Elon Musk’s ‘X’ Is More Than Just Company Rebranding

Elon Musk’s announcement that he would be rebranding Twitter came as a surprise to pundits, who hastened to denounce the change.

BBC reported that users felt “shock[ed]” at the shift, and tech reporter Casey Newton called the move an “extended act of cultural vandalism.” Meanwhile, the New York Times reported that Musk was “erasing an iconic internet brand,” and Jen Takahashi, founder of a San Francisco–based PR firm, told Business Insider the change was “brand suicide.” (READ MORE: Get Your Grubby Hands Off My Freedom of Speech, Biden)

Musk’s “gradual” rebranding of the company has been sloppy at best. Take, for instance, the installation of a giant flashing X on the roof of the company’s otherwise nondescript headquarters in San Francisco without a building permit. After raising a ruckus in San Francisco, Musk removed the sign — which is great for the angry apartment tenants living across the street.

While his efforts to impose “X” on a company that has been branded “Twitter” for 17 years may seem unwise, they are also apparently working. In a tweet on Friday, Musk pointed out that X’s monthly active user numbers reached a new high. Over 540 million users engaged with the platform in July.

???? monthly users reach new high in 2023 pic.twitter.com/trqLGBEvvA

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 28, 2023

This bodes well for Musk, as he is far from done. His goal isn’t just to rebrand Twitter for the change’s sake but to use the platform’s already wide reach to create what he calls the “everything app.”

The New WeChat

Anyone familiar with Chinese social media will know that everything — including video content, political “commentary” (insofar as the CCP allows political commentary), private messaging, and financial management — is found on the country’s WeChat app. It is currently the fifth-largest social media company in the world and boasts an impressive 1.67 billion active users.

Given that Musk is the man who envisioned the online payment platform PayPal, it is hardly surprising that his hopes for X are based on WeChat. (READ MORE: The Twitter Exile)

“If you’re in China, you kind of live on WeChat,” Musk said in an interview on the All-In podcast. “It does everything. It’s sort of like Twitter plus PayPal plus a whole bunch of things all rolled into one, with a great interface. It’s really an excellent app, and we don’t have anything like that outside of China.”

Musk reiterated those sentiments during his first meeting in June 2022 with Twitter employees: “You basically live on WeChat in China because it’s so usable and helpful to daily life, and I think if we can achieve that, or even get close to that at Twitter, it would be an immense success.”

Shortly after Musk announced X’s rebranding, the company’s CEO, Linda Yaccarino, tweeted: “X is the future state of unlimited interactivity — centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking — creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities. Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine.”

X is the future state of unlimited interactivity – centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities. Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine.

— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayaX) July 23, 2023

Some experts seem to agree with Musk and the higher-ups at X. Jeremiah Johnson, co-founder of the Center for New Liberalism, wrote that Musk’s vision isn’t necessarily “unreasonable” — an American WeChat could become one of the most valuable companies in the world, and Musk has a history of starting multibillion-dollar companies, including SpaceX, PayPal, and Tesla.

Musk’s biggest hurdle to creating a new “everything app” will be implementing a payment process, according to Johnson. Musk is already working on one; the company has acquired money-transmitter licenses in Michigan, Missouri, and New Hampshire, marking the first step into the banking world. Given his success with PayPal, a platform used by 75 percent of Americans, it doesn’t seem as though Musk’s vision for an American WeChat is that far into the future.

Do Americans Want An Everything App?

Perhaps the biggest problem Musk faces is habits Americans have formed over decades of social media usage. American social media is a somewhat fractured experience. Users bounce between Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (X), YouTube, and Venmo to get their internet fix. Meanwhile, in Asia, “super apps” like Grab, Gojek, and WeChat are ubiquitous.

Davidson Oturu, a management consultant for finance tech startups, commented that many users could be wary of an app that tries to do it all. “If I’m going to use X and I want to have it as an everything app where I bank, shop, chat, buy products and services,” he told NBC News. “I’m going to be sharing a lot of data on that platform. I don’t know how comfortable people are going to be putting all of that data into an everything app.” (READ MORE: These American Businessmen Are Cozying Up With China)

Musk will also be fighting decades of habit. WeChat benefited from China’s economic boom in the 2000s, and the country turned to cheap smartphones before they adopted PCs — or credit cards, for that matter.

In contrast, Americans had plenty of experience with PCs well before their cellphones boasted app interfaces, and they also had plenty of experience with credit cards. Americans are used to using multiple apps. They share family updates on Facebook, document their life on Instagram, pontificate on Twitter, and send money with their credit card or Venmo account. Changing those habits will be difficult.

Perhaps it would be better if Americans never adopted an American version of WeChat. Although conservatives have championed Twitter as a courageous promoter of free speech following Musk’s purchase of the company, are we really comfortable with Twitter becoming the kind of social media monopoly that WeChat has become in China?

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