Elon Musk Shares Vision For “Twitter 2.0”

Elon Musk reveals his plans to transform Twitter into an "everything app."

Twitter CEO Elon Musk reveals six plans to make Twitter an "everything app," including longform tweets, encrypted direct messages, user-to-user payments, and more.

Elon Musk presented his plans at an internal meeting in a series of slides titled "Twitter 2.0":

Slides from my Twitter company talk pic.twitter.com/8LLXrwylta

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 27, 2022

The slides reveal the following Twitter goals for the future:

1. Advertising as entertainment
2. Video
3. Longform tweets
4. Encrypted DMs
5. Longform tweets
6. Relaunch Blue Verified

Musk shared the slides on Twitter without providing any context, making it difficult to read too deeply into his company's plans. We can, however, glean some information from the mock-up screenshots on each slide.

Advertising As Entertainment

Musk intends to make Twitter advertising more entertaining, demonstrating an example of an ad from HBO Max that reads like a Buzzfeed quiz.

The text reads:

“Are you Targaryan, Valeryon, or Hightower?

Like this tweet and I’ll analyze your profile so you know which house you belong to and what role you would have in the world of #LaCasaDelDragon.”

For context, the advertisement is for House of Dragons, a Game of Thrones spin-off.

The ad copy reminds me of those Buzzfeed quizzes where you answer a series of questions to find out which TV show character you are.

The popularity of those quizzes leads me to believe that Twitter's advertising strategy could generate meaningful engagement.

Is this type of advertising likely to attract new customers who are unfamiliar with the product? Probably not, but it could be a good way to increase brand awareness.

Video

The above example, with only a thumbnail and placeholder text, leaves little room for speculation about Musk's plans for video on Twitter.

However, if Musk's tweets are to be believed, his plans may include resurrecting the short-form video app Vine:

Bring back Vine?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 31, 2022

Musk may also intend to compete with YouTube, claiming that he can offer higher pay. Mr. Beast, the most popular YouTube creator, is sceptical of that claim:

If you did that and actually competed with tik tok that’d be hilarious

— MrBeast (@MrBeast) October 31, 2022

To demonstrate his plans for longform tweets, Musk includes a screenshot of Twitter's Notes feature.

Earlier this year, Twitter began testing Notes with a small group of writers.

✨ Introducing: Notes ✨

We’re testing a way to write longer on Twitter. pic.twitter.com/SnrS4Q6toX

— Twitter Write (@TwitterWrite) June 22, 2022

Visit the @TwitterWrites account page and navigate to the Notes tab to see this feature in action.

Encrypted DMs

Encrypted direct messages are quickly becoming an industry standard for social media platforms. In January, Meta introduced end-to-end encryption for its messaging tools, and now Twitter is following suit.

Jane M. Wong, a reverse engineering expert, recently discovered evidence of Twitter's encrypted direct messages, implying that the update is nearing completion.

(New) Blue Verified

Blue Verified's upcoming relaunch will include the following features:

1. A blue ‘verified’ checkmark
2. Priority placement at the top of replies, mentions, and search results
3. See 50% fewer ads
4. Upload longer videos
5. Get early access to new features

The text at the bottom of Musk's slide states that the $7.99 per month pricing is a "limited time offer," implying that the price may rise in the future unless users lock in now.

Payments

Musk's slide contains no information about his plans for Twitter payments. Those plans, however, were revealed earlier this month.

Musk stated in a call with advertisers that he wants to transform Twitter into a digital marketplace where content creators can set their own prices.

This will enable creators to sell instructional videos, for example, at a fair price.

To that end, Musk believes that this type of payment system will allow users to send money directly to other Twitter users.