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Year Ender 2023: X, formerly called Twitter, had a topsy-turvy ride this year (to say the least) under the renewed oversight of Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk. The microblogging site underwent a taxing makeover after a rough start following the $44 billion deal. This year, October 27 marked the first year of X under the new administration. For a quick recap, here is a recap of how X's journey evolved under Musk's leadership.

Let That 'Sink' In: After the deal, the moments before the storm was a washroom sink that Elon Musk posted a video with as he entered Twitter headquarters to indirectly suggest that spectators must 'sink' in what was about to follow. The upcoming updates included mass layoffs of moderators, engineers and other staff besides CEO Parag Agarwal's firing. This led to significant internal issues within codes, triggering a massive outage in the initial days.

Also Read: Twitter To X: Musk's Takeover Completes One Year; Here's How The'Everything App' Progressed In This Year

Twitter Blue (Now X Premium): The verified tick which acted as a hallmark for authenticity before the deal got nixed in favour of Twitter Blue (now three plans under X Premium label), which also offered other exclusive benefits (introduced in late 2022). These include amplified reach for posts, longer video uploads, expanded character limit (with editable access) for posts, a 'Highlights' tab and more.

Exit Of Free Checkmarks: Following Twitter Blue, the company scrapped legacy blue checkmarks (starting April 2023) awarded under the old scheme for free to influential figures. This move has been long-debated for bolstering the spread of misinformation on the platform, which peaked during the Israel-Hamas war.

New Checkmark Policy and Limitations For Free Accounts: The updated platter included colourful ticks (Blue, Gold, Grey) and affiliate badges for verified organisations who paid for a subscription. Plus, X continues to limit features for free accounts. The prominent ones include the lack of SMS-based two-factor authentication and video and audio calling.

Linda Yaccarino Steps In: As Musk polled for advice on how he could run the platform, the key demands of his exit were among the top choices of users, according to Fortune. In May, the new CEO Linda Yaccarino, a media fame, was finalised to head the chief position. The new CEO has hinted at a range of upcoming features on X at the rebranding stage.

Also Read: X Highlights: Want To Increase Reach On X? Elon Musk Has A Way Out, But There Is A 'Premium' Twist

Blue Bird Stabbed With An X: In July, the heritage Blue Bird died in a splash, and X rebranded Twitter's official handles. It marked a full stop on the very own soul of the 20-year-old microblogging site, and phrases including 'tweet' and 'retweet' were out of the platform's dictionary. For the ones who might have skipped the development, Musk even changed the logo to the Shiba Inu dog from the 'Doge' meme in April this year for a short period.

Revenue Sharing Introduced: In the month of rebranding, the platform also announced its Ads Revenue Sharing plan for users to "get paid for posting". However, you must meet the stated requirements and have an X Premium subscription to be eligible. The company also eased the eligibility criteria later.

AI And The Rebellious Chatbot: Joining the AI race sparked by ChatGPT, Musk announced the integration of Grok for Premium+ accounts on X. This marked a significant shift as Musk had opposed rapid developments of AI in the past. Speaking of other developments around AI, Musk also announced rate limits for posts that an account can read on X following a massive outage. Plus, unlike the older scheme, you now require an account to view posts on X.

War of Words: According to Musk, the reading limits aimed to restrict data scrapping by (soon-to-become) competitors to train AI models. Speaking of competition, the highly-anticipated contest between Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg and Musk did not materialise, killing the hopes of many enthusiasts.

Musk's X Turn 1: According to the anniversary blog of X by CEO Linda Yaccarino from October, the "loyal users" spend 7.8 billion+ active minutes on X daily, with Videos and Communities products being the growth engine. "Over half a billion of the world's most informed and influential people come to X every month," Yaccarino said in an October post. Here is a video (which Yaccarino posted on X but later deleted it highlighting the upcoming plans of X.

New Avenues (Videos, Payments, Calling): In view of this growth, the company has introduced a range of changes in its revived push for videos that include the introduction of video and audio calling, revamped live streaming features, immersive video player, longer video uploads and more. Also, Elon Musk has been stressing the upcoming payments feature, which is currently in the licensing phase.

Speaking of the current updates, X continues to face the heat of top tech advertisers following an endorsement of an antisemitic post by Musk and the promotion of posts around Nazism (revealed by Media Matters). However, as we head windward to 2024, it is time to see X transform into an everything app that can take on the competition with its unmatched feature set amid the blistering interests in artificial intelligence.