Twitter renamed X, Musk ignites the X universe! From AI to exploring space, the prototype of a universal app emerges.

Twitter renamed X, Musk ignites X universe with an all-encompassing app prototype, encompassing AI and space exploration.

Source: Xin Zhi Yuan

Editor: Editorial Department

Just now, Ma’s “X Universe” has once again grown and developed.

From now on, Twitter is no longer just a social networking site, but is transforming into a versatile application – X!

• Tokyo and Kyoto, the rising encrypted ‘twin stars
• a16z In-Depth Analysis What New Gameplays Will AI Create?
• Another animal coin gains popularity, this time it’s the real version of the on-chain hamster race Hamsters.gg.

Last night, Musk announced on Twitter that Twitter will soon be renamed X, and the website will also be moved to X.com. (Currently accessible)

“Soon, we will bid farewell to the Twitter brand and gradually say goodbye to all birds.”

In addition, he also stated that if the X logo released tonight is good enough, we will launch globally tomorrow.

As for the reason for the name change, of course, it is simply because Ma likes it.

At the same time, Twitter’s newly appointed CEO Linda Yaccarino also officially announced: “X is the future form of infinite interaction – centered around audio, video, messaging, payment/banking – creating a global market for creativity, goods, services, and opportunities. With the support of artificial intelligence, X will connect all of us. In this regard, we are just at the beginning of imagination.”

Um, this “X” is very familiar to our domestic users 🤣…

So, Twitter has finally transformed into a super app!

His dream is the X Universe

In the past few weeks, Musk’s “X Universe” has begun to take shape and slowly revealed to the world.

From aerospace, social media, to artificial intelligence, and electric vehicles, Musk has created a complete “X ecosystem”.

Over the years, his series of companies complement each other, with a very clear direction –

Tesla is an automotive company; SpaceX is used to explore space (mainly Mars); Boring Co. is used for tunneling; Neuralink is used for researching brain-computer interfaces; Starlink, under SpaceX, is used to establish a planetary internet; Twitter is used for interpersonal communication; xAI is used for developing general artificial intelligence.

X, his favorite

Mr. Ma not only has a fanatic admiration for the number “42”, but the letter “X” is also a magical letter in his mind.

According to reports, Musk sent an email to Twitter employees last night, notifying them that the company will be renamed X.

This is not surprising. After all, the letter “X” has almost run through Musk’s entire entrepreneurial history over the past twenty years – wherever he goes, he leaves a mark of “X”.

In 1999, after selling his first company Zip2, Musk made a crazy profit of $22 million through shares.

He then created the online bank X.com, hoping to disrupt the banking industry.

In 2000, X.com merged with Peter Thiel’s Confinity, which later became the famous PayPal. It was later acquired by eBay after 2 years.

17 years later, Musk bought back the domain name X.com from PayPal. It is believed that this must be a large sum of money, but any price is worth it compared to the emotional value of X.com to Musk.

In 2002, Musk founded SpaceX to explore space technology.

The logo of SpaceX also has its own mystery, implying the trajectory of a rocket.

Even the Tesla SUV uses the name X.

Even Musk named his son with girlfriend Grimes X.

Musk with his son, custom-made employee badge

Recently, Musk announced the establishment of a new company called xAI, claiming to solve the “core mysteries”.

This new team, which brings together top talents from Google, DeepMind, Microsoft, and OpenAI, aims to explore the ultimate truth and the essence of the universe, study deep learning mathematics, and achieve “everything can be a large-scale neural network”.

Last October, Musk spent a whopping $44 billion to acquire Twitter. Musk, who couldn’t be satisfied with just being a social network, was already speculating at the time that he must be planning to create a universal application X, also known as the foreign version of WeChat!

Walter Isaacson, the American author who wrote “Steve Jobs Biography,” revealed that Musk’s idea of changing Twitter’s logo was not a sudden inspiration.

In the upcoming book “Elon Musk Biography,” Isaacson has excerpted a part about Musk’s past with X.com.

In October of last year, after the acquisition of Twitter was completed, Musk said in an interview with Isaacson:

Before acquiring Twitter, I planned to rename it X.com and try to make it a platform that could fulfill my original vision from 1999.

Below is a passage from this book:

In the days leading up to taking over Twitter at the end of October 2022, Musk’s emotions fluctuated greatly. One morning at 3:30 a.m., he suddenly sent me a text message saying, “I’m very excited because I can finally use Twitter as a booster to implement X.com step by step. And, I hope that in doing so, I can also help promote democratic and civilized dialogue.” He said he would turn Twitter into a combination of the financial and social network envisioned for X.com 24 years ago. He added that he planned to rename Twitter with the name he liked. A few days later, he became even more depressed. “I need to live at Twitter headquarters. This is a very difficult situation. It really frustrates me, and sleep is difficult.”

This passage further confirms that Musk planned to completely reshape the brand from the beginning and rename it X.

What is the Global Digital City Square?

In regard to this, Linda Yaccarino said: In life or business, it’s difficult for us to get a second chance to leave a lasting impression on others. Twitter did it for the first time. And now, X is going to do it for the second time, becoming a city square that changes the world.

Twitter was born in the mid-2000s and changed the way people consume news and express opinions online.

It allowed users to repeatedly send instant and free messages of 140 characters, which was a unique design. Buzzwords like “tweet” and “retweet” were born from this. The acquisition of such an influential platform is obviously related to Musk’s plans for X.com.

Musk, who acquired Twitter for a staggering $44 billion in October of last year, said that this acquisition brought him closer to realizing the “original vision of X.com.”

About six months later, he merged the company into an entity called X Corp., stating that Twitter is an accelerator for building an “all applications” called X.

In April of this year, Twitter’s lawyer also stated that Twitter has been merged into X company and no longer exists.

During the turbulent period, Musk was busy changing his name, as he really wanted to create a “super app” like WeChat! He previously stated at the beginning of the year that his company could “become the largest financial institution in the world.”

The renaming of Twitter is obviously significant.

In April of this year, Musk made an attempt to replace Twitter’s traditional blue bird logo with a Shiba Inu.

Musk has stated that he wants Twitter to become a digital town square where anyone, from presidential candidates to ordinary users, can publish news.

In addition, it is also a platform that provides digital payment functionality and a place where online content creators can attract fans and make a living.

Recently, Musk has shifted Twitter’s focus to subscription services, where only paid users can use this feature.

He also plans to make Twitter more like a video platform and share advertising revenue with creators who bring in some of the revenue.

Of course, most of Musk’s visions have not yet been realized.

After the acquisition was completed, many advertisers withdrew from Twitter, partly due to concerns about its content moderation methods. As a result, Twitter’s revenue plummeted.

In March, he told employees that Twitter’s valuation was less than half of what it was at the time of the acquisition last year. But he optimistically stated that one day Twitter’s value could exceed $250 billion.

This month, Twitter’s ad revenue has already dropped by 50%.

An analyst from Insider Intelligence said: This renaming may make Musk’s fans ecstatic, but it will further shatter the ideals of Twitter users and advertisers.

“The Twitter era is over, but the words remain on the wall.”

The pressure from Zuckerberg is too great!

Musk’s motivation to change Twitter is not only driven by the impulse to imitate WeChat.

Threads recently launched by Zuckerberg is currently the biggest trouble in Musk’s eyes.

Before the recent farce of the octagon cage fight had subsided, Zuckerberg dealt Musk a blow-

Since its official release on July 6th, Threads, launched by Meta, has gained 100 million users in less than five days, quickly surpassing the record set by ChatGPT as the fastest platform to reach 100 million users.

Users can log in to Threads through Instagram, and it is like a simpler, ad-free version of Twitter.

A Different Voice on the Renaming of X

Upon Mr. Ma’s announcement of the renaming, it was met with enthusiastic responses from Ma’s fans.

However, many marketing professionals have been pessimistic about Mr. Ma’s brand revitalization plan this time.

Former Twitter product director Jason Goldman has always held a contrary attitude towards Musk’s operation of Twitter.

Regarding this renaming, he said, “Replacing a globally renowned brand with a generic placeholder (X) doesn’t make much sense.”

Mike Proulx, research director at Forrester, also said on Sunday that the renaming would further alienate Twitter’s original and once very loyal user base.

Among Twitter users, there are also many skeptics about the goals the renaming aims to achieve.

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel and constantly make changes to things that have already been accepted and functioning well by people.

For a platform that emphasizes embracing various voices, this is not a good name because X implies being crossed out.

If you want this to be a place that is inclusive of everything, then please stop removing features that are very important to artists.

Of course, there are also many users who approach the issue from a very rational and calm perspective.

For example, this user says that Mr. Ma didn’t buy Twitter for the sake of this platform but mainly to increase his number of users.

So, the name of this platform is really not important to Mr. Ma.

Today may be the last day of “Twitter,” but it’s not “eXit.” The bird is truly free now. It can soar high over mountains, deserts, and various landscapes, but no one can capture its freedom anymore. Today is not “eXit,” but the dawn of the new X.

Netizens bid farewell to the little blue bird.

Farewell, Twitter. What is lost will eventually be forgotten. Fly high, little blue bird.

Farewell, Twitter. Unfortunately, tomorrow you will become X. It has been a wonderful time, and I am glad to have met so many good friends here. I hope this application will not perish, but if it does, I will find you again in the new world. I won’t let you go.

References:

https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/23/23804629/twitters-rebrand-to-x-may-actually-be-happening-soon

https://www.wsj.com/news/technology?mod=nav_top_section

We will continue to update Blocking; if you have any questions or suggestions, please contact us!