What would an ‘everything app’ mean for social media?

18th October, 2023
What would an ‘everything app’ mean for social media? featured image
2min Read
Author: Adam

Elon Musk, as he is wont to do, has announced big plans for X – the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Musk aspires for X to be like WeChat – China’s most popular platform, with everything to be found from food deliveries to plane tickets to messaging. WeChat is the world’s largest standalone app, with over 1 billion monthly active users. It’s not too much of a surprise that Musk would want to cash in. X, according to him, will include banking, videos, messaging, calling, gaming, and posting. It’s a far cry from Twitter’s humble beginnings, and, as the editor of Stanford University’s DigiChina project stated, ‘it’s a fundamental misunderstanding of what WeChat is if you think you could build such a thing for a Western audience.’1

Over-ambitious, maybe. 

But, what would an app that has everything actually mean for the social media landscape?

We expect that the user experience would be simplified, as the need to switch between multiple apps to access different functionalities is removed. However, the challenge lies in effectively integrating and managing such a diverse range of features within a single app, whilst maintaining a user-friendly interface – and, of course, ensuring data security and privacy. Such an app might face competition and regulatory issues, as the integration of various services could potentially raise concerns related to antitrust laws and data privacy regulations.

Users have become increasingly comfortable with having multiple apps for individual purposes. An ‘everything app’ would be a huge change, and one that people wouldn’t necessarily be happy with.

We’re currently content with all (separate) social media platforms – and if X does morph and consume even more, we’re confident that we’ll become the experts on it.

If you need a hand with your social media, or want to talk strategy, get in touch!

1Daily Beast, 2023.