Twitter's web3 plans

GM. Welcome back to Decentra Daily, your Hitchhiker's Guide to The Metaverse.

It's hard to escape the news that Elon Musk's Twitter buyout finally went through. So let's take a look at what the acquisition means for web3 on the bird app.

Today's stories

• What are Twitter's web3 plans?

• Elon's first days @ twitter: a timeline

Elon's web3 plans for Twitter

Before last fall, It felt like the big social media platforms hadn't done anything interesting in a decade.

Then Zuckerberg heard about web3 and became an immediate degen, pivoting his entire company's focus toward advanced metaverse tech.

Meta came in strong, like an awkward guest at a house party. They went around the room shouting at people about their super cool VR headsets and video game worlds without stopping to check whether anybody actually cares.

It was a bold strategy: spend years building future platforms and hardware, and then hope that people see value in migrating. But hey, who are we to belittle such an ambitious vision?

Ah. Yikes. What's that you say? Share prices at their lowest since March 2016? Well, I mean that doesn't seem like a great sign...

Now that Elon's in charge of Twitter, it's time for another of web2s biggest platforms to take on the challenge of evolving into web3 – the next stage of the internet.

Hold up: what are web2 and web3?

The online services we use to search for information, contact each other, and consume content have brought billions to the internet.

Together, they create web2 – a reliable and (mostly) trustworthy environment where we can post, shop, and consume.

In return, today’s tech giants harvest huge amounts of personal data and exert serious control over what makes it to your screen.

Web2

• Today’s corporate internet of ads and data harvesting

• Users can create content and interact, but only via centralized services

• Runs on traditional fiat currency

A new vision for the internet, Web3, embraces decentralization and wants to put control and ownership back in the hands of users.

Web3

• Tomorrow’s internet of decentralized apps and businesses

• Users can create, own, and sell content

• Runs on native currency (crypto)

What about web1?

Web1 describes the first phases of the global internet where sites were almost entirely read-only.

Twitter has one big advantage over Meta when it comes to any web3 ambitions it may have: the platform is already home to a thriving web3 community.

CT (Crypto Twitter)

CT is a place for NFT holders, cryptocurrency investors, and web3 startups to hang out, post memes, and help each other stay motivated when the market goes south.

You can easily find out whether you've strayed into Crypto Twitter by looking for the omnipresent greeting "GM", which is short for good morning.

It's just one of the many acronyms the CT community loves to send each other for solidarity. (Now you know why Decentra Daily starts every email with those 2 letters).

In a space where there's still a lack of designers to make things easier for users, CT is also a vital resource for understanding the latest blockchain developments.

wen steve jobs of web3?

Binance

Another ace up Elon's sleeve for creating a web3 Twitter is his investment partner, Binance.

As one of the largest crypto exchanges around, Binance knows a thing or two about harnessing blockchain tech. They also chipped in $500 million toward the Twitter purchase.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (known as CZ) appeared on CNBC a couple of days ago to talk about his company's involvement in Musk's Twitter.

He spoke about being ready to help Twitter enter Web3 by using the blockchain to combat spam bots and integrating crypto to make payments easier.

Here's the full interview:

Wallet & NFT integration

In fact, Twitter is already making small web3 moves.

Last week, rumors circulated of an upcoming Twitter Wallet for holding blockchain assets on-platform.

Twitter has also introduced a new Tiles feature, which shows NFTs inside tweets when you link them from certain marketplaces:

Everything apps

Finally, Elon offered one potential vision for a web3 Twitter in a company town hall back in June.

He floated the idea of turning Twitter into an Everything App – a platform that eats up screen time by offering users one place to post content, bank, call a ride, etc.

Elon name-checked WeChat, the Chinese everything app with over 1 billion users and a $240 billion economy of "mini-apps" that run inside the platform.

So maybe Elon has plans to open the Twitter universe up to app developers – and dapp (decentralized app) devs?

So what's the roadmap?

From the initial signs, it seems like Twitter is going to take a more incremental, practical approach to its web3 transition.

Whereas Meta has set its sights on the mid-to-distant future, Twitter is working on functions and features that you can start using right now.

How far they'll go down the web3 road is anyone's guess, but Elon has consistently voiced his support for decentralization and crypto.

So maybe he'll take Twitter all the way to the moon - or mars?

Elon & Twitter – A timeline so far

This guy moves fast!

10/26 – The news sunk in

10/27 – The SEC reports the Twitter deal is officially complete

10/27 – Musk fires Twitter's CEO and CFO

10/27 – Tesla engineers come to Twitter HQ and begin reviewing code

10/28 – Twitter stock stops trading on the NYSE

10/28 – Elon says he's "looking into" current practices on shadow bans

10/28 – He also announces a content moderation council with "widely diverse viewpoints"

10/29 – The homepage for logged-out users is changed to show trending tweets

10/30 – Twitter announces its Blue subscription and verification badges will undergo changes

10/30 – Elon tweets a poll on whether to bring back Vine, then asks Twitter engineers to relaunch the platform

10/31 – Elon dissolves the entire Twitter Board and becomes sole director.

That's a lot for 6 days – and I'm sure I've missed a few things.

See ya tomorrow!