Topline
Twitter has in recent months rolled out a flurry of new—sometimes not entirely polished—features and acquired companies amid owner Elon Musk’s efforts to transform the social media platform into a so-called “everything app.”
Under Elon Musk, Twitter has added a series of new features in an effort to grow into an “everything … [+]
Key Facts
Earlier this month, Twitter rolled out an “early version” of encrypted messaging—a long-promised feature—for Twitter Blue subscribers that should prevent Twitter or any other entity from viewing private messages between two individuals who have the feature enabled.
The feature, which has some major limitations, appears to be an effort by the company to take on popular messaging apps WhatsApp, iMessage, Facetime and Messenger—with Musk promising that voice and video chat features are “coming soon.”
Over the past month, Twitter has rolled out features that appear to be directed at bringing content creators to the platform, including support for long-form text through 10,000-character tweets, long-form videos up to 2 hours long and allowing monetization of this content through paid subscriptions and a promised share of ad-revenue in the future.
Unlike other major platforms such ase YouTube, TikTok and Substack, Twitter’s content creator features are locked behind its $8-per-month Twitter Blue paywall, an issue that some creators have poked fun at.
In April, Twitter inked a deal with eToro to allow users to track markets and buy and sell stocks, cryptocurrencies and other assets from the trading platform.
Last week, Twitter reportedly made its first acquisition since being taken over by Musk, buying the tech hiring platform Laskie for an undisclosed amount, although it is unclear how the service will be integrated into the social media platform.
Tangent
Earlier this month, former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson announced he was launching a new primetime news show that will air on Twitter. Musk soon clarified that Carlson did not have a direct deal with Twitter but he would have the same features available to all content creators on the platform. Despite this, Carlson’s announcement was seen by some as an endorsement of Twitter as a content and news platform. Earlier this week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ team revealed that he will use an interview with Musk on Twitter Spaces to officially launch his 2024 presidential campaign. Many commentators pointed out this appeared to be a concerted effort by Musk to challenge Fox News for the crown of the country’s top conservative media outlet. The DeSantis event, however, was riddled with glitches and problems, prompting mockery from all sides and also highlighting that Twitter’s tech may not be ready for its grand ambitions yet.
What We Don’t Know
One of the key elements of success for existing “everything apps” is the integration of a payments solution, something that Twitter is yet to address. WeChat, the biggest “everything app” in the world, is also one of two mobile payment giants in China, along with Ant Financial’s Alipay. Musk appears to understand this issue and has said he wants to transform Twitter into the “biggest financial institution in the world.” But neither Musk nor Twitter has announced any concrete plans so-far and any foray into payments is also likely to draw stronger scrutiny from regulators compared to other feature rollouts.
Section Title
Elon Musk Wants To Build An ‘Everything App’—Here’s How The World’s Most Popular One Works (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2023/05/26/encrypted-messaging-2-hour-videos-here-are-the-moves-twitter-has-made-in-its-bid-to-become-an-everything-app/