A major shakeup could very well be on the way for Elon Musk's X, as he plans to scrap another major feature that was carried over from when it was known as Twitter, replacing it with his very own 'X'-branded alternative.
Elon Musk's somewhat unwitting takeover of Twitter, now X, began what has been a fairly turbulent few years for the popular social media platform, as while at one point last year it had lost around 72% of its initial $42 billion value, it was 'rescued' a few months ago when bought by the similarly Musk-owned xAI.
It's become quite challenging to count the number of changes that Musk has made in his nearly three years of leadership, but among the most impactful is his reshaping of verified blue ticks into 'X Premium', his changes to the block feature, and the integration of artificial intelligence chatbot 'Grok', which now boasts a bizarre '18+ Sexy Mode' if that floats your boat.
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Another major shift could be on the horizon though, as hints from software engineers at X and outside experts have indicated that the ever-inoffensive direct messages (DMs) feature is on the verge of being scrapped, with a new replacement named 'XChat' waiting in the wings, as reported by Mashable.
While it's no surprise that Musk is opting for another feature with his favored 'X' branding in place, projections show that the new messaging format would bring a number of new features, with some rather unexpected.
The first hint that a replacement would be on its way came from X employee Zach Warunek, who revealed that both DMs and DM requests would "be gone soon," although this has been clarified to reflect that they are being 'rewritten' into XChat instead of simply removed from the platform.
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On top of this, web developer Nima Owji has illustrated that employees at X are already using XChat to message eachother internally, and that it's being positioned as a direct rival to pre-existing dedicated messaging services like WhatsApp.
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XChat will reportedly feature encrypted messaging, disappearing messages, expanded file sharing features, full message deletion, and voice messages in the future.
Owji has even shared a look at XChat, and while it's unclear whether this is an actual image or simply just a mockup, it shows a few of the new features on offer, even if it essentially looks like DMs with a different name.
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It's not exactly proven to be a popular decision across social media though, with many speaking out against the change.
"F***ing pointless," writes one user in the replies of Owji's reveal, pointing out in addition that the change "might kill a f***ton of history if old DMs don't move over."
Another adds that "it looks just like messages, what am I missing?" They're certainly not alone in thinking that too, as the whole change at the moment appears to be nothing more than a name change with a few feature additions in the background.
This appears to be part of Elon Musk's continued push towards X as the 'everything app', as he's previously hinted at the addition of banking features in the past, but one user on Reddit writes: "It's like they forget that it is a 'social' media site."
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Some have even speculated that this could be a reaction to reports that Musk previously asked a crypto influencer if she'd have his children via DMs, so the disappearing messages feature would have come in handy for him there.
It's still up in the air as to when XChat will arrive and what form it'll take when it drops onto the social media platform, but it's clear from the response that it's not what many have been asking for.