Gene X Hwang owned @x on Twitter. Until Elon Musk rebranded the platform and took the handle.
Gene X Hwang knew his days on Twitter as @x were numbered.
“Elon had been kind of tweeting about X previously,” Hwang said. “So I kind of knew, you know, I had an inkling that this was going to happen. I didn’t really know when.”
Since 2007, Hwang’s username on the site was @x — but after Elon Musk renamed the social media platform to X earlier this week, it was only a matter of time before the company commandeered the handle.
The news came shortly after Hwang had competed in a pinball tournament in Canada.
"So when I landed and fired up my phone, I just got all these messages and I was like: ‘What is what is going on?’ "
Hwang received an email from the company explaining that his account data would be preserved, and he’d get a new handle. It offered Hwang merchandise, a tour of its offices and a meeting with company management as compensation.
Hwang’s account is one of the latest casualties in the chaos following Musk’s takeover of the social media company. On Monday, Twitter’s iconic blue bird logo was replaced with the letter “X.”
The rebrand is the company’s next step in creating what Musk has called “the everything app.” Musk and CEO Linda Yaccarino envision the platform becoming a U.S. parallel to WeChat — a hub for communication, banking and commerce that’s become a part of everyday life in China.
But experts are skeptical X will be able to become an “everything app.”
“I’m not sure he has enough trust from his user base to get people to actually exchange money or attach any type of financial institution to his app,” Jennifer Grygiel, a professor at Syracuse University, told NPR.
Hwang is among those who have been looking for Twitter alternatives.
“I’ve been checking out, you know, other options like Threads and Mastodon and Bluesky,” he said. “I’m still on Twitter for now, but … it’s changed a lot. So we’ll see how much longer I’m on there.”
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit NPR.
When you use some service you have some expectation that they’ll treat you fairly and predictably. Sure their Eula let’s them do whatever the fuck they want legally but that doesn’t change the fact that if they opt take certain actions (like arbitrary taking people’s usernames) then they risk losing user trust.
If the admin just took your username one day would you just quietly accept it? What if they edited or deleted your comments? Would you just shrug and say “well it’s their site they can do what they want” and just walk away?
Look what happened when Spez got caught editing posts on Reddit, for example. Massive user outcry.
I’d say it’s a bit worse than that. There is a market for unique usernames, and single character Twitter handles are some of the most valueable. This user has had that value taken from them, and while Twitter/X reserves the right to claim the handle they must reasonably compensate the owner of that value.
Twitter offering merch is likely an attempt to get them to accept some form of compensation, so they can claim the matter is resolved.
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: !news@beehaw.org
Breaking news from around the world.
News that is American but has an international facet may also be posted here.
Guidelines for submissions:
Where possible, post the original source of information.
If there is a paywall, you can use alternative sources or provide an archive.today, 12ft.io, etc. link in the body.
Do not editorialize titles. Preserve the original title when possible; edits for clarity are fine.
Do not post ragebait or shock stories. These will be removed.
Do not post tabloid or blogspam stories. These will be removed.
Social media should be a source of last resort.
These guidelines will be enforced on a know-it-when-I-see-it basis.
I mean. Sorta.
When you use some service you have some expectation that they’ll treat you fairly and predictably. Sure their Eula let’s them do whatever the fuck they want legally but that doesn’t change the fact that if they opt take certain actions (like arbitrary taking people’s usernames) then they risk losing user trust.
If the admin just took your username one day would you just quietly accept it? What if they edited or deleted your comments? Would you just shrug and say “well it’s their site they can do what they want” and just walk away?
Look what happened when Spez got caught editing posts on Reddit, for example. Massive user outcry.
Dude’s allowed to be annoyed about it.
I’d say it’s a bit worse than that. There is a market for unique usernames, and single character Twitter handles are some of the most valueable. This user has had that value taken from them, and while Twitter/X reserves the right to claim the handle they must reasonably compensate the owner of that value.
Twitter offering merch is likely an attempt to get them to accept some form of compensation, so they can claim the matter is resolved.
I bet you it was Twitter merch, too, and not X; they must have a lot of worthless bird paraphernalia lying around the X headquarters 🙄
Elon is not only a douche, he’s a cheap ass-douche.