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.
Lights. Camera. X! pic.twitter.com/K9Ou47Qb4R
— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayacc) July 24, 2023
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:
So this is how they created the new logo for Twitter #X #TwitterX #GoodbyeTwitter pic.twitter.com/cTxa4eVT8u
— CommanD (@CMDGaminggs) July 24, 2023
Elon Musk turning Twitter into The X
Everyone:
pic.twitter.com/rLnSdrFHpL— Erin Elizabeth Health Nut News 🙌 (@unhealthytruth) July 24, 2023
Twitter: “Everything is so broken we’re going to ration tweets”
Also Twitter: “Look, we’ve put some extra air horns and a glitter cannon on, please give us your bank details!” https://t.co/kGHIu63cTW
— Enough Of That Now (@AndyGilder) July 24, 2023
“X”-tremely delusional
Maybe start by paying your bills before you try to replace banking? https://t.co/w326adP7Ye
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) July 23, 2023
So how long do you think it’ll take Musk to realise he also has to change things like this to move away from the Twitter brand? https://t.co/T5QX6En8QV pic.twitter.com/Ro4ubKLT4V
— Eliot Higgins (@EliotHiggins) July 23, 2023
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