Elon musk has replaced the famous blue bird of Twitter with an X, in a move that signals a new era for his social media platform, which he bought for $44 billion.
Since the billionaire’s takeover of Twitter last October, Musk has hinted at big changes for the platform, turning it into a super app like China’s WeChat and Careem in the Middle East.
The new logo has sparked mixed reactions from users and confusion about what tweets would now be called. Advertisers have said the rebranding to X could throw away years of Twitter’s name recognition.
Some have said they miss the bird already and #GoodbyeTwitter” was trending on the platform on Monday when the news was announced.
Musk tweeted on Saturday that “soon we shall bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds”.
In response to a tweet asking what will tweets be called under X, Musk replied “x’s”.
The X is not new for Musk and he has used the symbol/letter across his previous companies, including an online bank x.com, which later became PayPal. Musk officially changed the company’s name to X Holdings Corp in April.
Since he took over, Twitter has been in the spotlight for staff layoffs, a big drop in advertising revenue, charging for blue ticks and most recently, the launch of Threads, Meta’s response to Twitter.
Threads said it won’t start accepting advertising until it reaches critical mass. Currently it has more than 100 million users, most of them signing up in the first five days since it launched.
On Sunday, Twitter’s Chief Executive Officer, Linda Yaccarino, 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.”
She added that X would be “centred in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking” and would be a “global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities”. She added: “X will be the platform that can deliver, well … everything.”
Advertisers’ reaction
Soon after Musk took over the company, several advertisers deserted the site out of concern for the damage the early upheaval would have to their brands.
They have reduced ad spending in part as a result of worries that the new owner has made adjustments that have encouraged the growth of more offensive content.
Yaccarino’s hiring as a respected advertising executive was primarily motivated by the desire to win back advertisers who had either stopped using the platform or dramatically reduced their expenditure there.
