Chapter 6: Marketing with X

    This chapter discusses the social media platform X and its potential for boosting businesses in the marketing world. Formerly known as Twitter, X is a platform where users can make posts with a maximum of four thousand characters. It enables users to share their passions, opinions, and stay updated with global news. X can be effectively used for marketing as it is an interactive platform that allows users to provide business feedback and establish their reputation by engaging with other X users.

    Elon Musk purchased the Twitter platform for forty four billion dollars, aiming to create a space for more free commentary. As a result, X, the transformed version of Twitter, gained over one hundred eighty five million users after six years of development. However, Musk made significant changes to the app, including allowing banned users to return, altering the verification process, and laying off thousands of employees. This transformation had a profound impact on the marketing world, leading to a loss of their top advertisers. Elon Musk's rebranding efforts have turned Twitter into an almost entirely new app, with a comprehensive new branding strategy.

    In this chapter, I found X's algorithm interesting. It uses models and features from posts, users, and engagement to categorize five hundred million daily posts and show you the top ones on your "For You" timeline. The algorithm optimizes posts for likes and reposts, boosting people's content and allowing brands to gain more followers and potential customers. When a brand's content is boosted, they receive a more popular ranking, increasing the likelihood of their content appearing on someone's "For You" timeline. It's astounding how this algorithm can provide the best content suited to you and the most popular.

    Lastly, a point I found important for all social media brands: Brands should avoid promoting products too much on social media to prevent overwhelming users. However, X now allows for more characters on a post, giving advertisers the opportunity to experiment with new amounts of content. X is becoming more conversational, like direct messaging, which encourages users to communicate more publicly. Meaningful conversations with consumers help brands develop their voice and personality. X can be used effectively in marketing to help businesses grow. Although Twitter's change to X is an adjustment, it can provide benefits for the marketing world. Musk is producing X into a platform that is more similar to others, but the technology behind it will ultimately change the game whether that be bad or good.