Twitter is about to get a lot more features. For example, the social media platform will soon allow users to chat through voice and video. This is just the latest in a long series of changes that CEO and co-founder Elon Musk has implemented since he took over Twitter late last year. He has said he wants to turn Twitter into a nifty app that combines messaging, payments, and more, citing WeChat in China as a model he wanted to follow.
He has also been testing new UI and navigation features. In May, the company introduced swiping to move between timelines and the ability to bookmark tweet details. It has also added an icon to mark messages as private. In addition, the company has been pushing hard to boost engagement and attract more advertisers as it needs to work on slumping revenue.
But not all changes have been welcomed by Twitter users. For example, the company has been accused of changing its rules to make it easier for brands to promote themselves on the platform, and in some cases, it has stripped away the blue tick that was once a sign that well-known celebrities were using the service. The blue tick has also been stripped from accounts of politicians, activists, and religious leaders, sparking accusations that the site is censoring free speech.
On Tuesday, Musk tweeted that the next wave of features will include adding calls and encrypted messaging to Twitter. “Coming soon will be voice and video chat from your handle to anyone on this platform, so you can talk to people anywhere in the world without giving them your phone number,” he wrote. However, he did not provide a time frame for the launch of this feature.
The move could help Musk push through his plans for Twitter, which he has discussed since taking over the company in December last year. He has said he wants Twitter to become a “Twitter 2.0 The Everything App” with features like direct encrypted messages (DMs), long-form tweets, and payments. He has also been experimenting with ways to make advertising more entertaining for users, such as a quiz that asks whether a person is Targaryan or Valeryon from Game of Thrones.
Musk has been a hands-on CEO since his takeover, implementing changes and laying off many staff members. But not all of his moves have been welcome, with some Twitter users complaining that the site has suffered many technical issues.
The tycoon has also been working to create partnerships that play into his plans for the super app. In April, the stock and cryptocurrency trading firm eToro launched a partnership with Twitter that lets users trade assets by clicking on “hashtags” or hashtags that contain dollar symbols instead of pound signs. This was a test run for a broader partnership to let you buy and sell stocks on the platform through tweets. This is one of the first steps in a plan to create an eToro app within Twitter itself, which is an integral part of making a super multipurpose app.
