The Sink Is Still Clogged At X.

A year in: Foresight and this picture tweeted by the man himself was a clear indication of the impending drain out of a powerful, even though struggling brand. The US$ 44b is now reported to be worth $19b, nothing to be surprised about.

In my Jan article I asked the question, "Who is the real customer for twitter?". A year in, to some extent it is becoming clear, because in reality there is no other path left to salvage this. Losing $25b is a lot of bills not just to clog the sink but also one's brains. And that is the tripwire.

Let me break this down into six key points:

1. X is not a tech or a product problem - it is fundamental leadership thinking problem. We have seen limitations of leadership capabilities when cross-pollinated across industries. This is not to say that singular industry thinking is needed. We need strong multi-industry and multi-disciplinary mindset at X. Look no further than GE to understand that cross-industry leadership application has diminishing returns between industrial and consumer businesses. According to Musk, engineers like to optimize a problem that does not exist. He is forgetting his own words.
2. Many continue to critique EM and X for the junk level status of what has become of Twitter. Rightly so. But it is in transition to become a multi-faceted utility app of which the foundation is fintech - because it has no choice. X has earned the gold medal in social media 'irrelevant and alive' category.
3. Ironically, the only retrievable path would be build other services rapidly to minimize the social media aspect itself as part of the overall service portfolio - this is not a bots discussion - it is the only redeemable path to getting back to any decent valuation. & possibly then monetize these services beyond a silly blue mark.
4. Initial moves to attract or reward creators have really not made any dent with the lack of moderation and garbage floating around on X. From a product view, it lacks any of the basic creator tools that TikTok, Instagram have. Payments will not solve the creator attraction problem. X Spaces is good but lacks the overall ecosystem integration. On the other hand, the advertisers continue to be shy of the platform.
5. Now will this Super App ambition work? In the mind of the tenacious and alternative reality of Musk, yes. But is it possible?, in theory, yes. X has received money or transmitter licenses in few US states, continues to add audio, video call features, acquired a talent acquisition tech company to become a jobs portal, and more that you hear every day. Can it integrate Ubers and insurance policies, digital wallets, gaming, streaming or entertainment and not to forget the favourite - Dodge coin? Sure. But is it of value to the customer? What next, will he buy a Grocery retailer? or buyout Lyft?
6. The reality - Even for a moment if the Super App ambition were to be achieved (and probably the only way as I pointed out to redeem this), Musk's own brand comes in the way of digital trust. And not to mention the lack of spine when it comes to protecting user data from governments. (& add in the Star Link factor playing in global conflicts).

Would It Have Been Easier & Cheaper To Build Out An Utility App & Not On The Skeleton Of A Social Media Architecture?

Threads scaled to 100 million users in a couple of days. But the product on its own still lacks the functionality. In today's multi-dimensional, multi-experience world, customers expectations will always grow faster than the ability to keep up.

If there was no Musk ego at play (and iron-clad agreement that was enforced), he could have just spent $5-10b, to build a world class Super App. He would already had a better shot at building the super app (without Twitter moderation hangover)with real payers than work through the carry over junk level users and forcing them to adopt the perception of utility.

The real question is not the possibility for X, but of self-centered view of the world driven by the need to be loud and obnoxious. What better way than to own the bullhorn?

And Bizarrely This Week:

X does not have the Ozempic excuse.

Read more on my work.?

?