Elon Musk’s X to Feature Video Calling Support

Future additions of X video calls to the app have been confirmed by the platform’s CEO in an interview.

As part of the billionaire’s strategy to make X into an “everything app,” Elon Musk is attempting to introduce support for new features to the microblogging platform he runs that was formerly known as Twitter. Users will be able to communicate with other users by their account usernames, similar to how competitors like Facebook and Instagram allow users to make video chats without disclosing their phone number.

ring ring pic.twitter.com/1WemXRhFZf

— Andrea Conway (@ehikian) July 7, 2023

Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X, stated in a recent interview with CNBC that the platform would soon enable video calling. Users of X will be able to “make video chat calls without having to give your phone number to anyone on the platform,” according to the future feature, she said. Additionally, Yaccarino told CNBC that under Musk, she had “autonomy” to run the business and that their responsibilities were “very clear”.

X staffer Andrea Conway published two screenshots of the iOS UI for X video calling last month. The upper right corner of the first screen’s direct messaging conversation, which displays a pop-up menu with options for audio and video calls, displays a phone receiver icon. The second screen shows a video calling screen with four buttons: speaker, mute, video, and end call.

Conway’s screenshots are more than a month old, so when the feature is made available to users, it’s possible that the X video calls interface will appear slightly different. Conway said on Thursday that she had “just called someone on X”. When the feature will be made available to users is a secret that neither Yaccarino nor Conway have shared.

In an effort to make X more competitive with other social media platforms, Yaccarino informed investors in June that the site will concentrate on video, creative, and business relationships. At the time, X was still known as Twitter. Over 10% of user activity on Twitter was apparently spent watching vertical videos at the time, according to Yaccarino’s presentation.

The platform’s qualifying creators are now receiving ad revenue share from the service. The company lowered the requirement for qualifying for advertisements revenue sharing from 15 million impressions over three months to 5 million impressions, according to an announcement made on Friday by the support account for X. Users who match the qualifications and have an X Premium subscription, formerly known as Twitter Blue, will be able to get minimum rewards of $10, down from $50, according to the site.