When Elon Musk acquired Twitter in 2022, it was part of a grand vision to transform the social media platform into something much bigger: an “everything app.” Musk’s ambitious goals for what is now known as X included turning the platform into a bank, a digital town square, a dating service, a recruitment hub, and a major video-sharing platform.
These plans were supposed to revolutionize the way users engage with the platform and manage their digital lives. However, as 2024 draws to a close, much of this vision has yet to materialize. A recent report sheds light on what X was supposed to become by now and how far it still has to go.
The Vision for X: A Bank for Everyone’s Financial Life
One of Elon Musk’s boldest goals for X was to transform it into a bank that could handle users’ financial lives in an all-encompassing way. During an internal meeting at X in late 2023, Musk reportedly said it would “blow his mind” if X could manage “someone’s entire financial life” by the end of 2024.
This statement reflected Musk’s desire to make X not only a platform for social interaction but also a digital hub for payments, financial management, and commerce. Musk’s idea was deeply connected to his previous venture, X.com, which eventually became PayPal, one of the most successful online payment systems in the world.
By reclaiming the X.com domain in 2022 and integrating it with Twitter, Musk hoped to merge social networking with digital payments. The platform was supposed to offer features akin to Venmo, allowing users to send and receive money directly through X while integrating other financial services like banking and investments.
Read : Elon Musk Calls Cardi B Puppet for Supporting Kamala Harris
To make this vision a reality, X began working on a payment feature that would allow users to process transactions directly through the app. The company secured money transmitter licenses in 38 U.S. states, including California, which is critical for enabling payment services.
However, approval from other key states like New York is still pending, and the payment functionality has yet to launch fully. Despite these challenges, Musk’s vision for X as a financial platform still lingers, although the timeline for its realization seems to be slipping.
This financial transformation mirrors Musk’s original goal with X.com in the late 1990s, where he aimed to create an all-in-one financial service that would combine banking, investments, and payments under one roof.
While PayPal ultimately became a success in the online payments space, the broader vision of X.com was never fully realized. Now, Musk is attempting to bring that vision to life through X, but the journey has proven more difficult than anticipated.
Other Ambitions: Dating, Recruiting, and Video Dominance
In addition to its financial ambitions, X was supposed to become a platform for other critical services by now. One of the goals was to turn X into a dating app, leveraging the platform’s vast user base to help people connect romantically. Musk’s idea was that X could serve as an all-encompassing platform for both personal and professional relationships, allowing users to swipe right or left, much like Tinder or Bumble.
However, this dating feature has not yet come to fruition, and there has been little public progress on this front. While it might seem like an unusual direction for a platform originally built around social media, Musk has long been interested in the intersection of technology and human connection.
By turning X into a place where users could find love, Musk envisioned a platform that could cater to all aspects of life, from socializing to dating to financial management.
In addition to dating, Musk planned for X to become an alternative to LinkedIn, providing users with a way to network professionally, recruit talent, and even find jobs. The idea was to create a seamless integration of social media and professional networking, allowing users to manage both their personal and professional lives in one place.
Although X has seen some developments in this direction, including the introduction of job listing features and the ability for users to showcase professional profiles, it has yet to become the LinkedIn competitor that Musk had envisioned.
Perhaps the most ambitious of Musk’s goals for X was to turn it into a “YouTube killer.” Musk has long criticized YouTube for its content policies and has expressed a desire to build a platform that could rival Google’s video-sharing giant. X was supposed to offer a robust video platform where creators could upload and monetize their content without the restrictions or censorship that Musk believes plagues YouTube.
While X has made strides in integrating video content, including longer video posts and live streaming options, it has not yet posed a significant threat to YouTube’s dominance.
Despite these ambitious goals, X has struggled to become the all-encompassing app that Musk envisioned. The platform has faced numerous challenges, from regulatory hurdles in the payments space to competition from well-established players in the dating, recruiting, and video-sharing markets.
Musk’s vision for X remains a work in progress, and it is unclear when, or if, the platform will achieve the breadth of services he originally intended.
What’s Next for X: A Future Full of Uncertainty
As 2024 draws to a close, the question on many people’s minds is: what’s next for X? Elon Musk’s vision for the platform as an everything app is still alive, but the path to achieving that vision is far from clear.
The company continues to work on its payments feature, and approval in key states like New York could pave the way for a broader rollout. If successful, X could eventually become a major player in the digital payments space, rivaling the likes of Venmo, PayPal, and Cash App.
The dating and recruiting features, while ambitious, seem to have taken a back seat for now. It remains to be seen whether Musk will revive these ideas or shift focus to other areas as X evolves.
The platform’s video capabilities are still in development, and while X has introduced longer videos and monetization features for content creators, it has yet to pose a serious challenge to YouTube. For X to become the dominant video platform that Musk envisions, it will need to attract more creators and offer better incentives than its competitors.
One of the biggest challenges for X moving forward is balancing its diverse goals. Turning the platform into an everything app is an enormous undertaking, and the risk of spreading its focus too thin is real.
Each of the areas Musk wants to tackle—payments, dating, recruiting, video—requires significant investment, resources, and expertise. Competing with industry giants in each of these spaces will be difficult, and X will need to excel in every area to meet Musk’s expectations.
Moreover, regulatory challenges loom large, particularly in the financial sector. Obtaining the necessary licenses to operate as a payments platform in all 50 states is a time-consuming process, and the potential for regulatory scrutiny is high. X will need to navigate these challenges carefully if it hopes to become the bank of the future that Musk envisions.
There is also the question of user adoption. While Musk’s vision for X is grand, users may not be eager to adopt all of the new features. Turning a social media platform into a financial hub or a dating service may not appeal to everyone, and X will need to find ways to convince its user base to embrace these changes.
The success of Musk’s vision will ultimately depend on how well X can integrate these services in a way that feels natural and useful to its users.
In the meantime, X continues to operate as a social media platform, and Musk’s leadership has already brought significant changes to how the platform functions. Whether or not X can become the everything app Musk dreams of remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: Musk’s ambition knows no bounds, and he is determined to push the platform to its limits.
let’s enjoy few years on earth with peace and happiness….✍🏼🙏