Twitter to become X: What's Linda Yaccarino, Elon Musk's goal
Elon Musk has confirmed that NBCUniversal's former chief of advertising, Linda Yaccarino, will succeed him as the next CEO of Twitter in the coming weeks. With the announcement, the eccentric billionaire has also made one thing clear: Twitter will be transformed into X, an everything app. But what is X? Here's everything you need to know about Musk and Yaccarino's mission X.
Why does this story matter?
In December 2022, 'Chief Twit' Musk asked his followers on Twitter whether he should continue as CEO of the social media company. The poll received 17.5 million votes with 57.5% of the voters asking Musk to step down. Five months later, Yaccarino is poised to become Twitter CEO. But what will she do at Twitter and what lies ahead for the platform?
Twitter has already been merged into X Corp
A lot has happened at Twitter ever since Musk took charge. For one, Twitter does not exist as a separate entity anymore. Instead, it has been merged into X Corp, a technology company. When Musk was buying Twitter, he said that the platform could accelerate X by "3 to 5 years." He wrote, "Twitter is an accelerant to fulfilling the original X.com vision."
So what is X?
X is Musk's newest goal. He wants to build an 'everything app' akin to China's WeChat, which offers messaging, online payments, video calls, government services, food delivery, and other features in one bundle. Musk sees an opportunity in creating an app that can aggregate services that would otherwise require multiple apps. With X, you could access everything using a single password and user interface.
What is Yaccarino's role in making Twitter a super app?
While finer details are yet to emerge, Yaccarino will join Twitter as CEO in about six weeks. She will focus primarily on "business operations." Musk said he is "looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform (Twitter) into X, the everything app."
Take a look at Musk's message
She will also help improve Twitter's relationship with advertisers
Yaccarino has received much praise for changing how NBCUniversal advertises and collaborates. As the new CEO, she will help Twitter mend its strained bonds with many of the top advertisers, who reportedly halted spending dollars on the platform after Musk's takeover. Some advertisers have expressed concerns that under Musk's more lax approach to content moderation, their ads have appeared next to hate speech/misinformation.
Musk will focus on product design and new technology
Musk's tenure as Twitter CEO has been nothing short of dramatic. He fired the previous leadership team, sacked thousands of employees, expelled inactive accounts, made blue checkmarks a paid feature, and reworked the algorithm that drives Twitter's content. Now, he will transition to being executive chair as well as chief technology officer. He will focus on product design and new technology.
