Twitter has undergone a comprehensive rebranding, emerging as “X” under the stewardship of Elon Musk. Not surprisingly, Musk was met with derision on his own platform.
MacRumors reports that Twitter’s transformation is marked by the replacement of the platforms iconic blue bird logo with a stark, white “X” against a black backdrop. This change is a clear indication of Musk’s ambitious plan to turn the social media platform into an “everything app,” a concept reminiscent of China’s multifunctional WeChat.
Elon Musk’s Halloween costume (Taylor Hill /Getty)
Musk has already embraced the new identity by changing his profile picture to the new logo and adding “X.com” to his bio. This URL redirects to a brief ‘X’ splash screen on Twitter’s homepage, further reinforcing the rebranding.
Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino enthusiastically announced the change, stating, “X is here! Let’s do this.” Musk echoed this sentiment by sharing an image of the new X branding projected onto the side of Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco.
The rebranding is not entirely unexpected. When Musk acquired the company in October 2022, the official legal entity name was registered as X Corp. Despite this, the customer-facing avian branding had remained until now. Musk has been referring to the platform as “X” or “an accelerant to creating X” since the acquisition.
Musk’s affinity for the letter ‘X’ is well documented, with the entrepreneur stating that the rebranding “should have been done a long time ago.” The letter X has been a recurring theme in Musk’s business ventures, including his online bank X.com, which eventually merged with Confinity to become PayPal.
In an email to Twitter employees, Musk announced that the company would publicly become known as X. This marked his last communication from a Twitter address, symbolizing the end of an era and the beginning of a new one.
The new platform, according to Yaccarino, will be powered by AI and offer users “unlimited interactivity – centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities… X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine.”
Some users were not impressed with the rebranding, tweeting (or X’ing?) about the decision:
In a departure from Twitter’s traditional terminology, Musk has announced that “tweets” will be replaced with “x’s.” While the service still appears as Twitter in the official app, users can expect this to change soon, marking the final step in the platform’s transformation into X.
Read more at MacRumours here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.