Project X is Musk’s Latest Folly
Photo by Keagan Henman on Unsplash
The X Factor. The X Files. If you are living in the 1990’s X is a super-hot branding idea for a TV show! You know what just happened, Elon Musk looked at those out-of-date shows and thought just one thing: “Hold my beer”.
It now looks like we are witnessing a Meta-sized rebranding disaster unfold in the hallowed halls of Twitter.
What is a Meta? Something which removes your privacy?
The moment Twitter truly exploded?
That subtitle probably isn’t fair. The number of mistakes Musk has made at X (lolz) is already legendary and provides great competition for the billionaire’s idiotic moves.
The Branding Disaster
Incomprehensible statements abound
Rather than getting an AI to justify the branding, Musk put the crack branding team headed up by chief executive Linda Yaccarino:
“X is the future state of unlimited interactivity — centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking — creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities. Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine.”
Looking at that statement, I think ChatGPT had more than one cyber-foot in the door to be able to create X.
At least the logo is a rebranding exercise which is carefully considered. Right?
One Tweet (are they still called that) is enough to dispel this myth.
What am I even looking at?
The answer is a spectacular mess.
The X Obsession
It’s all driven by Musk being weirdly fascinated with the letter X. His first big success? X.com. Tesla’s best model is the X. SpaceX.
Don’t even mention his son.
There are other explanations for the use of X. Perhaps he’s charging Twitter for the use of the X.com domain name, who knows?
A super App needs to be super
The underlying issue behind this madness is why buy Twitter in order to make a super-app?
Since Musk’s takeover user traffic has been declining as well as engagement, subscriptions are failing to take off significantly.
Banking
If you wish to be taken seriously in financial services, gaining customer and market trust is important.
Grab Twitter (X?) is not.
The X-factor
If customers love your product, they might enjoy all of the shenanigans in which the owner participates.
If the owner is simply meme-worthy that might not be enough.
Does anyone love Twitter anymore?
Conclusion
Musk does the same old rubbish, and people will call him a genius for doing so. It doesn’t look great from this gaming chair, however.
I’m not using a gaming chair. I’m a pro.