Blue Check Rethinking the future of social media

After months of back and forth, Tesla founder Elon Musk closed the $44 billion deal to buy the social network Twitter, and the takeover hasn't been without its controversy.

The tech tycoon has big plans for the blue bird and could change the way we use Twitter - or the "town square of the world" - for good. Twitter 2.0 is coming.

MUSK TAKES OVER TWITTER

While Facebook has dominated social media in recent years with Messenger, Facebook, and Instagram, LinkedIn has flourished under the ownership of Microsoft, and Pinterest has grown into its own. Twitter, on the other hand, is a rare phenomenon. Despite being a word on everybody's lips, with handles and hashtags mentioned during every TV show, the social network has declined in recent years. Where Instagram and TikTok have managed to capture the attention of shoppers and advertisers, Twitter has struggled to generate a profit. As such, the word was on many people's lips that the company would be sold. Enter Musk, the founder of PayPal, Tesla, and a whole host of other companies. Earlier in the year, he agreed to join the company board and, a few weeks later, confirmed plans to buy it. It wasn't a straightforward takeover: he tried to renege on the deal and sued and then was counter-sued before deciding to go through with it. At the time, Musk said he "just want[ed] Twitter to be maximum amazing" and reportedly had grand plans for the platform's future.

In recent months, Musk hasn't been quiet on what a future Twitter 2.0 could look like. Indeed, he's taken to the social network to share his ideas and visions for the site's future, and while some have gone down well, others have not. At the time, Musk said: "Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app," he tweeted after the news of his renewed offer went public, suggesting that he wants to create the Western World's version of WeChat, China's super-app that's used by consumers, businesses, and governments for virtually everything - think social media, WhatsApp, banking, Uber, FaceTime, and more.