By Jalaja Ramanunni
Since Elon Musk took over, Twitter has been a hot topic of conversation. The social media platform has been rolling out many new features and changes. After the acquisition for $44bn, the most significant news is that Twitter is no longer called ‘Twitter’ and it has been merged into X Corp.
So far, it is unclear what this merger means for marketers and advertisers. “It is difficult to say whether Twitter is fundamentally different today, as the platform is evolving and changing rapidly,” Cassie Bell-Misri, Director of Business Development at Socialeyez, a digital engagement agency in the UAE, told Campaign.
“However, if Musk’s vision for Twitter does come to fruition, it could have significant implications for marketers on the platform. For example, it could open new opportunities for brands to reach audiences on Twitter through innovative new advertising formats and targeting options. At the same time, it could also create new challenges for marketers as the need to adapt and navigate the complex web of interconnected technologies that underpin Musk’s ‘X Everything’ vision,” Bell-Misri adds.
Musk had hinted at plans for ‘X’, the everything app while negotiations were on with Twitter last year. “Twitter is an accelerant to fulfilling the original X.com vision,” Musk tweeted in October last year after renewing his bid to purchase the social media platform.
It is rumored that Twitter is moving towards an in-house artificial intelligence project; Musk recently bought 10,000 GPUs for use at one of the company’s two remaining data centers, an Engadget report stated.
It is clear that the platform is undergoing significant changes, and marketers have to stay agile to succeed in their digital marketing strategies. Many changes have been announced over the last few months since Musk took over. Musk also created an artificial intelligence company X.AI Corp last month.
Bell-Misri explains that the new features have mixed implications for brands and marketers. The new verification requirements and costs could create barriers for smaller brands and influencers as the cost of becoming verified increases significantly. At the same time, monetisation features such as Super Followers and Tip Jar create new opportunities for brands and influencers already established on the platform.
She says, “These features allow users to charge for exclusive content, potentially opening new revenue streams for marketers who are unable to build engaged and loyal audiences on the platform.
Overall, the impact of these changes on marketers in the Middle East is likely to depend on several factors, including their existing presence on the platform, their budget and resources, and their ability to adapt to evolving platform requirements and features”.
Musk has gone on record to say that he “hates advertising,” but that doesn’t change the fact that he needs the ad dollars since advertising accounts for the bulk of Twitter’s revenue. In the first half of 2022, Twitter’s advertising revenue totalled nearly $2.18bn, up 11.8 per cent from the previous year.
