Elon Musk, in a series of tweets on Sunday, 23rd July 2023, said goodbye to the Twitter name and its logo, Larry the Bird, and asked users to propose alternative symbols.
However, in the latest major change since Elon Musk took control of the social media platform, Twitter officially rebranded to “X” on Monday after he changed the platform’s iconic bird logo. So answer the question, “Did Twitter change its logo?” The answer is a vibrant yes.
As of early Monday, both the Twitter.com website and the app version of the platform appeared to be operational with a new logo, X.
Our headquarters tonight pic.twitter.com/GO6yY8R7fO
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 24, 2023
But what does the change mean for the popular social platform’s users? Continue reading to learn why Twitter changed its logo, whether the company will also discontinue tweets, and how the redesign is being received.
Overview
Musk stated on Sunday that the decision to change the logo to “X” was made to “embody the imperfections in all of us that make us unique.”
“And soon, we shall bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds,” he wrote.
By Sunday afternoon, the website x.com was redirecting to what was previously Twitter. The domain was returned to Musk in 2017 after being relinquished as part of the PayPal merger.
The transition from bird imagery to an “X” is the most significant change since Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion last year.
Musk renamed the company X Corp. from Twitter Inc. in April.
In an effort to reduce spam, the social media company recently announced a limit on the number of daily direct messages that unverified users can send.
According to a message on the help center, the change took effect on Friday. Users who want to increase the number of daily messages allowed must sign up for the subscription service, which was launched last year.
The latest changes come as Facebook faces increased competition from Meta’s new app, Threads, which launched earlier this month.
What Is the Significance of Twitter’s New Logo?
The abrupt rebranding of Twitter is due in part to Musk’s fondness for the letter X, which has appeared throughout his trailblazing career. It’s also linked to his attempt to turn the news-focused social network into a super app with everything from payments to TikTok-style videos.
Musk planned to rebrand Twitter as X.com even before he took control of the company, according to author Walt Isaacson, who shadowed Musk for two years while writing his biography.
The idea for Twitter as X came to fruition in October 2022 when Musk tweeted that acquiring the platform would be “an accelerant to creating X, the everything app.” Musk merged Twitter Inc. into a newly registered entity called X Corp. in March of this year. A month later, in April, he founded X.AI, a company dedicated to artificial intelligence.
“X will be the platform that can deliver… everything,” Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino concluded on Sunday. She suggested in a series of posts that the rebranding gave the company a chance to make a new impression on users.
She added that X would be an AI-powered platform “centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking,” a nod to Musk’s plans to create a super app.
Why X?
Musk’s fascination with the letter X can be traced all the way back to 1999. That’s when he founded X.com, a financial start-up that would later merge with a company co-founded by Peter Thiel and Max Levchin to become the payments giant PayPal.
Musk would eventually leave the company, owing in part to his desire for the company’s name to remain X.com. Munch then founded Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, better known as SpaceX. Tesla, his electric car company, also has a Model X vehicle, and the letter X is even the name of his son, musician Grimes.
Is This a Total Rebranding?
It’s unclear whether the rebrand will include all aspects of Twitter’s functionality. The platform’s features, such as tweets and retweets, hashtags and direct messages, have entered the online lexicon. Musk and the company will have a difficult time convincing users to accept new terms.
Musk responded to one user by saying they would now be called “x’s,” implying that the word “tweet” would be dropped. But, as is typical of Musk, it’s difficult to know what the truth is.
For the time being, the rebrand appears to be limited to the web. Twitter’s logo and name remain on the iPhone and Android apps.
Recent parallels are difficult to find. Facebook rebranded as Meta in 2021, but there is one key difference: Facebook, the product, remains – it is just the parent company that has a new name. With Twitter’s switch to X, it appears that 17 years of branding and public familiarity will be abandoned.
What Are People’s Reactions?
In general, people have been perplexed as to why an experienced entrepreneur would willingly abandon a logo that has become well-known to everyone on the internet.
Others are disappointed that a billionaire with virtually unlimited branding budgets couldn’t create a better logo.
It is widely regarded as yet another blunder in ownership rife with them.
Others decided they would never use the new branding, instead sticking to Twitter, tweeting and retweeting even though these are not the official terms.
“I’m still gonna call it Twitter,” YouTuber Marques Brownlee said to his six million followers. “Not for long,” Musk replied. We’ll have to wait and see.
Musk’s Networth Estimation (Forbes)
$236.5 billion in total. According to our real-time tracker, that is how much Forbes believes Musk is worth. His fortune puts him near the top of Forbes’ list of the world’s wealthiest people.
Musk’s fortune stems primarily from his stake in Tesla and the slew of valuable companies he cofounded, including rocket company SpaceX, brain implant company Neuralink, and tunneling company Boring Company.
In 2022, he controversially purchased Twitter for $44 billion and began a series of drastic changes, including its content moderation and verification policies, as well as reducing headcount.
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Did Twitter Change Its Logo: References
