X, The Everything App

Twitter was rebranded to X and, despite the resistance to change that is to be expected, people have begun adapting. Twitter is now X and tweets are now simply referred to as posts. And I'm here for it!

I never really used Twitter much, until recently (when I committed to making content again), and happened to be around when Elon Musk's takeover occurred. It was wild, to say the least. And strangely, it feels so far in the past now. 

From the beginning, he was speaking of making The Everything App, which could sound too over-the-top and not that feasible. Also, he spoke of making it The Town Square and, given the amount of bots and awful people on the internet, it sounded quite impossible too. But hey, it is Elon Musk. I've been skeptical (and quite frankly, concerned as well) but it would have been foolish of me, given his history and accomplishments, to assume he wouldn't find ways around and through it to make it happen.

As the site stabilizes and more features are released, there is less and less to panic about or even doubt him for. And I'm sincerely hoping it continues that way. I'm looking forward to what more it can become and do for its users, the Xers. And since Elon Musk seems intensely devoted to it and he is an immensely imaginative and innovative person who is constantly optimizing, I see immeasurable potential. He did publicly state that they would likely be making many mistakes along the way - and that is inevitable if you're pushing limits, venturing into the unknown, and doing what hasn't been done before.

Personally, I'm rooting for bold moves. We don't need another social media site that is just like every other with only some minor tweaks. But we'll see what happens as steps are taken in their own time. And this is, in itself, one of its current appeals. We want to know what is going to happen next! Another feature? A fix? An upgrade? A catastrophe? I believe many of us are in for this ride that is, thankfully, not going too fast or too slow.

X is on more than one mission, from what I've heard so far and can recall: To be as inclusive as it reasonably can (terribly bad actors still get banned; sorry, not sorry), to restore freedom of speech, to bring prosperity to its content contributors, and to make it a fun place. I may be missing more that isn't already implied in these. That is plenty to juggle and balance together. Nevertheless, it can definitely be done and progress has been shown.

What this means for artists and artistic people, in general, is that, as long as it stays true to its missions and manages to stay afloat, we won't be suffocated to death by the agendas and restrictions pushed by those who could not care less about authentic expression or do not know any better and are too quick to promote and adopt measures that, ultimately, aren't ideal.

I'm particularly glad about how advertising on its platform is being handled. Basically letting the advertisers choose what kind of content they'll show up around rather than encouraging everyone to shrink and censor themselves, being as family-friendly as possible, so that ads can show for them. (It is something I wished AdSense would do, the last time I bothered to apply for it and it kept tagging my site as problematic, no matter how much I tried to "clean it up", so I eventually just whatevered.)

And of course, I'm also particularly glad over the fact that Text content is standing a chance again in what has become a widely spread social media arena. I appreciate videos and audios but, PLEASE, some of us need to READ and give our senses a break! 

I've yet to become fully active on X and learn more about how it has been changing. But I wouldn't be surprised if it leads me and many others to ditch other apps eventually.

I like X. 😀❤