text/Meng Yonghui
Musk finally got his hands on Twitter as he wished. In the eyes of many people, it is great news for both Musk and Twitter. Indeed, for Musk, taking over Twitter can further expand his business territory and continuously improve his business ecology; for Twitter, he can temporarily alleviate the embarrassment in the development process with the help of Musk's support. However, if you just look at Musk's involvement in Twitter from this perspective, it would be a bit too simple and arbitrary.
There is a video that is worth savoring. In the video, Musk talks about his imagination and transformation of Twitter, and he also tries to transform Twitter into the next WeChat. I have to say that Musk's idea is beautiful. What is certain is that if Musk can use WeChat as a model to transform Twitter, it can indeed bring a certain room for growth to the development of Twitter. However, if we just regard WeChat as a model of Twitter and without truly realizing the profound changes that are taking place in Twitter and the social field it is in, then the so-called transformation may eventually be wishful thinking. We can see some clues from Facebook. We all know that Zuckerberg has been trying to transform Facebook. In order to achieve this long-cherished wish, he even changed Facebook to Meta. However, the development of things tells us that simply making the so-called name change, just making the so-called conceptual innovation, without really solving the fundamental problems faced by Facebook itself, will not achieve the expected results anyway.
is the same for Musk. Indeed, Twitter needs a transformation. However, the transformation of Twitter should not be just copying WeChat, but should be started from a higher dimension and more aspects. Only in this way can the transformation of Twitter truly get rid of the previous development model and truly enter a new stage of development.
It is certain that if Musk merely transformed Twitter according to social logic or even according to WeChat's practices, it would not even save Twitter, and would even bring Twitter into a new development dilemma.
The specific reasons are as follows:
The problem of Twitter is not in Twitter itself
Before Musk completed the acquisition of Twitter, he kept criticizing Twitter, whether it was from Twitter's products themselves or from Twitter's business model itself, almost all of this. Although Musk's statement is reasonable, it would be too simple to attribute all the Twitter issues to Twitter itself and even regard them as the fundamental reason for his acquisition of Twitter.
In fact, the problem facing Twitter is not just Twitter itself, but the entire social industry is facing Twitter’s problems. Therefore, if Musk puts all the plans to transform Twitter on WeChat, then this approach may temporarily alleviate the problems faced by Twitter. However, after such transformation is completed, Twitter will still face problems that the social industry will inevitably face.
In essence, this is not determined by Twitter's problem. The author believes that what Twitter really should solve is the problem that user needs are difficult to perfectly connect with Twitter’s product supply. For Musk, copying WeChat may indeed temporarily alleviate the dilemma of Twitter, but when such a " bonus " is exhausted, Musk will still face the same problem as Zuckerberg.
Therefore, for Musk, perhaps what he should really think about is the problems facing the social industry in which Twitter is located and propose targeted solutions. Only in this way can Musk fundamentally alleviate the problems and embarrassment faced by Twitter.However, it is certain that such a solution will not be found in a very short time. Just looking at the problems facing Zuckerberg, we can see some clues.
Acquisition of Twitter is not about acquiring Twitter itself
In the acquisition of Twitter, Musk always packaged himself into the image of a "savior". However, if we carefully analyze Musk's business territory, we will clearly see that Musk's acquisition of Twitter may be because the intention of Drunkard is not to drink, but to the mountains and rivers. In my opinion, Musk's acquisition of Twitter is not just to save Twitter from the fire, but to use Twitter more to build his own business empire and improve his business territory.
Yes, for Musk, he really needs a social platform like Twitter to improve his business map. Twitter is a rare choice for Musk's personal remarks or for his company's external voice. With Twitter, Musk can constantly send his own business ideas and remarks to the outside world; with Twitter, the companies under his rule can promote and promote according to their own ideas.
Therefore, in the issue of Musk's acquisition of Twitter, what we need to see more is that his acquisition of Twitter may not only be about acquiring Twitter itself, but rather, he wants to use Twitter to improve his business territory and build his own business ecosystem. Maybe Twitter will gain attention from the capital market after it is acquired, but if Twitter wants to go long and truly make a breakthrough, it still has to fundamentally solve the difficulties and problems it faces.
The value of Twitter is not in Twitter itself
When Musk began to acquire Twitter, many of the analyses we usually see linked it with social, and even attributed the value of Twitter to social. In fact, social networking is just the external appearance of Twitter. Musk’s acquisition of Twitter is not just a fancy to Twitter’s social value, but he sees more the value and significance outside of social networking itself. We can observe and discover this from a social perspective. Whether it is Twitter, Facebook, or even , Tencent, and , their greatest value is no longer socializing itself, but the value extended by socializing. It can be said that with social interaction, Musk can do finance, e-commerce, health and other things. In a sense, social interaction is just an entrance.
is the same for Musk. The reason why he acquired Twitter was not just about its social value, but about its social value more. Therefore, just transforming Twitter from a social perspective and just treating socializing as a way and method for Twitter to be reborn cannot truly fundamentally solve the problem of Twitter.
The author believes that how Musk uses social interaction as the entry point to activate Twitter and find ways and methods to solve the development difficulties of Twitter is the key to ensuring that Twitter can move forward steadily. If Musk only limits the solution to transform Twitter to social networking itself, or even to Twitter itself, then he can only solve the dilemma and problems of Twitter's skin, but cannot fundamentally solve the dilemma and problems of Twitter. From this perspective, Musk is also unable to truly save Twitter.
Conclusion
Musk finally got his hands on Twitter as he wished. Therefore, the outside world began to hope that he could transform Twitter and bring new vitality to the development of Twitter. It is undeniable that Musk's entry into Twitter can indeed gain certain development potential for Twitter's development. However, in order to truly solve the problem of Twitter, we cannot solve it simply through social means, but we need to look at and find solutions and methods to the problem of Twitter from a higher dimension.Only in this way can Musk find the right way and method to solve the Twitter problem, rather than just socializing for the sake of socializing, nor just placing all hope on copying Tencent.
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Author: Meng Yonghui, senior contributor, columnist, strategic consultant. Focus on industry research for a long time and provide in-depth thinking and industry observation information. We support the sharing of the author's source. Please keep the author's copyright information when reprinting. Violators will be prosecuted.
