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Elon Musk, the business magnate renowned for his ground-breaking initiatives, has been vocal about his ambitious plans for X, a social networking platform previously known as Twitter. Musk’s vision includes transforming X into a comprehensive application encompassing various features like peer-to-peer payments, creator tools, shopping, and more. Today, X has revealed a stringent timeline for the implementation of these plans.
The Roadmap for X’s Transformation
X’s roadmap for the forthcoming year includes the incorporation of AI-powered experiences and the introduction of peer-to-peer payments among a plethora of other initiatives. Musk’s ambitious timelines may not always materialize as planned, but X has been actively working towards obtaining the requisite licenses to manage payment processing over the past few months. By December, X had obtained a license for payment processing in 12 U.S. states. Today, this number has grown to 14 with the recent additions of Arkansas and Pennsylvania.
Peer-to-Peer Payments on X
One of the key features in Musk’s vision is the ability for X users to transfer funds to their peers on the platform and withdraw these funds to authenticated bank accounts. Musk has also flirted with the notion of providing users with high-yield money market accounts down the line to incentivize them to retain more of their cash on X.
According to a recent blog post by X, the company intends to launch peer-to-peer payments within this year. This move aims to further unlock user utility and open up new avenues for commerce, hinting at possible integration with other X products such as creator revenue sharing and online shopping.
Investing in Creators and Content Partnerships
X has also pledged continuous investment in creators, content partnerships, original content, full-funnel ads, and brand safety. The latter has been a major concern for X advertisers, who despite X’s measures, have found their ads placed alongside toxic content or hate speech. This has led to many advertisers pulling away from the platform.
The Role of AI in X’s Future
The recent announcement by X also hints at the crucial role AI will play in the platform’s future. This follows the launch of Musk’s ChatGPT competitor, the robust Grok chatbot. Although the post did not delve into specifics, it suggested that AI would be employed to enhance the X user and advertising experiences, including areas like search improvement, ad refinement, and a new level of customer understanding.
Musk’s AI company, xAI, will also empower consumer-facing features like the present “See Similar Posts,” as well as an upcoming “See Dissimilar Posts” feature, which aims to encourage users to challenge their perspectives.
X’s Progress Over the Past Year
Over the past year, X has made significant strides, launching long-form video, audio and video calling, X Hiring (job search), Communities expansion, Grok, creator tools, and more. Users have watched “130 years’ worth of videos” 30 minutes or longer, engaged in calls with an average length of 10 minutes, and more than 80,000 creators have received payouts via X’s revenue-sharing program in less than a year.
Conclusion
Musk’s vision for X marks a radical transformation for the social networking platform. With plans for peer-to-peer payments, AI-powered experiences, and a renewed focus on creators and content partnerships, X is poised to become an “everything app.” As it continues to expand its reach and capabilities, X promises to usher in a new era of social networking.
