Twitter & its Rebranding to “X” : What are the Major Changes Brought to the Platform?
Twitter which came up in 2006, as a micro-blogging site became popular since people could follow and reach out to their favourite celebrities using short text in the way of tweets. It was a breath of fresh air, and gave people a sense of trustability on the platform – especially due to its Verified feature given to popular figures, starting June 2009. As of December 2022, “X/Twitter’s audience accounted for over 368 million monthly active users worldwide.”
Much has changed on the platform since its ownership shifted from its founders and shareholders to Entrepreneur Elon Musk in September 2022. Since then, amongst the changes – Musk has rebranded Twitter as “X”; got a new logo, and a new website. The old website www.twitter.com still works alongside www.x.com. The tweets are now referred to as posts by the platform. It appears to be a rigorous attempt to give the microblogging site a new identity, but at what cost? Most of the old users still refer to X as Twitter, and for that reason, X has to carry forward the Twitter name in its website directories and search engine keywords. It could confuse the new users, but anyway, they would get used to it, if they become active users. For the inactive users, it’s still Twitter, and posts are tweets.
In 2017, Twitter management increased the character limit per tweet to 280 characters from the earlier limit of 140 characters. The upgraded character limit remains 280 characters at ‘X’, but there’s a twist for ‘X Premium’ users. They have a character limit of 25,000 characters given they pay a monthly or yearly fee for accessing premium features.
‘X Premium’ is gaining prominence among the X users, as they build credibility and trustworthiness for their account. They stay safe from impersonation and subsequent chances of online fraud or scams. X is still considered one of the widely loved microblogging and social media sites, given its quick messaging and communication capabilities. Popular figures from politics, entertainment, sports, and media use it to voice their opinions and join ongoing conversations. Brands across different industries leverage X to spark conversations and reach the X Trends. Some of the Twitter Influencer marketing strategies for brands on X include capitalizing on the ongoing trends, running contests, and using memes to amplify the brand messaging, amongst others.
Despite the changes and upgrades made to X, it remains the preferred micro-blogging site worldwide. What are your favourite features on X? Let us know in the comments.