In a virtual meeting with Twitter employees on Thursday, Elon Musk suggested the social media company should adopt a model similar to WeChat and TikTok if it is to accomplish its goal of hitting 1 billion users, The Verge reports.

While answering questions from Twitter employees, Musk said Twitter could increase its user base if “people are very entertained and informed.” WeChat is an all-in-one app that combines instant messaging with social media, games, payments and ride-hailing. “There’s no WeChat equivalent outside of China. You basically live on WeChat in China. If we can recreate that with Twitter, we’ll be a great success,” Musk said.

Musk praised TikTok for being entertaining and said “we could hone Twitter in the same way to be interesting.” One area Twitter is doing better than other platforms is the ease with which people find news on it. The Tesla CEO noted this but also said he thinks “Twitter can be much better about informing people of serious issues.”. In five to ten years’ time, Musk was quizzed on what success would mean for Twitter, he said it would mean “contributing to a stronger longer lasting civilization where we are better able to understand the nature of reality.”

Musk has been vocal about increasing Twitter revenue through subscriptions and payments. Elaborating further, he suggested users should pay to get verified on the platform. He also said Twitter should allow users to tweet whatever they want as long as it does not violate the law, according to Bloomberg.

When quizzed by employees if there will be any layoffs, Musk was pragmatic in his response saying Twitter “needs to get healthy.” He elaborated and added that “anyone who is a significant contributor should have nothing to worry about,” he added.”

As of March 2022, Twitter had around 229 million daily active users. Musk said his goal is to increase the company’s user base to 1 billion.

Featured Image – Elon Musk by Liesa Johannssen-Koppitz/Bloomberg