X Marks the Spot: An Examination of X and Its Transformation from Twitter

Abstract

This study examines X and perceptions and opinions related to the platform since Elon Musk took it over. We address the following research question: 1) What role do the characteristics of users of X have on their opinions and attitudes of the social media platform? A large-scale survey was conducted with 408 participants recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Only a small subset of participants do not use X (15%), while a large percentage (39%) of those who do use it do so for less than five hours per week. A small number (11%) of participants use it more than 20 hours a week. A plurality of participants (37.3%) believed that individuals should be at least 18 years old to use X, while others thought 16 (17.0%) or 17 (2.9%) was old enough. The study also explores differences in opinions and use of X since Musk took over the company, as well as perceptions related to the role government should play with respect to the regulation of social media in general. Differences based on demographics are also explored, as well as political party affiliation. Those that identify as Republican have seen their opinions related to X, its policies, and Musk increase much more than those that identify as Democrat. A subset of participants (N=121) that identified X as one of the two social media platforms they used the most were asked additional questions related to their use of the platform. A plurality of participants (39.2%) indicated they were personally better off with X, while others were either not sure (28.0%) or believed their life was not better as a result (32.8%). In contrast, when they were asked whether society is better off with the existence of X, participants were evenly split between ‘yes’ and ‘no’ at 36.8% each, followed by those that were not sure (26.4%). Limitations, implications, and directions for future research are explored.