It has been more than a year since tech entrepreneur Elon Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion. A lot has changed with the social media platform—and not just its name—since Musk tweeted “The Bird is free” in late October 2022.
Now known as “X,” it has begun testing a monthly subscription model in some markets, cut headlines from link previews and most notably changed its verification system in favor of another subscription offering.
Many long-time users and social media watchers alike aren’t happy with many of the changes.
“X, formerly Twitter, has changed a lot in the last year. The issues that exist on the platform were always there, but they are now more exacerbated with some of the changes that have been made. Artificial intelligence has a greater presence now with more optimized bots that increasingly escape detection,” Dr. Julianna Kirschner of the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California, explained.
The platform formerly known as Twitter has also led to shifts in the social media sphere.
“Some ex-Twitter employees have moved onto other opportunities, including the new platform Threads, which has mostly been driven by former Twitter employees,” Kirschner added. “However, Threads has not experienced as much traction as anticipated. At least, it hasn’t yet.”
Is X More Of An Anti-Social Network?
Musk, a self-declared “free speech absolutist,” has been accused of removing many of the guard rails that previously existed with Twitter. As a result, the platform has become far less social—even if it was already headed in that direction before his acquisition
“Twitter started as a place where people could talk about trivia as well as what mattered to them. It was a community,” Susan Schreiner, senior analyst at C4 Trends noted. “By the time Musk acquired Twitter, there was pent-up frustration with Twitter and a growing sense of how much better it could be—but it had multi-millions of loyal users and followers that depended on it for their livelihoods and even as a ‘reliable’ news source.”
There was even much initial enthusiasm—along with no shortage of skepticism—around the Musk acquisition, as he had the aura of an innovator and visionary leader who would carry into his acquisition of Twitter and the creation of new cutting-edge products and other advancements. Yet, it didn’t exactly pan out.
“Instead of an orderly transition to a bright new future, those high hopes for Twitter were quickly extinguished as users swapped stasis for chaos—and as Musk took a wrecking ball to the Twitter culture,” Schreiner continued.
There were changes to the algorithms, the staff was reduced—notably the teams responsible for keeping hateful and violent content off the platform.
“It was the kind of brand safety work that makes a platform attractive to advertisers,” Schreiner suggested. “With his mantra of free speech and decline in content moderation—there’s a surge in misinformation and hate postings, and advertisers are fleeing and so are alienated users. Of course, they had bought a Blue Twitter checkmark, so that made them legit”
Users Are Still Sticking Around
Even as critics are quick to point out the shortcomings that now exist on Twitter, some positives remain.
“X is still the space in which certain content is sought. In particular, sports fans have a difficult time leaving X due to the level of access the platform provides to athletes and other sports personalities,” Kirschner said.
It is also likely that users will stick around simply because a solid alternative has yet to emerge.
“In much of my research, users have acknowledged that platforms like Twitter/X can be harmful, but they still use them anyway,” Kirschner added. “Their awareness of the problems does not negate their participation. The value of what users get out of X outweighs their knowledge of the platform’s deficiencies, specifically when it comes to the rise of misinformation and hate speech.”
So the question to ask: one year or so into this experiment called X, is there a silver lining?
“There might be but it’s unlikely under the Musk regime,” Schreiner warned. “Social platforms need a culture of community, coherency, consistency and trust to a certain degree.”