Let’s be honest: Twitter rebranding as “X” is what we’re talking about today. The App Formerly Known As Twitter is officially branded X on the web app, and X.com redirects to Twitter.com.
However, Threads is a thing but it’s becoming less of a thing, and TikTok is adding text posts.
It’s a world gone mad.
1. It’s not a Tweet, it’s an X.
Twitter seems like it’s is trying to figure out how to pronounce Xeet, but Elon Musk has said Tweets should be called x’s. Either way, this is a dramatic rebranding step in Musks’s “everything app” plan.
“He wants to create an app similar to how WeChat is used in China, where it’s part of the fabric of day-to-day life. You use it to communicate, to consume news, to buy things, to pay your rent, to book appointments with your doctor and even to pay fines,” Ashlee Vance, the author of Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, told NPR in a May interview.
This should be an interesting jump off point for… whatever comes next.
2. Threads usage has dropped off, but it isn’t dead
The platform started strong and grew quickly. Setup was easy, it’s super integrated with your existing followers, and people are constantly looking for alternatives to existing social platforms.
From WSJ
For a second week in a row, the number of daily active users declined on Threads, falling to 13 million, down about 70% from a July 7 peak, according to estimates from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower.
…
Twitter’s daily active users remain steady at about 200 million, and average time spent is at 30 minutes a day, according to Sensor Tower estimates.
3. TikTok makes text posts available to all users
Seems simple for TikTok, but it’s now available to everyone. From TikTok:
Text posts offer a simple publishing experience that makes it easier than ever to share text content. Here’s how it works:
- Creating a Text Post
When you access the Camera page, you’ll be able to choose from three options: photo, video, and text. By selecting text, you’ll be directed to the text creation page, where you can type out the content of your post.
- Enhancing Your Text Posts
Upon reaching the Post page, you’ll find familiar options to customize your content. These include adding Sound, tagging a location, enabling comments, and allowing Duets, among others. These features make it so your text posts are just as dynamic and interactive as any video or photo post.
4. TikTok is testing a shop tab
This isn’t a surprise, but some users are starting to see a Shop tab in their app. from SMT:
TikTok continues to experiment with new ways to integrate shopping into the app, this time via a new ‘Shop’ tab, side swipeable from the main screen, that’s appearing for some users.
5. TikTok is trying out an option to let you download without a watermark
This is a mildly annoying feature of TikTok, but it’s one that has definitely required workarounds from users. It looks like they may finally be toying with the idea of letting you keep your content—unbranded.
