There has been a lot of news coverage recently on Twitter rebranding as X with a lot of backlash from users and a lot of fun being poked at Musk. For those that aren’t aware of his previous life, before SpaceX and PayPal, one of his first businesses was an online bank called X.com and the purchase of Twitter is just one step at bringing this back to life. As Linda Yaccarino the CEO said, “X will be the platform that can deliver, well… everything” – the aim is that X will become an app that will encompass not only social networking, but also banking and shopping. 

For advertisers things don’t really change in the immediate. X ads managers (are they now called that?!) is the same and the audience targeting is no different. They have definitely lost ad spend since Musk’s takeover and the launch of Threads I’m sure will eat into them further, however Musk is in for the long game, and it will be interesting to watch developments. There are 5 main areas that are on the roadmap for development as outlined below:

• Payments: Musk promised that X will be the biggest financial system in the world with the ability to send money to creators and buy things like a coffee in your local shop. Twitter Payments LLC recently obtained licenses in several states to handle crypto so this will be coming soon!
• Tweets/Xs: Articles are coming. No character limits. Attention (time on tweet) continues to be the buzz word of 2023!
• Video: Long form video will also be pushed – the more screentime users spend looking at a post, the more it is boosted. X don’t want people clicking out of the platform so video posted natively to the platform will be boosted more than external links
• Coins: X coins are coming – even now you can buy a coin for a user if you like the content they are producing
• Audio: Check out Spaces as a sign of things to come! Live audio conversations on Twitter / X. Expect payments and coins to come to Spaces.
• The above updates will drive the creator economy on the platform but the impact to advertisers is probably less felt. The changes to verified users is a concern for advertisers and so we advise  treading carefully on activating campaigns as there appears to be an erosion of control and standards which makes it far less appealing. 

Written by Sam Griffith, Head of Digital, d19