Insights from below deck: July 2023

Twitter rebrands to X

Since taking over the social media platform, Elon Musk’s management of Twitter has involved a number of controversial decisions including implementing a temporary limit to the number of tweets a user can see in one day, and turning the platform’s user verification system into a for-purchase membership. 

Musk’s latest decision is to rebrand Twitter to “X”. Posts will now be known as “x’s” rather than tweets, and a white X on a black background has replaced the iconic blue bird logo on desktop. This is all part of his wider plan to create his X ‘super app’.

Meta launches Threads

On the back of all the Musk-induced turmoil, Meta has launched Threads – a direct competitor to X. In a post to his new app, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote “I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it. Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn’t nailed it. Hopefully we will.”

However, Threads is missing some significant features of Twitter, including the ability to search by topic rather than just by user, and its user engagement has plummeted since its peak on 7th July. Only time will tell which app will reign supreme.

AI-generated content to be watermarked

To make it easier for readers and viewers to spot deep fakes, scams, and misleading information, tech giants including OpenAI, Alphabet, and Meta, have pledged to watermark AI-generated content. As yet, there’s no image of what this might look like, or answer to how this watermark might function when someone shares AI-generated content. AI is a fascinating emerging landscape, and one that’s constantly evolving. One thing’s for sure – we’re keeping a close eye on it.

Generation Alpha emerges

Just as we’ve got to grips with the different generations, there’s another to start taking into consideration: Generation Alpha. Used to describe people born between 2010 and 2025, most members of Gen Alpha have millennial parents and are also referred to as ‘mini millennials’. 

Much of Generation Alpha will be online from birth, and the way they learn will be influenced by technology and the emerging use of AI. So, where marketers previously had to advertise to children via their parents, Gen Alpha will probably see lots of adverts themselves, enabling a more targeted approach.