As Blue Bird Becomes ‘X’, A Look At How Twitter Changed Under Elon Musk

1. Twitter Blue was arguably the biggest change brought about by Musk since the takeover. The blue badge of legacy verification was done away with and Musk introduced a paid verification system. The move sparked a huge outcry, with many flagging security concerns and others sulking over losing their blue badge.

2. Twitter then introduced gold and silver ticks for brands and government figures, respectively. In one of its many U-turns, the microblogging site earlier this year started rolling out blue ticks again, to celebrities using the platform to endorse that they are not fakes.

3. Another move by Musk that sparked outrage was his decision to reinstate many high-profile accounts suspended by the previous Twitter leadership. Among them were Ye (rapper Kanye West), accused of sharing antisemitic posts, influencer Andrew Tate, now in a Romania prison on charges of human trafficking, and former US president Donald Trump, accused of instigating Capitol Hill riots.

4. Musk also drew heavy criticism for mass layoffs at Twitter shortly after the takeover. Nearly half of its workforce were laid off in a cost-cutting measure. The Twitter boss also issued an ultimatum to employees in a mail that said employees will “need to be extremely hardcore and that only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade”.

5. Amid the big changes on the platforms and inside its offices, Twitter’s advertising business partially collapsed. Earlier this month, Musk admitted that Twitter had seen a nearly 50 per cent drop in ad revenue. The microblogging site was facing troubles even before the takeover, and its influence was popularity were not translating into profit. Twitter’s cash flow remains negative because of the drop in ad revenue and heavy debt load, Musk has said.

6. In search for new ways of generating revenue, Musk has moved to introducing payments and commerce through the platform. Musk has said he wants Twitter to offer services such as peer-to-peer transactions as part of his vision for an “everything app” that functions as a social media platform as well as facilitate payments.

7. Rough estimates put Twitter’s daily active users count at nearly 200 million. The site has, however, faced a series of technical snags since the takeover as Musk fine-tuned the platform. Among these changes are the “For You” and “Following” tabs.

8. Twitter is, meanwhile, facing competition. Earlier this month, Facebook parent Meta launched a text-based platform, Threads. The new platform linked to Instagram has already clocked about 150 million users, according to estimates. However, the amount of time users spend on Threads has plummeted since its launch, according to data from market analysis firm Sensor Tower, reported news agency AFP.

9. As Musk moves to change Twitter’s name and logo, many influencers have announced that they will quit the platform. This is a fresh round of people exiting the platform after an exodus that followed Musk’s takeover.

10. Musk has already named Twitter’s parent company the X Corporation. “If a good enough X logo is posted tonight, we’ll make (it) go live worldwide tomorrow,” he said yesterday. He has also said a new emblem should be “of course, Art Deco” style and that under the site’s new identity a post would be called “an X.”

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