It has been a year since Elon Musk assumed control of Twitter, which has now been rebranded as X, the everything app. Over the past year, the platform has undergone significant changes, including extended post lengths and the recent addition of video and audio calls. However, there have also been some limitations imposed on free users, such as a cap on daily tweet/post readings.
To mark its first anniversary, X’s CEO, Linda Yaccarino, has shared her reflections on the company’s journey in a blog post. She discusses the platform’s performance under new management, revealing insights on average platform usage and outlining a vision for a global payment system.
According to Yaccarino, the average user spends 32 minutes on X daily, contributing to a total of 7.8 billion active minutes per day. She also highlights that more than half a billion of the world’s most informed and influential people visit X every month, with an average of 1.5 million new sign-ups per day.
While these figures fall slightly short of Elon Musk’s initial expectations, the company is still progressing, albeit at a slower pace. Premium users on X are three times more likely to stay on the platform compared to non-paying users, likely because X offers them perks in the form of payouts. The company claims to have handed out $20 million to creators so far.
However, third-party research casts doubt on the overall positivity. Despite X’s claims of advertisers making a comeback and prioritizing user safety, Reuters recently reported a decline in ad revenue on the platform.
The blog post also discusses new features on X, such as X Hiring, which enables businesses to post job listings directly. Additionally, X emphasizes the importance of safety and freedom of expression, stating that it strives to be a place where everyone can freely express themselves within the boundaries of the law.
However, regulators worldwide have expressed their dissatisfaction with X’s efforts to combat misinformation on the platform. The EU, for instance, found that X is struggling in this regard. Australia also joined in criticizing X after the company reportedly removed a tool to report election misinformation.
Yaccarino concludes the blog post by offering a glimpse into X’s future ambitions. The platform aims to become Musk’s envisioned “everything app” and is actively developing a new Payments feature for transactions and purchases. X has already obtained initial money transmitter licenses in multiple states, setting the stage for a global payment system launch in the near future.
