On January 9, X (formerly known as Twitter) announced its plans to begin the process of reinventing itself as the “everything app.” This will involve new uses for artificial intelligence, peer-to-peer payment systems, and a big emphasis on slamming ads into the pinned-open eyes of its users. But one thing it won’t involve is NFT profile pics.
Remember NFTs? They were this big thing on the internet, their heyday as long ago as 2021. Those were wild times, with the whole world apparently trapped indoors by a long-forgotten virus that’s definitely over, causing what historians believe to have been a sort of international delusion that led to large numbers of people paying vast amounts of money to “own” an infinitely copyable jpeg. Anyway, you can’t use those on your Twitter/X profile any more.
As TechCrunch spotted, at the same time as X owner Elon Musk announced a slew of new, unwanted features for the site formerly known as Twitter, the site also surreptitiously removed all references and options for having an owned NFT as an account avatar. Where once there was a bizarre, poorly written explanation for how Premium subscribers could show off their badly drawn ape cartoon on their profile, now there is simply no mention at all of the entire nonsense.
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Musk’s goal for the flailing X (hey, nice people, come to BlueSky! It’s so lovely there! It’s like Twitter in 2009!) is to convert the micro-messaging site into his ill-defined “everything app.” This apparently involves launching peer-to-peer payments, and the implementation of AI for “more user utility” and “showcasing the power of living more of your life in one place.” It is, the company claims, already a “video-first platform,” with its “Immersive Video” feature boasting over 100 million users a day. Um, if you say so. But despite Musk’s previous enthusiasm for crypto-scam bullshit, it seems NFTs are no longer a part of this long-term vision.
Previously, those willing to tithe to Musk for access to Twitter Premium were able to—and I quote directly from the former help page section “Create a Community—“create a customize your profile so you can show off the NFTs you own in a hex-shaped profile picture on your account.” Smooth.
The section now reads, “As a Premium subscriber, you can create a community on X to connect with people who share similar interests.”
It’s almost a year since Facebook shut down its own NFT efforts, and things have only gotten worse for the utterly stupid, delusional concept since. However, for now, your hexagon is safe on X if you already set one up. And please, keep it as long as you can—they’re a really useful service for letting others know who to mute on first contact.
