Musk finally got his wish at Twitter. For many, this is great news, both for Musk and for Twitter. Indeed, for Musk, joining the main Twitter can further expand his business territory and constantly improve his business ecology. Twitter, for its part, could use Musk’s blessing to ease some of the awkwardness of its development. However, it’s a bit simplistic and arbitrary to look at Musk’s move to Twitter in this light.

Here’s a video that’s worth watching. In the video, Musk talks about his vision and transformation of Twitter, which he is trying to transform into the next wechat. It has to be said that Musk’s idea is a beautiful one. To be sure, if Musk can use wechat as a model to transform Twitter, it can indeed bring some room for growth for Twitter’s development. However, if wechat is merely seen as a model for Twitter, without truly recognizing the profound changes taking place at Twitter and in the social landscape in which it operates, then the transformation may turn out to be wishful thinking.

We can see some of this in Facebook. We all know that Zuckerberg has been trying to reinvent Facebook for a long time, even changing the name of Facebook to Meta in order to do so. However, it turns out that just doing a so-called name change, just doing a so-called conceptual innovation, without actually addressing the fundamental problems that Facebook faces, is not going to work anyway.

The same is true for Musk. Sure, Twitter needs a makeover. However, the transformation of Twitter should not just copy wechat, but need to start from a higher dimension, more aspects. Only in this way, the transformation of Twitter can truly get rid of the past development mode and truly enter a new stage of development.

What is certain is that if Musk simply reinvented Twitter in accordance with social logic, or even in accordance with wechat’s approach, he would not even be able to save Twitter, and would even lead it into a new development dilemma.

The specific reasons are as follows:

Twitter’s problem isn’t Twitter itself

When Musk completed his acquisition of Twitter, he repeatedly criticized the company, both for its products and for its business model itself. While there is some truth to Musk’s claim, it would be simplistic to attribute all of Twitter’s problems to Twitter itself, or even to his acquisition.

In fact, Twitter’s problem is not just Twitter itself, but the entire social industry is facing Twitter’s problem. So if Musk were to put all of his ideas for Twitter on wechat, maybe that would alleviate Twitter’s problems for a while, but after that, Twitter would still face the same problems that the social industry inevitably faces.

Essentially, it’s Twitter’s problem, not Twitter’s. In my opinion, what Twitter should really solve is the problem that the needs of users and the product supply of Twitter cannot perfectly match. For Musk, it may be possible to temporarily alleviate Twitter’s woes by copying wechat, but when the “dividend” is exhausted, Musk will still face the same problem as Zuckerberg.

So perhaps it’s really time for Musk to think about the problems facing Twitter’s social industry and come up with specific solutions. Only then can Musk fundamentally alleviate Twitter’s problems and embarrassment. To be sure, such a solution won’t be found anytime soon, as Zuckerberg’s problems provide some clues.

Buying Twitter is not buying Twitter itself

In buying Twitter, Musk has been casting himself as a messiah. However, if you take a closer look at Musk’s business landscape, it becomes very clear that Musk’s acquisition of Twitter may be more about water than wine. It seems to me that Musk’s acquisition of Twitter is more about building his empire and perfecting his business landscape than just trying to save Twitter.

Yes, it is true that Musk needs a social platform like Twitter to complete his business landscape. Twitter is a rare choice both for Musk’s personal comments and for his company’s public voice. With Twitter, Musk can constantly pump out his business ideas and comments; With Twitter, his company can advertise and promote as it sees fit.

Therefore, on the issue of Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, we need to see more that his acquisition of Twitter may not just be about the acquisition of Twitter itself, but more about the use of Twitter to improve his business map, to build his business ecology. Maybe Twitter will get attention from the capital market after being acquired. However, if Twitter wants to go forward in the long term and make a real breakthrough, it still needs to fundamentally solve its own difficulties and problems.

The value of Twitter is not in the tweet itself

When Musk started buying Twitter, we typically saw a lot of analysis linking it to social, even putting Twitter’s value down to social. In fact, social is just the outside of Twitter. Musk bought Twitter not only for its social value, but also for the value and meaning it contains beyond social.

This is something we can observe and discover socially. Whether it’s Twitter or Facebook or even Tencent, their greatest value is not social itself, but the value that extends from social. With social, Musk can do finance, e-commerce, health, and more. In a sense, socializing is just an entry point.

The same is true for Musk. He bought Twitter not just for its social value, but more for its non-social value. So, just reinventing Twitter from a social perspective, just seeing social as a way of regenerating Twitter, doesn’t really solve Twitter’s problems.

The author believes that the key to ensure the stable and long-term development of Twitter lies in how Musk takes social networking as an entry point to revitalize Twitter and uses it to find ways and methods to break the development dilemma of Twitter. If Musk’s solution to Twitter is only social, or even Twitter itself, then he will only solve Twitter’s dilemmas and problems on the surface, not at the root. From this perspective, Musk can’t really save Twitter either.

conclusion

Musk finally got his wish at Twitter. Hopes began to rise that he would transform Twitter and breathe new life into it. There is no denying that Musk’s entry into Twitter can indeed achieve certain development potential for the development of Twitter. However, to really solve the Twitter problem, we need to look at and find solutions to the Twitter problem from a higher dimension, not just in a social way. Only then can Musk find the right way to solve Twitter’s problems, rather than just being social for social’s sake, and not just pinning all his hopes on copying Tencent.