Letter to Mr. Matt Rickard on 2022-12-23

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Dear Mr. Rickard,

I'm on my way back to my home from Seoul to Daejeon in Korea, and I just got this post — I love this post!

haha pic.twitter.com/I0yligR81h
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) December 23, 2022

There are countless cases where Twitter troubled up, but the above point is the most prominent one. Musk does seem to desire "free money," as you pointed out, based on his track record for a couple of weeks. But before that, he hinted at his desire for a Super App. What concerns me more is the "Super App" that Musk wanted to build.

Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app

You mentioned a couple of times about a potential Super App in the US, but this may be a very alarming scenario for the people in the United States.

From my native Korean experience, the Super App is mighty and dangerous. We have a Super App called Kakao, a go-to for everything. It's Google + Facebook + Uber + Uber Eats + Netflix + Spotify + AirBnB. Unfortunately, Kakao had an outage for about a week last October, and... It wasn't pleasant. All of the economies stopped.

South Korean Super App Kakao Goes Down, Putting a Halt on Life

I know Musk is a very capricious person. But, he could take one day order to build a Super App platform. And that could change silicon valley once and for all.

As Jobs said, Musk has the power to "put a dent" in the universe. Would that be the rise of the blue bird into a mighty Phoenix? Or would this be the last flapping of the once-powerful hawk?

I don't know — perhaps Musk fired too much to rewrite stuff!

Best regards,
Sunghyun

Reply on 221230

Interesting on the downsides of the super app
Silicon Valley people mostly want a super app, probably because it involves the best monopolies and distribution mechanisms
Best chance is WhatsApp, but realistically, the conditions seem wrong.
Not sure what conditions are needed for a super app
Musk doesn't seem to be making as much progress, even regressing in many vital areas: moderation, rules, and uptime.
Musk/Twitter needs a better strategy than Super App. It's a bit reminiscent of some bad pitches. He's given himself a bit more time to figure it out by reducing the workforce, but at the same time, his actions make many people ask questions. Interesting to observe, regardless.