What's in a name? Twitter, X, Liz Sarkissian, Iman

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

I know am not the first person to write about Twitter becoming X. A lot of people tangled themselves in pretzels to explain how X works/does not work as a brand, how X is a brand/not a brand, how X will become/will not become a super app, how X can/cannot be patented and the list continues.

The good news? X is here. The bad news, everyone keeps referring to X as "formerly Twitter". Well, if you are going to change your name, why bother keep calling you by your former name (I know the trans community is very sensitive about bringing up their "dead names") but this is Elon Musk we speak of, so any comparison to trans people is not really appreciated.

So what does this have to do with the actress Iman? Well, her original name is Liz Sarkissian - she highly intelligent, polyglot (8 languages), studied pharmacy and what have you - so when she wanted to launch her career in Egypt, she changed her stage name to Iman (which means faith). Until it turns out everyone kept calling her Liz Sarkissian. So the anecdote (and sorry I have no original reference to it) is that a friend of hers suggested she'd just put her name as "Iman, formerly Liz Sarkissian". Which obviously reminds me of X (formerly Twitter) in this case.

But truth be told, old names have a way of sticking around. When I used to go to work by bus, I used to pass "Damascus road" daily, specifically the stretch called "Becahra El Khoury" (it's near Sodeco if you want to know). At one point I just had to ask the driver as to why it was called so. Apparently there was a statue of our former president there, which got dismantled during the war, but eventually the name stuck. Another example? Cell phone carriers in Lebanon have changed names since at least 20 years. From Libancell to MTCTouch (then just touch), and from Cellis to Alfa. Yet, the major headquarters of the latter are still being referred to as "Cellis" despite the name change. Well, no one even bothers with "Alfa formerly known as Cellis", just Cellis would do.

So my question is - if X is going to hold as name, not sure why everyone keeps calling it by its other name.  

Threads: Everybody else is doing it so why can't I?

So I downloaded Threads. Considering how long it took me to get on twitter, it is a miracle I followed my digital consultant's advice (Hello Patrick!) and downloaded the app. The transition between Instagram and Threads is seamless - hell it even copies your bio information and you log in with the same password.

Apparently so far 50 million people already downloaded the app, so it's not like am tech's next frontier or anything, and well, Elon Musk who now owns Twitter is threatening to sue while people in Europe still cannot get it for legal reasons (mainly that Meta - the parent company seems to share your info and tracks you or whatever. Good luck tracking me, I no longer have a bank card so you cannot sell me anything at this point!). 

Of course, on the downside every other influencer is there already and the app is inundated with info and for some reason they decided that I needed to follow Karen Wazen - their algorithm really needs turning, trust me - who (gasp!) is already there. Now threads has no hashtags mind you, but offers 500 characters in text and much like Facebook it immediately shows the image accompanying the link you are posting. Apart from the "bio" thingy and stories, one could not place an active link in the instagram text. So now people on Instagram can - like those who are on Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter, enjoy my blog musings as well.

Perhaps though Mrs. Wazen would be a better fit for them.

Yes, I still "use" Twitter, and no, it means nothing.

Image tweeted by Elon Musk (source)

Ah Twitter!

Ever since Mr. Musk himself bought it for 44 Billion, it seems everyone is up in arms about it. Moderation is no longer a thing, the ethics team has been gutted with layoffs, the app will charge for blue check badges, advertisers reigning in ad spend, this, that... But- to the great chagrin of my digital consultant (hello Patrick!) - this actually implies that people have been using it the way it "ought to be" used.

Not so for me.

Let's recap - my private Facebook profile has zero friends, it's just a ghost to be able to manage my official page there, a page basically dedicated to copy-pasting links of such articles as this one. On Twitter I follow no one, so much that one time I was with my said digital consultant and a few other people and he said "tell them, tell them how you use social media" as if I was a wonder boy to be exhibited (the way I use social media is simply by typing everyone's link once in a while to see if there is anything interesting).

On Instagram, I make sure never to follow more than 50 accounts and periodically purge to remain near that number. I admit that during the pandemic I did a few "purchases" from outlet/resale stores pay-on-delivery exhibiting there for the lack of being able to go out to stores - which again is something I do not do often anyhow. Lately I have been lukewarm about the whole Instagram thingy truth be told. Somehow the whole app became boring.

No I have no Tiktok. 

Oh, whatsapp? 

Welcome to the 15 numbers including house help, taxi driver, etc.... stored on my phone. I only speak (meaning write) to a very small number of people. 

But all this has been good for my mental health mind you. I do what I do the way I do it, I do not preach anyone to do the same, at this point I realize each one of us has his own needs or wants from this digital experience. 

So yes, I still "use" Twitter, and no, it means nothing.

STC buys back its twitter handle

Not sure where to begin.
STC just bought back its Twitter handle from an American citizen who was using it for the last 12 years, the film done is pretty cheeky and you can watch it here. I liked the film which should have cost a bundle.
The problem is that, when your company is being sued for copyright infringement (due to the  new logo) your Twitter handle should be the least of your worries.

Twitter - Valentine's Day

Smart! The branding is almost imperceptible, but you'd know immediately what brand it is. And the layout super clean, and the message quite funny. Now, where's that "edit" button?