of 2022.
However, the analysis of the research company Sensor Tower shows that compared with October 2022, the number of daily active users of the "X" platform in September 2023 decreased by 16%.
The report pointed out that although the user index of the "X" platform has declined, its users still occupy a leading position in the market. Sensor Tower pointed out that the Threads platform of Meta, the competitor of "X" platform, attracted a lot of attention after it was launched in July, but its users were still far less than "X".
— — The aftermath of layoffs
A year ago, after Musk completed the acquisition of Twitter, he immediately fired several executives. After that, he cut jobs in the company on a large scale. He said, "When the company loses more than $4 million a day, layoffs are the only option."
On the 27th, The Wall Street Journal quoted current and former employees as saying that the engineers on the platform are short of staff. In addition, many users have recently complained that there are more failures when using the platform.
However, there are still some users who appreciate Musk’s management of the "X" platform, and before Musk took over, the platform often had technical problems.
Data map: Twitter change logo. Image source: Musk social media screenshot
— — Advertisers are losing?
Foreign media pointed out that the Twitter platform had always relied on advertising revenue, but after Musk took over, many advertisers lost.
The Wall Street Journal bluntly said that the "X" platform is still weak in the US advertising market. Executives of many large advertising agencies said that they have not seen the phenomenon of advertisers returning to the "X" platform on a large scale, and some advertisers who have returned to the platform have cut their advertising expenses. Musk also said in September that since the acquisition transaction, the advertising revenue of the "X" platform in the United States has decreased by 60%.
Linda Yaccarino, CEO of "X" platform company, said in September that 90% of the top 100 advertisers in 2022 have returned. Although the platform has been trying to increase the income of other businesses such as subscriptions, advertising is still the main source of income for the company.
— — Content quality to be evaluated
A study by Tufts University in the United States pointed out that after the acquisition of the "X" platform by Musk, the quality of content exchange "has declined", and "more disseminators of extreme and hateful content are challenging the boundaries of the platform’s content license".
In this regard, Jacquelino said, "The platform is taking the credibility and security of platform information very seriously."
["universal application"?Can Musk’s vision be realized?】
Musk wants his employees to be ambitious. His long-term plan for "X" is far more than just a social media company — — He hopes that "X" will become "a universal application".
"Our goal is to make Twitter the best, most timely and accurate source of truth, even if the truth is something we don’t want to hear or are unhappy." In March 2023, Musk expounded his vision in a meeting.
For Musk’s goal, Jacquelino gave a more specific description in July: "X" is the future form of infinite interaction, which will create a "global market" with audio, video, messaging, payment and banking (and other services) as the center.
User churn, weak advertising business, and difficulty in content review … … The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) pointed out that "X" will face many challenges in the future. But these challenges do not seem to weaken Musk’s ambition. He wrote in the top post on the "X" platform that "X is the collective consciousness of mankind".
"He (Musk) always has a grand vision, but in this case, the details are a quagmire for him." Michael Fleece Mas, author of Musk’s personal biography "Taking All Risks", said. (End)
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