Elon Musk has announced that voice and video calls on Twitter will be a coming feature on the platform. Picture: Alain Jocard/AFP
Arguably the most popular social media site in the world, Twitter, or X, as its owner Elon Musk renamed it, will be able to host video and voice calls without a phone number, according to a tweet from Musk on Thursday.
"Video and audio calls coming to X: works on IOS, Android, Mac, and PC. No phone number needed.
"X is the effective global address book. This set of factors is unique," the South African-born billionaire wrote.
In the three hours since Musk posted the message, it has acquired over 19 million views.
Video & audio calls coming to X:
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 31, 2023
- Works on iOS, Android, Mac & PC
- No phone number needed
- X is the effective global address book
That set of factors is unique.
As of 2023, Twitter has around 450 million active monthly users, according to DemandSage, while WhatsApp has around 2 billion.
If Twitter continues to expand its user base, Musk and X could pose a real threat to Mark Zuckerberg's Meta platform.
When Musk took over the company, he fired around 80% of Twitter's old staff members and is currently running the company with about 600 employees.
Musk later apologised for firing the staff members.
"I would like to apologise for firing these geniuses. Their immense talent will no doubt be of great use elsewhere," Musk tweeted in November 2022.
Shortly after, it was discovered that Zuckerberg was launching an app, Threads, which, according to Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, is a "Twitter clone".
It was also revealed that Zuckerberg hired the Twitter employees that Musk fired upon purchasing the company for $44 billion.
Using the Meta platform as leverage, Zuckerberg managed to grow an application at record speed, reaching one million users in a matter of hours after launching Threads.
But Twitter lawyer, Alex Spiro then threatened to sue Meta for hiring the employees that it fired, according to Reuters.
"Twitter intends to strictly enforce its intellectual property rights and demands that Meta take immediate steps to stop using any Twitter trade secrets or other highly confidential information," Spiro wrote in a letter to Meta, as quoted in the Reuters report.
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