X is close to launching its new professional video calling feature, which will essentially provide Zoom-like functionality within the X app.
As you can see in this example, posted by X engineer Chris Park, X has built a working version of its video conferencing platform, which owner Elon Musk claims they’re already using for internal meetings at the company.
The new option will be listed as a separate functionality along the right-hand-side function bar (as “Conferences”), and will include full video streaming functionality for participants, once it’s active.
How many participants will be displayed on screen hasn’t been shared, but X’s video calling option, which it made available to all users back in February, is currently far more restricted than the video chat options in other apps.
So, presumably, X’s conference calls will be limited to four participants on screen, though it may look to increase this to better match up with Zoom, and other conference chat apps.
The update is another step towards Elon’s vision of the platform becoming an “everything app”, which facilitate all of your interactive and transactional needs in one place.
Indeed, back in February, when X’s new audio and video calling functionality became active, Musk declared that he would be getting rid of his phone number, as X can now replace all of his telecommunication needs.
Though at the same time, basic functionality alone is likely not enough to get more people to become more reliant on X. And while Elon does have a grand vision for the app, the challenge that he’s struggled with thus far is that not everyone sees the same value in these tools.
For example, as Musk claims, X can now replace your phone, but I doubt that many people are looking to switch off their devices and use it as their primary connection tool just yet. Because you can do so many other things on your phone, including accessing X, so the value of having that functionality built into the app is not that significant.
Musk is also keen to add payments and banking, but people already utilize other options on both fronts, and are unlikely to see any reason to shift to a potentially less reliable, less secure payments/banking offering.
You can post long-form articles on X, though that dilutes any revenue that you might make from the same on other platforms, including your own blog/mailing list.
Essentially, if Elon wants people to make X a critical utility for millions of people, he’ll likely need to sweeten the deal. Because while these options do offer a form of replacement for other apps and providers, they’re not, at this stage at least, definitively better, or cheaper, or more functional in any way.
So, as it always has, it really comes down to two questions for the broader X project: Can Elon actually create an everything app, as he envisions? And if he can, will anyone actually use it?
This is pretty much the prism through which I view this update as well. Sure, X’s conference calling looks like it could offer a base alternative to Zoom or Google Meet. But we already have these tools, and they’ll undoubtedly be functionally better than a freshly built platform, which is still working to add new elements.
Is X’s option better than what’s already out there? I doubt it is, and if it’s not better, I don’t see why people will adopt it at scale, or that it will work as an enticement to get more people to sign up to X’s Premium offerings.
But it’s another element within X, and if you do a lot of your work there, it’s another option to consider.
