In an official tweet, Elon Musk announced the rebranding of Twitter to “X” via a short teaser video. Hence, the all too recognisable Twitter bird logo will cease to exist. This will be the most extensive overhaul on Twitter in the last 17 years.
Musk has confirmed that this rebranding will be all too solidified as the X logo is good to go. With this rebranding, the “tweets” will be just called “X” and Elon will let go of his “Chief Twit” title as well.
With Elon Musk taking over Twitter back in 2022, the journey so far had been nothing less than turbulent, to put it lightly. Musk has already made significant changes to Twitter since he bought the company last year, changing its name to X Corp in filings as part of his plans to create an “everything app” under the brand “X”.
Musk’s decision to embrace ‘X’ as Twitter’s new identity is part of his grand plan to transform the micro-blogging platform into a super app, akin to China’s WeChat, which integrates various services and functions within a single platform.
He envisions turning Twitter into a combination of financial platform and social network, powered by AI, and offering services like payments, messaging, and more, effectively becoming a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities.
Twitter has come under increasing pressure since Musk closed his $44bn acquisition of the company in October. The billionaire entrepreneur has slashed the workforce and cut costs, while radical policy changes have frustrated users and advertisers, with advertising revenues falling by half and the company teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.
In July, rival Meta released its long-awaited Twitter competitor, Threads, attracting tens of millions of users. Twitter has threatened to sue Meta, alleging that it stole the company’s trade secrets when creating its messaging app.
In May, he appointed Linda Yaccarino, NBCUniversal’s former head of advertising, as Twitter’s new CEO in an effort to win back dozens of former big advertisers. She tweeted, “It’s an exceptionally rare thing – in life or in business – that you get a second chance to make another big impression. Twitter made one massive impression and changed the way we communicate. Now, X will go further, transforming the global town square.”
While some Musk fans applaud the change, long-time users of the messaging service aren’t particularly enthused by the change. This is impacting business, as Musk himself admitted on July 14 that the ad revenue at Twitter is down 50%. However, it remains to be seen whether rebranding helps the company or adversely impacts the business.
