Elon Musk, the tech tycoon behind businesses like Tesla and SpaceX, has announced his desire to turn Twitter into a “everything app,” which has caused a stir in the cryptocurrency sector. Twitter’s goal of becoming a multipurpose platform has been compared to China’s WeChat, a trailblazing mega app that combines a variety of services into a single application.
Musk first alluded to his aspirations for Twitter as a “everything app” when he entertained the idea of purchasing the dominant social media platform last year. In a post from October, he mentioned purchasing Twitter as a way to hasten the development of an app dubbed “X,” without providing any other information. But his decision to replace Twitter’s famous bird emblem with a “X” in recent times shows that he wants to use the platform for more than just social networking.
The newly appointed CEO of Twitter, Linda Yaccarino, mirrored Musk’s vision when she referred to “X” as the future of limitless interaction that includes audio, video, message, payments, and banking and has the ability to establish a worldwide market for ideas, products, services, and opportunities.
WeChat serves as an example of a super app, which enables users to carry out many tasks without leaving the program. Musk’s ambition for Twitter was motivated by WeChat’s unmatched success in China, which was fueled by its integration of chat, payments, e-commerce, and more. He has admitted that WeChat does not exist outside of China and believes that Twitter has the potential to be just as helpful and significant in everyday life.
However, putting Musk’s plan into action would present substantial difficulties. The peculiar internet environment in China, where international websites like Twitter and Google are restricted, contributed to WeChat’s development. This gave domestic IT companies like Tencent, which runs WeChat, the chance to seize control of the online market. Tencent has been able to incorporate a variety of services into WeChat because to its strategic investments in a variety of sectors, including e-commerce, gaming, and food delivery.
Due to fragmented online payment methods and fierce rivalry in the ride-hailing and food delivery businesses, developing a super app in the United States or Europe may be more difficult. The emergence of Twitter as a “everything app” would put it in direct competition with other social media juggernauts, perhaps complicating partnerships with other businesses.
Despite these obstacles, Musk believes that Twitter has a chance to develop into a more comprehensive communication medium by gradually adding new features like payments, which he has previously hinted at. Given the unique market dynamics and intense level of competition, replicating WeChat’s success in the U.S. or Europe remains a difficult undertaking.
The cryptocurrency and tech communities are eagerly awaiting additional developments to see how Musk’s lofty plan for Twitter to become a “everything app” plays out in the context of the Western digital ecosystem.
