Goodbye Twitter, hello “X”

The plans go even further, seeking similar capabilities to the Chinese giant WeChat, which combines social networks, payments, e-commerce, games, news, events, shopping, delivery services.

Ambition, inspiration, the symbolism of X and a massive rival

Musk has taken the first steps in this direction by adding stock and cryptocurrency trading services with the announcement of a partnership with trading platfom eToro.

It is designed for Twitter users using the site's established "cashtags", used to track financial tweets,  to see live prices and trade on the social network via eToro's tech.  

WeChat has similar roots to Twitter, starting as a conversational app but is on a different scale. With around a billion users, WeChat itself could be one of the main challenges Twitter's transformation faces. The chances of success are still unclear.

X holds a significant meaning for Musk. As an entrepreneur, he has been drawn to the letter's infinite meanings and symbolism. It represents the unknown variable in mathematics and embodies innovation, creativity, and a relentless pursuit of a greater cause.

In his own personal life and social media use, Musk has used it as a symbol for his own ambition and vision for the future.

His affinity for the letter is written across Musk's commercial projects, from Space X to Tesla's Model X and most recently the X.AI artificial intelligence company that will work under the parent company X Corp.

Potential competitor to established players

The new venture is seen as a potential competitor to established players in the field such as Microsoft and OpenAI and will provide generative artificial intelligence across Musk's companies. It won't be a surprise to see XCorp become the parent for them all, from SpaceX and Tesla to Boring and Neuralink.

In the immediate term, Musk's overhaul of Twitter is seeking to protect his initial investment. He acquired it for $44 billion but its current value has dropped to $20 billion, less than 50% of the price he paid. He has laid off a significant number of employees to cut costs.

In the longer term, it seems one of Musk's goals for the deal is to promote the X app, with a lofty ambition to take the value of the new entity to $250 billion.

Battles after battles: first employees, now tweeters

In the meantime, Musk's impact on Twitter has confused many of the site's users, including some of its biggest names with the most followers. A range of enthusiasts and content creators are considering leaving the platform altogether.

He recently angered the BBC by labelling it on the site  as a "government-funded" network, to which the UK's national broadcaster responded with the distinction that it was funded by the people, not the state. Musk also described America's National Public Broadcasting Network (NPR) as "government-funded media."

Musk withdrew the label from BBC accounts. But he did not for NPR. As a result, NPR announced that it would no longer use Twitter. The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) followed.

WeChat of the West or dead blue bird?

In an interview with BBC's James Clayton, Musk acknowledged that 80% of Twitter's employees had been dismissed since he acquired the company, less than six months ago. He explained that reducing the workforce from 8,000 to about 1,500 had not been easy, but was necessary, saying: "If the whole ship sinks, then nobody's got a job."

Nonetheless, there could be choppy waters ahead during Twitter's transformation, not least due to concerns about privacy if user data is shared with Musk's X Holdings, the entity set up for the deal.

Such holding companies can facilitate the lawful sharing of data between affiliated entities without oversight. Recent research from Duke University reveals that over 57% of Twitter's service providers are also data brokers. Twitter's privacy policy says the company may share data with brokers, but this may yet stoke controversy.

So might Musk's decision in December to dump Twitter's Trust and Safety Council, an advisory body made up of experts from 100 independent civil and human rights organisations, who helped developed policies covering hate speech, child exploitation, suicide, self-harm and other problematic issues on social media.

Given these battles with employees, discontent among prominent tweeters, and concerns over data privacy, the future of Twitter is uncertain.

Will it succeed in transforming into a Western WeChat, or will it become no more than a dead blue bird?

At the time of writing, it looks like we'll be bidding farewell to Twitter and ushering in an era of X. But it is most likely that Elon Musk will continue to spring surprises in more than one way.