Twitter

Twitter has a CEO at the helm who is the world’s richest man and somebody who also happens to be one of the world’s brightest and most visionary individuals. With both of these characteristics, the idea that Twitter could be heading toward the end of its days might seem like a dramatic response to a company amid such colossal change. Given that it has been less than a year, the polarizing South African billionaire has made no secret of his plans to transform the struggling platform completely. Due to Musk and some of his controversial opinions, especially in the press, it’s not hard to find such pessimism leveled at his latest brainchild.

One rhetoric often pushed in the press is that Musk has somehow been the architect of declining Twitter users. However, the truth is that the social media site has been struggling long before Musk took the reigns. Facebook & Instagram tower over Twitter in size, popularity, and brand visibility, so there needs to be a drastic change and gambles to try and eat away at this commanding lead. However, some analysts are not so optimistic and view new Twitter changes as signs of a crumbling Empire.

Impactful Twitter Changes

One of the better ideas that Musk has had during his tenure has surrounded cryptocurrency. Still an uneasy topic for millions who do not understand how it works, Musk is a visionary. Tesla’s multi-billion dollar Bitcoin (BTC) holding is a testament to his belief in cryptocurrency. After installing a facility whereby you can tip users with digital payments like Bitcoin, he has identified a growing trend in the market, which has seen waves of people crossing over to digital payments instead of traditional ones.

With viable businesses like cryptocurrency casinos providing a clear blueprint of how the technology can facilitate safer, more convenient, and cheaper ways to gamble, Musk aims to bring this decentralized payment angle to Twitter. Emulating the success of cryptocurrency casinos on such a social media powerhouse is a fascinating approach. Although crypto casinos have a more straightforward way of paying out profits to casino players through BTC jackpot game offers, which are one of the most famous gaming options among players, many believe crypto payments are the future. Bitcoin games work in the same way as traditional currency. You only need to connect your crypto wallet, and for those gamblers who have made the switch, few have reneged on this move. Musk will be hoping once people begin to use Twitter to send cryptocurrency transactions to their friends, this convenience and innovation will help drive up the number of users who access the site.

Ideas That Didn’t Quite Go To Plan

Musk has overseen radical changes, the elusive blue tick used to be a sign of celebrity and stature. In many ways, the mystique of attaining this verified seal of approval was something that eluded many. However, within months, Musk commoditized this angle, offering the service for $8.99 a month, resulting in an enormous wave of people imitating celebrities, saying outrageous things, and paying $8.99 monthly for the privilege to do so. Who could have foreseen that one?

While this commotion eventually died down, some critics cited this as an exemplification of the unclear strategy and inconsistent direction the site was heading in. Compounded by a few other decisions that seemed to strip Twitter of the essence that differentiated it from its competition, long-form 10,000-character tweets are now a thing, and if you don’t pay for Twitter Blue, you are limited to how many tweets you can read per day.

Final Thoughts

The latest, boldest move is to remove the bird logo, which has been synonymous with the website for nearly 20 years. So in less than twelve months of Musk’s premiership, he has removed Twitter character limits, ditched the logo, provided blue tickets to everyone who wants one, and has now limited the number of tweets you can read if you don’t fancy paying $8.99.

The recent announcement to remove the logo and change the website name shows Twitter is in its final days, in its current form at least. Whether Musk’s bold plan to somehow make X, or Twitter, the central hub for banking, news, and opinions all at once is an aggressive plan, but you’d think if anybody can pull it off, then it is probably him.

However, all great minds and inventors have that one project that pushes them a bridge too far, and for Musk, it could be Twitter. The writing might have been on the wall when he paid over $40 billion to acquire it, and you’d have to spend a long time trying to find any business analysts or economists that don’t believe he vastly overpaid for it.

Unfortunately for those on the Twitter executive board, user numbers are down, as is advertising revenue, and more people are spending less time on the site. You could make a strong case that Twitter isn’t even Twitter anymore, anyway. Long-form essays, blue ticks galore, and limited post views, the site has the hallmarks of a disjointed and hurried approach to change. The dismantling of a social media giant that is a minnow compared to Meta but still has a loyal, core base could backfire spectacularly, or it could birth a new dynasty. The real crunch question is how many loyal Twitter users will stick around for all these changes, which is ultimately the make-or-break question.