This 2023 has been a year with many changes in the world of social networks, and Elon Musk and X may be the main victims.
Since Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter for $44 billion, the social network has undergone a notable number of changes. In fact, it is no longer even called that, and has changed its name to decisions quite questioned by userssuch as creating a paid subscription or deleting third-party clients.
Some decisions, such as the dismissals of several workers, have sparked more controversy, and there are people who have abandoned the application in search of new, similar social networks. They have popularized some alternatives like Bluesky or Mastodon, which have increased their number of users. And TikTok continues its growth trail, exceeding the expectations of some analysts.
Meta, for its part, has not been slow in trying to capitalize on the discontent generated by the changes carried out during Musk’s direction, and has also launched its own public discussion social network under the name Threads, which has recently arrived in Spain officially. This, added to the difficulties and controversies faced by that their future may be more complicated than they expected.
Musk comes to Twitter
After the purchase of the social network for $44 billion in October 2022, the tycoon arrived at the offices with a sink in his arms, as strange as it may seem. Although his arrival was intended to be funny, using a play on words in English, It didn’t take long for the tension to explode due to different conflicts, including dismissals, public rudeness towards employees and a certain lack of control with work tools. Musk even dissolved the company’s safety board. The new boss’s main goal was to make the company profitable, and to do this, he launched a paid subscription called Twitter Blue.
This has received a large number of changes since its creation, and from the beginning it has been intended give it value to make it more attractive. The bad thing is that, in some cases, attempts have been made to do this at the cost of the free modality losing certain functions. One of them is two-step verification via SMS, since, according to the company, it involved a high cost for them. Fortunately, alternative verification methods can be used. The possibility of using third-party apps to use the platform such as Fénix or Talon was also eliminated.
Another controversy that arose with Twitter’s new rules was around user verification. With the arrival of subscriptions it became a feature for which you had to pay, giving rise to the possibility of generate misunderstandings and confusion regarding identity as well. At first everyone had the same blue verified badge, later a gold one began to be used for companies and a gray one for public organizations.
While before it was necessary to do a verification process, now it was as simple as how to pay for Blue to get this badge. This subscription generated so much rejection that it was even allowed to hide the badge. It got to a point where the badge was exclusive to paying members, and Some well-known personalities, such as LeBron James or Stephen King, refused to pay for it.. It was Elon Musk himself who paid for the subscriptions of some celebrities out of his own pocket, which speaks quite poorly about the viability of his idea.
A measure applauded by creators within the social network is the possibility of monetizing a profile. This allows people who have a certain relevance to charge for using Twitter, and encourages its use over other platforms. Other less objectionable changes have also taken place, such as the elimination of a large number of bots or inactive accounts that were present on the social network, and it has also allowed suspended users to return.
Changes, and some problems
Last July it stopped being Twitter to become Its intention is for it to become an application that is used for everything, a kind of western wechat in which users can make payments, make calls or send files, an extra feature in terms of functions that also seeks to give more meaning to their paid subscription.
Since this name change, the company has been experimenting a lot to try to improve your situation. Although this is something positive, it is true that many people have commented that it seems that these are impulsive changes, especially in those cases in which they are announced and then ended up being eliminated for various reasons.
Some of the least liked proposals have been, for example, making all users have to pay a small sum of money to use the main functions of the application, something that has not earned the tycoon good reviews. , as well as having returned the accounts of people suspended for having spread hoaxes. Among the most recent updates, it must be said, a function has also been included that allows you to find job offers in company profiles.
Now, in the midst of the crisis of the social network with its own advertisers, it is facing certain problems in Europe, since the European Commission has opened a sanctioning file against X for allowing illegal content and disinformation, as well as for the alleged deficiencies in terms of transparency and even the design of the app, mentioning the reliability of the verifications. This could result in fines of up to 6% of your turnover last year.
Threads and TikTok, on the attack
The technology industry is characterized by being constantly changing and by the rapid response capacity that companies that operate in this field usually have. That is why the move by Mark Zuckerberg’s company makes all the sense in the world. In the month of July he decided to bring to light one of Meta’s new projects, Threads, which is its own social network in the purest style of Twitter, focused on text and communication and interaction. The platform registered more than 100 million people in a few days, becoming one of the main competitors of X. Logically, this did not go unnoticed by Musk, and he even began to discreetly censor links to Threads after accusing them of stealing employees.
For its part, TikTok does not slow down. With its own awards gala in Spain, the ByteDance social network has more than 18 million users in our country. In Europe, the company has hired more than 2,500 people. According to Statista data, the social network is known by more than 50% of the population, and the company hopes to continue growing internationally as well, trying to surpass the figure of more than 1,050 million active people on its platform. Elon Musk’s objective upon his arrival was to make Twitter a more profitable project, something that he may achieve, although he may do so in exchange for being less used, since it is the only network whose use has fallen by 8% in the last year. , while its competitors have grown during this period.
Threads is now available to any user who wants to try it in Spain, arriving months after its launch due to European regulatory standards. The company has already fulfilled what was asked of it to be present in this territory, and also promises to integrate a data verification system to avoid misinformation. For now, it has features such as a feed differentiated between interests and people you follow, a discovery section, and it could receive more over time.
The Chinese social network also took advantage of the moment of crisis to launch a new function based on text posts, adding a new dimension to its format so that you can express your opinions in text form. Something similar happened in 2022, although it was in the opposite direction, since, before the acquisition by Musk was formalized, Twitter launched its vertical video function.
TikTok is not comparable to X in many aspects, but it is undeniable that its growth may end up affecting them. The company that owns Facebook has also played its cards at the most opportune moment, trying to take advantage of user discontent in its own favor, and time will tell if it can hurt it at a time when it is facing quite a few difficulties.
