4 ms·

> He also wants to make X into an "everything" app where you'll do shopping, calls, chat with friends, send payments, etc. And if that was pulled off successful

> He also wants to make X into an "everything" app where you'll do shopping, calls, chat with friends, send payments, etc. And if that was pulled off successfully it doesn't seem like the craziest thing to distance from the Twitter brand which has long been associated as an app primarily for news and shitposting? But he has a long way to go to get people to think of it as anything other than what it was before. Everyone on the platform is still calling it Twitter and refers to posts as tweets. I feel like the way to go there would have been closer to the Meta/Facebook brand hierarchy. X is the platform / super app and Twitter is the first app within X. Twitter accounts become X accounts but you still use them to Tweet on Twitter. The destruction of the Twitter branding seems more out of spite than business development goals. Really the whole follow through of the Twitter purchase reeks of spite and destruction rather than building something new of value. But I'm not a successful billionaire so I'm probably wrong.

zdragnar 3y ago
There are similar "everything" brands that are very successful in other countries, notably WeChat which is chat, text, photo sharing, gaming and mobile payments. If X became the first in America it would be quite powerful, but IMHO is very unlikely.
- ben_w 3y ago
  I thought facebook already had all of those?
  - alephnerd 3y ago
    You're forgetting the biggest ones - Google and Microsoft
    - ben_w 3y ago
      I didn't even know MS had photo sharing or mobile payments. Google kills and relaunches products so often that I'm genuinely surprised Google Photos still exists and that my old data from when I had a Nexus 5 is still there, but I guess that's fair, I did forget them.
      - alephnerd 3y ago
        Google platforms like Google Pay, Google Photos, etc are very common across the developing world (India, Indonesia, Brazil, etc). Microsoft doesn't have mobile payments but they do provide photo sharing via OneDrive. FB/Whatsapp ofc is a massive one, and is the goto everything app globally outside of China and North America. Most of these platforms are targeting developing countries now because any growth in market share that could be extracted in the west has been extracted. This is why most ads made by Google, Meta, MS, etc tend to target the Indian, ASEAN, or Brazil markets now, and a lot of investment in localization is happening (eg. Meta/FB/Whatsapp partners with local telcos to install it's apps by default and integrate with telco platforms, Google has constantly massive ad campaigns in India, etc)
  - fmobus 3y ago
    WeChat does a lot more. You basically can't function in China without it
- trollied 3y ago
  Apple are closer to that than X in the USA.
- kibwen 3y ago
  We have those in the US, they're called "Android" and "iOS", not to mention every other OS and/or app platform, including the web itself.
  - stetrain 3y ago
    Also "Facebook"
    - alephnerd 3y ago
      Everyone seems to forget WhatsApp. It's the goto everything app globally, and IG is increasingly becoming a similar one in the US. Meta is truly a behemoth
ben_w 3y ago
The only times I can think of where a re-branding exercise has worked well, have been where the brand started off in the mud and they fixed their image rather than the name. Specifically, Skoda — and when they did the transition, their adverts were very much aware of the need for an image change: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWTJ_TPraLQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWTJ_TPraLQ
- knute 3y ago
  It was before most of our times, but I don't think the Esso brand was "in the mud" when they rebranded to Exxon and that seems to have worked out ok for them.
- rjsw 3y ago
  Skoda did not have that bad an image, their pre-VW cars were very sucessful at rallying.
  - ben_w 3y ago
    That ad is from them, by them, and about them. And it matches what everyone in the 90s was telling me about them. "Have you heard about the new 16-valve Skoda? It's got eight valves in the engine and eight in the radio." "How do you double the value of a Skoda? Fill the fuel tank." Etc.
adql 3y ago
> The destruction of the Twitter branding seems more out of spite than business development goals Or just incompetence. Plenty of that. Assuming just because he is billionaire that he's competent at everything related to any company and the reason for failure is something else is silly. He had no idea what the fuck he is doing and he fucked up.
- stetrain 3y ago
  > Or just incompetence. Oh there is likely plenty of that too. But I think there was at least some malice in being forced to follow through on his overvalued purchase offer, in the treatment of "blue check" verified accounts, in the treatment of laid-off employees and those who remained or tried to stick it out, and in the destruction of the Twitter brand. > Assuming just because he is billionaire that he's competent at everything related to any company and the reason for failure is something else is silly. Yes, that part was tongue-in-cheek.

zdragnar 3y ago

There are similar "everything" brands that are very successful in other countries, notably WeChat which is chat, text, photo sharing, gaming and mobile payments. If X became the first in America it would be quite powerful, but IMHO is very unlikely.

ben_w 3y ago
I thought facebook already had all of those?
- alephnerd 3y ago
  You're forgetting the biggest ones - Google and Microsoft
  - ben_w 3y ago
    I didn't even know MS had photo sharing or mobile payments. Google kills and relaunches products so often that I'm genuinely surprised Google Photos still exists and that my old data from when I had a Nexus 5 is still there, but I guess that's fair, I did forget them.
    - alephnerd 3y ago
      Google platforms like Google Pay, Google Photos, etc are very common across the developing world (India, Indonesia, Brazil, etc). Microsoft doesn't have mobile payments but they do provide photo sharing via OneDrive. FB/Whatsapp ofc is a massive one, and is the goto everything app globally outside of China and North America. Most of these platforms are targeting developing countries now because any growth in market share that could be extracted in the west has been extracted. This is why most ads made by Google, Meta, MS, etc tend to target the Indian, ASEAN, or Brazil markets now, and a lot of investment in localization is happening (eg. Meta/FB/Whatsapp partners with local telcos to install it's apps by default and integrate with telco platforms, Google has constantly massive ad campaigns in India, etc)
- fmobus 3y ago
  WeChat does a lot more. You basically can't function in China without it
trollied 3y ago
Apple are closer to that than X in the USA.
kibwen 3y ago
We have those in the US, they're called "Android" and "iOS", not to mention every other OS and/or app platform, including the web itself.
- stetrain 3y ago
  Also "Facebook"
  - alephnerd 3y ago
    Everyone seems to forget WhatsApp. It's the goto everything app globally, and IG is increasingly becoming a similar one in the US. Meta is truly a behemoth

ben_w 3y ago

The only times I can think of where a re-branding exercise has worked well, have been where the brand started off in the mud and they fixed their image rather than the name. Specifically, Skoda — and when they did the transition, their adverts were very much aware of the need for an image change: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWTJ_TPraLQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWTJ_TPraLQ

knute 3y ago
It was before most of our times, but I don't think the Esso brand was "in the mud" when they rebranded to Exxon and that seems to have worked out ok for them.
rjsw 3y ago
Skoda did not have that bad an image, their pre-VW cars were very sucessful at rallying.
- ben_w 3y ago
  That ad is from them, by them, and about them. And it matches what everyone in the 90s was telling me about them. "Have you heard about the new 16-valve Skoda? It's got eight valves in the engine and eight in the radio." "How do you double the value of a Skoda? Fill the fuel tank." Etc.

adql 3y ago

> The destruction of the Twitter branding seems more out of spite than business development goals Or just incompetence. Plenty of that. Assuming just because he is billionaire that he's competent at everything related to any company and the reason for failure is something else is silly. He had no idea what the fuck he is doing and he fucked up.

stetrain 3y ago
> Or just incompetence. Oh there is likely plenty of that too. But I think there was at least some malice in being forced to follow through on his overvalued purchase offer, in the treatment of "blue check" verified accounts, in the treatment of laid-off employees and those who remained or tried to stick it out, and in the destruction of the Twitter brand. > Assuming just because he is billionaire that he's competent at everything related to any company and the reason for failure is something else is silly. Yes, that part was tongue-in-cheek.